Collin Morikawa will have to wait to get back into the winner’s circle.
After leading for most of the day, Collin Morikawa stumbled down the stretch at Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday afternoon. That opened the door for Russell Henley, who came up with a clutch chip-in late, to surge ahead and take the win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Henley posted a 2-under 70 in his final round, which brought him to 11-under on the week and gave him a one-shot win over Morikawa. That marked his first win on Tour since the 2022 World Wide Technology Championship, and finally ended a stretch where he’s racked up 10 top-10 finishes since the start of the 2024 campaign. That was the most on the PGA Tour in that timespan without a win.
The win also earned Henley a $4 million payday, which more than doubled his current earnings on the season.
“It’s unbelievable,” Henley said on NBC. “Hats off to Collin, he played great today. He played super steady. Sometimes golf is just mean like that.”
Henley started the day a shot back from Morikawa, who drained a long birdie putt to close out his day on Saturday and take the solo lead. But slowly, Henley held pace and waited for Morikawa to stumble on his back nine. Finally, he made his move at the 16th.
Henley, after Morikawa made two bogeys on his back nine, drained a perfect chip from the thick rough on the far side of the green for an eagle. That instantly threw him into the solo lead.
The two of them both parred the 17th, and then Henley held on to grab the win at the last.
“Just so nervous, unbelievably nervous. I feel like I can’t breathe right now,” he said on NBC after the win. “It’s just so hard and so difficult around this place … This game is just so hard and that was unbelievably difficult.”
The win was Henley’s fifth in his career, and his first in more than 850 days. He now has four top-10 finishes in six starts this season, including a T5 finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and a T6 finish last week at the Cognizant Classic.
Morikawa, who had a two-shot lead with just five holes to play, finished with an even-par 72 on Sunday. The 28-year-old has been hanging around the top of the Official World Rankings for years now, but he hasn’t won since his victory at the 2023 Zozo Championship. Morikawa had eight top-10 finishes last season, including a pair of second-place finishes, a T3 finish at the Masters and a T4 run at the PGA Championship. He missed just two cuts on the season, too.
This week was only Morikawa’s fourth start on Tour this season. He finished in second at The Sentry in January in his season debut, and then he had back-to-back T17 finishes last month. He now has nine top-five finishes on the PGA Tour over the last two seasons, which is the most of any player without a win.
Corey Conners finished alone in third at 9-under, which earned him a spot in the British Open later this summer. Michael Kim came in fourth, and Keegan Bradley and Sepp Straka tied for fifth at 7-under.
The PGA Tour will now turn to The Players Championship next week at TPC Sawgrass, which is the last signature event on the schedule before the Masters next month.
