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Henley is the last man standing, wins Honda Classic

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After a meltdown by third-round leader Rory McIlroy (sporting a final-round 74), 24-year-old Russell Henley birdied the first playoff hole — the only one to do among the four who made the playoff — to win the Honda Classic giving him victory No. 2 in his young career. The four-man playoff included Henley (72), Official World Golf Ranking No. 8 McIlroy, Ryan Palmer and Web.com graduate Russell Knox (71).

After rounds of 64-68-6,8 Henley found himself in the final pairing with McIlroy who was champion of the Honda in 2012, a win that vaulted him to No. 1 in the OWGR. Stepping on the first tee with a two-shot lead, McIlroy birdied the par-5 third hole to give him a two-shot lead over Knox, who birdied two of his first three holes to climb to 11-under. It was on the fourth hole that McIlroy’s decline began: he went on to play holes Nos. 4 through 17 in 5-over, needing to hit his his 245-yard second shot on No. 18 to 8 feet and an eventual birdie just to get into the playoff.

Three-time winner Palmer (69) got himself in the mix by making birdies on three of the first four holes. Standing over his third shot on No. 18, his wedge came up just short of the putting surface, forcing him to get up and down to finish at 8-under and earn a seat in the playoff.

The playoff provided some drama with McIlroy, Henley and Palmer all taking cracks at the green in two with eventual winner Henley being the only one to find the surface. After rolling his 69-foot eagle putt to about 4 feet, Henley punched in the birdie for his second win (he won 2013 Sony Open in his first official start) in as many years on the PGA Tour. The win earned Henley $1.08 million in prize money and pushed him from 126th on the FedEx Cup list to 16th.

“This isn’t going to sink in for a while,” Henley said to NBC commentator Roger Maltbie after his round.

Other notables that finished in the top 15 included Spain’s Sergio Garcia (67, T8th), England’s Luke Donald (72,T8th), 2013 Masters Champion Adam Scott (69, T12th) and Keegan Bradley(73,T12)

As in recent years, the Jack Nicklaus-designed PGA National Champion course (7,158 yards) proved to be a stout test for the players with the famous “Bears trap” (holes Nos. 15 to 17) playing a critical factor on the outcome once again. The combined scores of the four in the playoff at the hole was 6-over and Knox was the only one of the four to get through unscathed.

World No. 1 Tiger Woods, who fired a brilliant 65 in Round 3, withdrew after No. 13 on Sunday with severe back pain.

“Too early to tell,” Woods said in a statement about playing next week at Doral. “I’ll get treatment every day to try to calm it down. Just don’t know yet. Wait until Thursday and see how it feels.”

Next week, it’s off to the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championships at the Donald Trump-revived Doral Resort and Spa where Woods (health permitting) will try to fend off a field of the entire top 50 in the OWGR.

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  1. Fred

    Mar 3, 2014 at 11:37 pm

    Despite what the Golf Channel was telling us all week, Rory proved he was human after all. Glad to see Henley join the ranks of the lesser knows who have been winning tournaments lately. As for Tiger, too bad. If he had been able to play as well on Sunday as he did on Saturday, he would have had a good chance of winning the Honda.

  2. Derek

    Mar 2, 2014 at 10:24 pm

    Ryan Palmer missed the putt on the final hole in regulation so he didn’t get up and down and made bogey

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Photos from the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans

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GolfWRX is live on site this week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for the PGA Tour’s one-and-only two-man team event.

As usual, general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums — including some pretty spicy custom putters and headcovers — await your viewing.

Be sure to check back for more photos from the Big Easy, as we’ll continue to update this page with additional galleries throughout the week.

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Photos from the 2024 RBC Heritage

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GolfWRX is on site this week at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island for the RBC Heritage. Plenty of golfers who competed in the Masters last week will be making the quick turnaround in the Lowcountry of South Carolina as the Heritage is again one of the Tour’s Signature Events.

We have general albums for you to check out, as well as plenty of WITBs — including Justin Thomas and Justin Rose.

We’ll continue to update as more photos flow in from SC.

Check out links to all our photos, below.

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Photos from the 2024 Valero Texas Open

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GolfWRX is on site this week at the Valero Texas Open.

The event has been around since 1922, making it one of the oldest on the PGA Tour calendar. Over the years, it’s been held at a variety of courses across the Lone Star State, but it’s found its home at TPC San Antonio in recent years. Some of the biggest names in golf have taken home the title here, including Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Lee Trevino, and Ben Crenshaw.

GolfWRX has its usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs and special pull-out albums. As always, we’ll continue to update the links below as more photos come in from TPC San Antonio.

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