[Photo: Sam Hodde]
Eric Cole was poised to win his first PGA Tour event in 120 starts, but Russell Henley finished birdie-birdie-birdie to catch him in regulation at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Henley then delivered made another on the first playoff hole to give him win No. 6 while keeping Cole on the schneid.
Related:
A final-nine 31 offset a “jittery” front nine and was highlighted by the finishing kick, which included putts of 15, 15 and 16 feet. Henley then staked a wedge to inside five feet in overtime before rolling in that one, too, with his prototype Scotty Cameron by Titleist Phantom 5 mallet.
It wasn’t all with the flat stick, however. Henley topped the field in driving accuracy with his 10-degree Titleist TSi3 driver and ranked second in strokes gained/approach, picking up more than eight strokes on the field and ranked first in greens in regulation as well.
Henley uses Titleist T100 irons (he also uses a T250 4-iron). Interestingly, Henley employs two different shafts in his irons, using True Temper’s AMT Tour White X100 in his 4- through 6-iron and True Temper’s Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 in his 7- through 9-iron.
Interviewed by CBS afterwards, Henley spoke about how winning creates a desire for more and more success. That didn’t look likely with three holes to play, but he pulled it off with his closing birdie barrage. Or, as Henley said so simply of the winning putt, “It went in at the end”
That it did.
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: Titleist TSi3 (HZRDUS Smoke Black 6.5 TX), 10 degrees
3-wood: Titleist TS3, 16.5 degrees
7-wood: Titleist GTS3, 21 degrees
Irons (4): Titleist T250; (5-9): Titleist T100
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM11 (47, 51, 55, 60 degrees)
Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist Phantom 5
