Eric Cole was minutes away from his long-awaited first PGA Tour win – and then Russell Henley stole it.
Henley birdied the final three holes of regulation and then added a fourth in a row 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 birdied the first playoff hole — the par-4 18th — and Cole got to 13 feet and Henley to 5. When Cole missed his birdie attempt on the high side, it set the stage for Henley, who found the middle of the cup for his fourth straight birdie.
“I just kept telling myself, I want to win,” Henley told CBS reporter Amanda Balionis. “I want to hit these shots and be in contention. That’s why I train hard, and then to come back in the playoffs and do it, I’m still nervous. It was as nervous as I’ve been over a putt in my entire life.”
It’s the first win of the season (and sixth of his career) for Henley, the 37-year-old professional who is ranked 12th in the world. It’s also another heartbreaking loss for Cole, the 37-year-old who had not won in his previous 119 PGA Tour starts but entered Sunday as the 54-hole leader (and three ahead of Henley).
Cole started Sunday 12 under and birdied his opening round, and he was still up by two when he reached the par-4 9th hole, where his approach hit the water and he bogeyed. Kol and JJ Spaun went on the back nine tied at 11 down.
“Doublebogeys are no good,” Cole said. “I just said to myself after that, when I got to the 10 tee, I just said, this is a good place to be, I probably would have taken it starting on the week, so try to take advantage of being in that position.”
Henley’s rollercoaster round took a turn for the better late in the day. He eagled the par-5 first hole and birdied the second, but then made three straight bogeys and fell off the pace. From the moment he birdied 11, he still looked out of it – but then he hit three straight birdies at 16, 17 and 18 to shoot 67.
“I was feeling a little nervous or fast or something in the front end and I hit a few, well I was hitting the fairway, it was just some poor iron swings,” Henley said. “So it’s very disappointing to go back one par. (My caddie) said, ‘Let’s reset,’ and I just relaxed a little bit and started hitting some good shots and I felt like I was hitting good shots most of the day and they just went in.”
When Cole reached the 18th – hitting six straight pars – he needed to make the 18th to win, but his approach went off the green and he failed to putt it. One hole later, Henley finished him in the playoff.
Cole will now have to wait a little longer for that elusive victory.
In a sport where some young stars make waves in their early 20s, Cole spent those years playing mini-tournaments and trying to find a spot on the big tour. When he finally got his own, he posted six top-five finishes and was runner-up twice in 37 starts, which helped him win the Tour’s 2022-23 Rookie of the Year award as a 35-year-old. 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 found the same success of his rookie year these past few seasons, though he bucked the trend this week. He tied for 14th at the Valero Texas Open, tied for 6th at the Zurich Classic team event and tied for sixth again at the Myrtle Beach Classic. He was 31st at the Byron Nelson in his most recent event. He got off to a good start this week and then moved up the leaderboard with a 63 on Saturday. But Henley caught him on Sunday.
“I just had to shave a shot somewhere,” said Cole, who also missed a playoff at the 2023 Honda Classic. “But I was proud of the way I played and it’s disappointing, but I feel good and happy with the way I played.”
