Russell Henley made his first bogey of the week during the final round of the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. That was about all that went wrong for him.
Henley started the day with a six-stroke lead and never lost it, shooting a final-round 70 for a four-stroke win over Brian Harman on Sunday. It’s the fourth PGA Tour win for the Georgia native, but the first since the 2017 Houston Open.
It’s also the first time in his last five tries Henley has successfully converted a 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour. Only two out of 25 players in the last 15 seasons were unsuccessful at converting 54-hole leads of six strokes or more. But Henley had little trouble.
He led a record-scoring pace at El Camaleon Golf Course, and his final score of 23 under tied the tournament scoring record set by Viktor Hovland last year.
The only bit of adversity Henley faced all week came at the fifth hole Sunday. After playing bogey-free through the first three rounds, Henley pulled his second at the reachable par-5 left into the penalty area. After the drop, he was unable to get up and down for the first time all week.
His response to his first bogey of the week and his lead dropping to just three? Three straight birdies to restore his six-shot lead.
In a bid to reclaim World No. 1, Scottie Scheffler posted a nine-under 62 shortly after the leaders teed off and held on to solo second at 18 under until Harman finally passed him with a birdie on 13. He needed a solo second or win to overtake Rory McIlroy as the world’s top-ranked golfer after McIlroy’s win two weeks ago at the CJ Cup.
Henley coasted on the back nine, making eight pars and one more bogey on the 16th hole when the win was already locked up.
