Russell Henley steals Colonial title as 1 pro’s long wait gets longer
Eric Cole was minutes away from his long-awaited first PGA Tour win – then Russell Henley stole it.
Henley birdied the final three holes of regulation and then added a fourth straight on the first playoff hole to dispatch Cole and win the Charles Schwab Challenge on Sunday at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
Both players hit the fairway on the first playoff hole – the par-4 18th – and Cole birdied to 13 feet and Henley to 5. When Cole missed his birdie attempt on the high side, it set the stage for Henley, who scored his fourth birdie in a row in the middle of the cup.
“I kept telling myself, I want to win,” Henley told CBS reporter Amanda Balionis. “I want to hit these putts and get into contention. That’s why I practice so hard, and then I go back to the playoffs and do that, I’m still nervous. That was as nervous as I’ve ever faced a putt in my life.”
It was the first win of the season (and sixth of his career) for Henley, the 37-year-old champion who is ranked 12th in the world. It was yet another heartbreaking loss for Cole, the 37-year-old who was winless in his past 119 PGA Tour starts but entered Sunday as the 54-hole leader (and three ahead of Henley).
Cole started Sunday 12 under and birdie-birdied his opening round, and still had a two-over lead when he reached the par-4 9th hole, where his approach found water and he made a double bogey. Cole and JJ Spaun went on the back nine tied at 11 under.
“Double bogeys are not good,” Cole said. “I just said to myself after that, when I got to the 10th tee, I just said, this is a good place to be, maybe I should have taken that to start the week, so try and benefit from being in that situation.”
Henley’s rollercoaster circuit took a turn for the better during the day. He eagled the par-5 first hole and made par on the second but then made three straight bogeys and fell to the ground. After he birdied 11 he still seemed to be out of it – but then he rattled off three straight birdies at 16, 17 and 18 to shoot a 67.
“I was feeling jittery or fast or something before and I hit one, I hit the fairway, it was a bad iron swing,” Henley said. “So it’s very tiring to turn around in one place. [My caddie] said, ‘Let’s reschedule,’ and I calmed down a little bit and started hitting good shots and I felt like I was hitting good putts all day and they just went in at the end.”
When Cole got to the 18th – coming off six straight birdies – he needed to birdie 18 to win, but his approach went off the green and he couldn’t put it away. One hole later, Henley finished in the playoff.
Cole will now have to wait a little longer for that unexpected victory.
In a game where some young stars make their debut in their 20s, Cole spent those years playing on the smaller tour and trying to earn a spot on the big tour. When he finally found his, he had six top-five finishes and two second-place finishes in 37 starts, helping him win the Tour’s 2022-23 Rookie of the Year Award at age 35. He was the second oldest winner of that award in PGA Tour history, behind only Todd Hamilton, who was 38 when he won in 2004. (Cole also followed in the footsteps of his mother, Laura Baugh, who won LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 1973.)
But Cole hasn’t had the same success of his rookie year a few seasons ago, despite entering this week trending. He tied for 14th at the Valero Texas Open, tied for 6th at the Zurich Classic team event and tied for sixth at the Myrtle Beach Classic. He was 31 at Byron Nelson in his latest event. He got off to a good start this week and topped the leaderboard with a 63 on Saturday. But Henley caught him on Sunday.
“I needed to shave somewhere,” said Cole, who also lost the Honda Classic play off in 2023. “But I was proud of the way I played, and it’s disappointing, but I still feel good and happy with the way I played.”
