Sunday at the Charles Schwab Challenge was a bit sleepy, but then Russell Henley woke up in a rather aggressive mood. The 37-year-old flipped a switch down the stretch in Fort Worth to earn the sixth PGA Tour win of his career and pass quite a career milestone in the process.
Where there is a winner, there are also many losers, and for Eric Cole, he’s essentially turned into the face of the latter group since earning his spot on the in 2023. His streak of not having the breaks fall his way earned another notch this week, but it’s not all bad for the former PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.
On the other side of the planet, Joaquin Niemann found the winner’s circle yet again in South Korea. He’s somewhat sneakily benefited the most from leaving the PGA Tour, and all he’s missing now is to show any semblance of a pulse at a major championship.
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The theme throughout the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge on Sunday was that none of the half dozen or so players with a chance to win it wanted to go out and take it. But then, Russell Henley volunteered to do so when he stepped to the 16th tee while trailing by three shots.
Down three with three to play makes the approach straightforward. Extremely difficult, but straightforward, and Henley went out and executed by closing his round out with three consecutive birdies to earn a spot in a playoff with Eric Cole.
Henley knocked his tee shot on the par-3 16th hole to 15 feet and drained the birdie putt to officially grab hold of the momentum. He hit his approach shot into the par-4 17th to 15 feet and his final approach on the par-4 18th to just outside the same range.
For a player who has earned a bit of a reputation for lacking aggression down the stretch, the former certainly had plenty of it on Sunday afternoon.
As for the playoff, it didn’t exactly come as a surprise that all Henley needed was one hole to finish the job against Cole. A driver and a wedge inside of five feet, the job was done, and Henley was hugging his three children and his wife as a PGA Tour winner for the first time in 14 months.
In recent years, Henley has become a player who clearly enjoys difficult tests, and winning at Colonial with a score of just 12-under checks that box.
With his victory in Fort Worth, Henley passed the career earnings mark of $50 million. Notable players he’s surpassed on the career earnings list are Ernie Els, Bubba Watson, Tommy Fleetwood, Tony Finau and Luke Donald.
He may be the most unsuspecting $50 million winner in PGA Tour history, which is probably exactly the way he wants it.
Eric Cole is a unique player. He’s 37 years old, is a journeyman in professional golf, has won a dozen times on mini tours, yet remains winless on the PGA Tour despite earning Rookie of the Year honors in 2023.
With that resume as a guy nearing 40, he’s earned the reputation of being a perennial loser, and while he’s not a winner, the criticism he receives feels a bit harsh.
Cole is in the middle of just his fourth season on the PGA Tour, and this past week’s Charles Schwab Challenge marked his 120th start on Tour. In that time, he’s made 84 cuts, finished runner-up three times, has 41 Top 25 finishes and has earned $13.5 million.
It’s safe to assume he’d trade in a couple million bucks to turn one of his second-place finishes into a victory, but it’s not as if Cole is living in some sort of endless, unsuccessful hellscape inside the ropes.
Sunday’s playoff loss to Henley was the second time in his young-ish Tour career that he’s had to witness his opponent birdie the
