Russell Henley’s cathartic victory at World Wide Technology Championship

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Athens, Georgia is about 2,500 miles from Playa del Carmen, Mexico. But for one weekend, at least, it felt much closer than that.

A day after Russell Henley’s alma mater, the University of Georgia, knocked off the No. 2-ranked University of Tennessee in an important college football clash, Henley managed to get the 54-hole lead monkey off his back with a win of his own Sunday at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba.

After a 1-under 70 Sunday, Henley won by four.

“I've just choked, you know. The nerves have gotten to me, and I've made bad mistakes. Bad mental mistakes. And just haven't gotten it done on Sunday,” said Henley of the recent struggles he’s had closing out PGA TOUR events. “Put myself in position a decent amount, just haven't gotten it done. So, to come out and kind of do everything pretty well today tee-to-green and keep it pretty clean and just play steady was what was nice.

“I don't think I would have done it unless I had kind of failed so many times.”

Henley started the day with a six-shot advantage but made bogey on the par-5 fifth – his first bogey of the week. He was seemingly unfazed, however, rolling in three straight birdies from Nos. 6-8 before making the turn.

Henley shot a 1-over 36 on the back nine, but with no one making the big-time charge they needed to in the final groups, the title was all Henley’s for the balance of the afternoon at El Camaleón Golf Course at Mayakoba.

“Walking up 18 I kind of felt like I wanted to cry a little bit,” admitted Henley. “It was almost … just a little bit of emotion, just so much happiness looking back at the times where I kind of choked. I remember at (the Wyndham Championship) a couple years ago, just should have easily won the tournament, was just playing great and didn't get it done. It was such a tough feeling because I put in a lot of work like we all do and just, you know, choked.

“It was just a lot of emotion thinking about how … I'm still here, I'm still fighting, and I just can't believe that I got it done.”

Brian Harman, a fellow Georgia Bulldog, finished runner-up at 19 under after a 5-under 66 on Sunday. Henley and Harman are the first pair of graduates from the same post-secondary institution to finish 1-2 on TOUR since Patrick Reed and Henrik Norlander (Augusta University) at the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open.

Five players finished a shot further back at 18 under and tied for third. In that group included last week’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship winner Seamus Power and world No. 2 Scottie Scheffler.

Scheffler fired a 9-under 62, tied for the low round of the week, after switching putters on Saturday back to the flatstick he used to win four times earlier in the year. His Sunday charge wasn’t enough, and he’ll have to wait another week to try to return to world No. 1. A win or solo second by Scheffler would have done the trick at Mayakoba.

While Scheffler has won four times this calendar year, this marked Henley’s fourth career TOUR triumph. He hadn’t won since the 2017 Cadence Bank Houston Open, but it wasn’t for a lack of opportunities.

In fact, this week marked the fourth 54-hole lead for Henley since 2020.

“You always have doubts, ‘Am I going to win again.’ I've had a lot of tournaments where I haven't gotten it done, so this one's really special,” said Henley. “To be leading by six, which is my largest 54-hole lead, I'm sure, and to just play solid today and get it done gives me a lot of confidence. I'm really excited, really thankful. Yeah, I don't know what to say, it's just surreal.”

The win also marked Henley’s best result at El Camaleón Golf Course – and it wasn’t close. In 2019, Henley missed the cut after calling a penalty on himself for playing the wrong ball, an honest error that cost him eight shots.

He didn’t feel as though this place owed him anything, though.

“I definitely don't regret turning myself in. I mean … that’s what we're all supposed to do,” said Henley. “But it was kind of, in my opinion, a little bit of a stupid situation considering I didn't know that I had played a different ball. So, it's not like I was intentionally doing anything wrong, but you should always turn yourself in if you do something against the rules. I did and I'm happy for that, and now I'm very happy.”

Dawg on top, indeed.