Russell Henley birdies playoff hole
to beat Eric Cole at Colonial after 3 birdies to end regulation
[June 01, 2026]
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Russell Henley went from standing in the
rough and just trying to avoid going over par in the final round of
the Charles Schwab Challenge to winning the tournament.
After saving par at the 15th hole Sunday to remain three strokes off
the lead, Henley made four consecutive birdies. He finished
regulation with three in a row to force a playoff with Eric Cole,
then got his fourth with a 5-footer on the first extra hole.
“Still kind of speechless about it,” Henley said after a closing
3-under 67 and his sixth PGA Tour victory. “Hard to believe I'm
sitting here.”
Henley’s late surge denied fellow 37-year-old Cole his first PGA
Tour win on a day when Ben Griffin came up just short of a shot to
become the only player other than Ben Hogan to win consecutive
tournaments at Colonial.
Playing in the group ahead of Cole, Henley made 15-foot putts at the
171-yard 16th hole and the par-4 17th. He got to 12 under with a
17-footer on the par-4 18th.
Cole shot an even-par 70. He parred the final seven holes — eight
counting the playoff.
Griffin (65), Alex Smalley (68) and Mac Meissner (69) finished
11-under 269 at Hogan's Alley.
Henley, whose best finish this year had been a tie for third at the
Masters, earned $1.78 million, the plaid jacket and a customized
1982 Jeep Scrambler vehicle.
“I’ve been playing really well the last three or four years, or even
more, really. And even though I’ve been playing well, I still feel
like I keep coming back to this realization that it’s just so hard,”
Henley said. “So to get to win out here and to play consistently
well, it takes everything out of me. ... There’s just the mental
grind of it as well. So just each time I’ve gotten over the finish
line and gotten a win it’s just very special."
The drives for Henley and Cole on the extra hole, playing the 18th
again, stopped in the fairway — Cole got a huge break when his ball
somehow bounced through the left rough and settled on the edge of
the short grass. Henley then hit his wedge shot first, and Cole hit
his to 13 feet before missing his birdie attempt.
Cole, in his 120th PGA Tour start since his debut in 2021, never
fell out of the lead in regulation during the final round, even when
finishing the front nine with his first double bogey (or worse) in a
span of 316 holes. After a wayward drive at the 398-yard ninth and
an approach into the water fronting this green, his long bogey
chance stopped an inch from the cup.
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Russell Henley kisses the winner's trophy after the final round of
the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament at Colonial Country
Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
His only birdie on the back was at the 628-yard
11th, but he had some significant par savers down the stretch. He
made an up-and-down out of a fairway bunker at the 443-yard 12th
hole, lagged a putt inside 5 feet at the par-3 16th after his tee
shot on the green was still 47 feet from the cup, then had a short
chip to set up his last putt after his approach at the 18th took an
awkward bounce right to the rough and was 15 feet away.
“I was proud with the way I played. I think I played solid for the
most part. ... I just needed to get a shave a shot somewhere,” said
Cole, who began the day with a two-stroke lead after a 63 on
Saturday. “It's disappointing, but I still feel good and happy with
the way I played.”
Henley started the day eagle-birdie, but quickly gave all three of
those shots back with bogeys at Nos. 3-5 — the aptly-named Horrible
Horseshoe at Colonial. He had another bogey at No. 9, making the
turn at 8 under.
“Kind of a weird start to the day, and just kept fighting,” Henley
said.
Griffin began six strokes back after three consecutive rounds of 68,
and had five birdies on the front nine. But he didn't have another
until a 25-footer at the 17th hole to get to 11 under, within a
stroke of Cole six holes behind him. Griffin had a long birdie
chance at No. 16 curl just over the top of the cup, then a 50-footer
lipped out at No. 18.
“Pretty cool to see it rolling toward the cup,” Griffin said. “It
almost made for a really dramatic finish.”
Hogan, a five-time winner, won the first two Colonials ever played
in 1946 and 1947, went back-to-back again in 1952 and 1953, and got
his last win in 1959.
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