ORLANDO, Fla. — Russell Henley faced one shot he hardly ever practices. On another shot, he figured he had little chance for the ball to stay on the green.
Both turned out close to perfectly Sunday in the Arnold Palmer Invitational — one for birdie, the other for eagle — that were key moments in a charge that would have made Arnie proud. He shot 33 on the back nine – the best of anyone in contention for a 2-under 70 that gave him a one-shot win over Collin Morikawa.
“It’s still surreal wearing this thing up here,” Henley said of the red cardigan that goes to the winner at Bay Hill. “Just crazy that it happened like that.”
It all happened so suddenly.
Morikawa never trailed in the final round and stretched his lead to three shots with five holes to play, a tough deficit on a brittle course with thick rough and greens that looked yellow.
Henley hit a 5-iron to 10 feet on the par-3 14th hole for one of only two birdies in the final round, and Morikawa missed the green and make bogey.
“That was a cut 5-iron. I don’t remember the last time … I don’t practice that shot a lot,” Henley said. “I’m not trying to hit a high and soft cut 5-iron very often. I’m just trying to hit it straight to a little draw. So when that one came off and hit the green, I just thought, “Man, that was a really nice feeling.'”
The deficit was down to one.
And then came the pivotal par-5 16th, where Morikawa laid up from a bunker and hit wedge to 18 feet. Henley was in juicy rough behind the green and had to chip from more than 50 feet away, down the slope to a front pin on a green that was yellow, looking as though it barely had any grass.
His caddie, Andy Sanders, figured the chip would have rolled 6 feet by. Henley saw it differently.
“I don’t know that you can stop it,” he said.
Not to worry. It smacked into the pin and dropped for eagle, giving him the lead for the first time all day when Morikawa failed to convert his birdie putt.
Henley finished with two pars and Morikawa, who closed with a 72, couldn’t catch him.
“I was just so nervous. I can’t breathe right now,” Henley told NBC off the 18th green. “It’s so hard and difficult around this place. I just tried to stay really tough this week.”
He made it tough on himself at times, particularly when he made a mess of both par 5s on the front nine to take bogey on each of them.
“I didn’t really feel like I had a great chance at that point, and Collin was just playing so steady, like he always does,” Henley said. “So just to hang in there enough to give myself some looks is what I’ll take from this day.”
He started the back nine with a bogey from the fairway, falling three behind. But he made up for it in a big way, particularly the chip-in for eagle that he called a good break. Breaks like that are what wins tournaments.
“This game is just so hard,” Henley said.
It was another close call for Morikawa, the two-time major champion whose game is back in order and now is missing only a trophy that he hasn’t hoisted in 17 months.
He began by holing a bunker shot for birdie on the first hole. He was in the lead all day, in control all day, in what had been a sleepy final round on a brutal test of fast, firm conditions.
And then suddenly he wasn’t.
“Hats off to Collin. He played super steady,” Henley said. “Sometimes golf is just mean like that.”
Corey Conners opened with 15 straight pars, made one birdie in his round of 71, and finished two shots behind. The consolation prize for the Canadian was earning the one spot available this week in the British Open this summer at Royal Portrush.
Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley set a tournament record with a 29 on the front nine, only to stall and match the tournament-low 64 to tie for fifth.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler didn’t make enough putts or enough birdies for the week. He closed with a 70 and tied for 11th. Scheffler now heads two hours up the road to the TPC Sawgrass as the two-time defending champion at The Players Championship.
Henley finished at 11-under 277 and earned $4 million from the $20 million purse. It was his fifth career win on the PGA Tour, though never against a field this strong. He was more than up to the task as his game has become consistently good over the last three years.
The victory moves him to No. 7 in the world, and the 35-year-old from Georgia looks the part of a top-10 player. He just doesn’t look at himself that way.
“I guess the rankings would tell you that,” Henley said. “But I have so much respect for so many players out here who are all so talented, and so it’s hard for me to kind of comprehend that.”
There was a lot for him to digest Sunday afternoon, starting with the silver trophy at his side and what it took for him to take possession of it.
