Richard Henley wins Honda Classic after Rory four-man play-off
Rory McIlroy gives up two-shot lead and Tiger Woods quits after back spasms
Russell Henley made good on his second chance at the 18th hole on Sunday and won the Honda Classic in a four-man playoff.
The closing hour was a series of blunders at PGA National, particularly by Rory McIlroy, who lost a two-shot lead by closing with a 74.
Henley was in a three-way tie for the lead, 40 yards left of the flag on the par-5 18th in regulation, when he chunked a chip so badly that it only got halfway to the hole. He had to two-putt for par, and then watched as McIlroy nearly made a great escape from an otherwise bad afternoon. McIlroy hit a 5-wood from 236 yards to just inside 12 feet for an eagle and the win. It narrowly slid by on the right.
In the playoff, Henley was the only player to reach the 549-yard hole in two, and he two-putted from about 40 feet for birdie. Ryan Palmer missed a 10-foot birdie putt. McIlroy went from the back bunker to the front collar and had to scramble for par, and Russell Knox laid up and missed a 20-foot birdie attempt.
“This isn’t going to sink in for a while,” Henley said.
Tiger Woods abruptly quit after 13 holes and was driven straight to his car. He later said he had lower back pain and spasms, and was unsure if he could play at Doral next week. And then came all the mistakes by four players trying to win.
Palmer missed a 5-foot par in regulation that would have won it. He closed with a 69, the only player in the last six groups to break par. Knox needed a birdie on the last hole, but he went from the fairway bunker to the rough, well over the green and then calmly made a par putt just inside 10 feet for a 71 to get in the playoff.
They all finished at 8-under 272.
The conditions were tough. The play was so underwhelming that McIlroy said that if he had won, “It would have felt undeserved in a way.”
He won’t know that feeling.
Instead, the 24-year-old from Northern Ireland closed with a 74. It was his second straight tournament in stroke play that he played in the final group and shot 74. He tied for ninth in the Dubai Desert Classic. His undoing came on the 16th, when McIlroy missed on a 6-iron from the bunker and went into the water, making double bogey. He fell out of the lead for the first time with a bogey from the bunker on the 17th.
“I was fortunate I was in the playoff,” McIlroy said. “Seventy-four wasn’t good enough to get the job done. To go out with a two-shot lead, you have to play well enough to win the thing. If I had won today, I would have counted myself as lucky. I’ll pick myself up, get back it, try to get back at it at Doral and try to get the job done.”
Henley, who closed with a 72, won for the second time and qualified for the Masters. He also moves into the top 50 in the world ranking, making him eligible for the Cadillac Championship next week at Doral.
