Russell Henly Survives Playoff For Honda Classic Win
On a day where the golf course was playing tough and the top of the leaderboard was dropping shots left and right, Russell Henley survived a four man playoff to win The Honda Classic at PGA National.
With the wind swirling for most of the day, the Champions Course made some of the best golfers in the world look like mere mortals on Sunday, leading to an exciting and action packed finish. Rory Mcllroy entred the final round with a two shot lead and despite a four-over 74, managed to hold onto the lead for the majority of the day. The Palm Beach Gardens resident, at 10-under and still clinging to a one shot lead, proceeded to play the Bear Trap (holes 15, 16, and 17, and deemed the toughest three hole stretch on the course) at three over par and lost his lead heading to 18. Meanwhile, Russell Henley, Russell Knox, and Ryan Palmer did enough to get into contention.
While none of the three blew the course away, Palmer had the best round of the three with a 69, all three hung around for most of the day and took advantage of Mcllroy's struggles. All four golfers came to 18 with a chance to win the tournament in regulation as well. Palmer, who actually came to 18 with a one shot lead over the rest of the field at 9-under, missed his par putt to drop down to 8-under. Both Knox and Henley had birdie putts that they couldn't cash in on, and Mcllroy, after hitting his five wood from 240 yard out to 11 feet, couldn't cash in on his eagle putt and had to settle for birdie.
As a result, all four players returned to the 18th tee box to play the whole again. This time, it was Henley who hit the green in two. While the other three golfers struggled to find the green, Henley comfortably two-putted for the birdie and the win. It was Henley's first win since the 2013 Sony Open in Hawaii, his first professional event on the PGA Tour. With the win he will now get invites to all four of the majors inlcuding the Masters, as well as next weekend's World Golf CHampionship event in Doral.
For a complete list of the final results, including where several local top golfers finished, visit www.pgatour.com.
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