Russell Henley hasn’t been a good closer on the PGA Tour. No, he’s been quite the opposite. He came into Sunday at the Mayakoba championship sitting on another 54-hole lead knowing that the five previous times he’s been in that position, he failed to close it out and win.
But this Sunday in sunny Mexico was different — Henley built a six-shot lead going into the final 18 at El Camaleon, a lead he surely couldn’t squander.
Things were a bit touchy early, four straight pars then a bogey at the par five fifth, his first of the tournament, saw his lead cut in half. He didn’t let the past haunt him. Henley responded with three straight birdies that helped him pull away from the chasers. After that nice front-nine run, no one got closer than four shots the rest of the afternoon.
It didn’t take perfect golf. His final round 70 helped him tie the 72-hole mark of 23-under set last year by Viktor Hovland. His three previous rounds of 63-63-65 got him within one of the record thru 54-holes.
Henley’s known as a great iron player on the PGA Tour and this week, he led the field in fairways hit, which opened the door for his strong iron game and he obliged with a total clinic the first three rounds. After his birdie-run on the front, he rattled off six straight pars before he made bogey at the 16th. By then things were pretty well in hand.
“I just tried to learn from my past and my screw-ups,” Henley said with a smile after picking up his fourth Tour win, his first in five years. “All those events I didn’t close out, they hurt. You never know if you’ll win another. To come down 18 with a four-shot lead was really cool.”
Henley also spoke about the difficulty of closing out a tournament. “It’s tough. I don’t sleep well on a lead. I need a lot more practice,” Henley said. “I have no idea how Tiger did this 80-some times. It’s tough for me just to kind of calm down. You definitely don’t feel the same as when you’re practicing at home, but that’s the fun of it. That’s why we play.
“We want to see what we’re made of out here and get tested under pressure.”
The win helped erase the painful memory of the 2021 Wyndham, the last regular season event. He held a three-shot lead heading into Sunday after leading each of the first three rounds. In the final round, he was the only player in the top 35 to shoot over par and he eventually lost in a playoff to Kevin Kisner.
But there would be no collapse this time.
That first bogey didn’t trigger a collapse. Instead, it sparked a birdie run and the eventual march to victory.
And just like that, Russell Henley became a closer.
