After hitting his tee shot in the left rough on the 15th hole in the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge, Russell Henley wasn’t thinking about a victory. Instead, he had a much more modest goal. “Was just like, ‘Man, I got to save par to not go over par on the day,’” he said. And he would. Henley’s approach settled in front of the green, 61 feet from the hole, before chipping to 4 feet. Then, on Colonial’s par-3 16th, he rolled in a 15-footer for birdie. After that? He canned another 15-foot birdie putt. Suddenly, the plaid jacket was within reach. “I didn’t really start thinking about birdieing the last three until I made the putt on 17,” Henley said. “I knew that I had a chance to put a little pressure if I played 18 well.”Indeed, he did, with another birdie, sinking a 16-footer to cap off a final-round 67. Eventually, that would get him into a playoff with Eric Cole, from which Henley would emerge victorious with a fourth and final consecutive birdie. — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 31, 2026“Still kind of speechless about it,” Henley said afterward. Running on pure adrenaline—despite having to wait for Cole to finish regulation, who was playing in the final pairing—Henley plopped his tee shot in the 18th fairway to start the playoff. Cole did, too, although he got a lucky break with his ball bouncing through the left rough and back onto the edge of the fairway. From there, Henley stuck his approach to 5 feet, and Cole’s settled 13 feet from the cup. However, Cole would miss his birdie try. And Henley, of course, made his. “Hit a great drive, got through the ball really well,” Henley said of the playoff hole. “We knew it was playing really short, my lob wedge in regulation went a long way. So we played, I had 135 [yards], I think, hole, if I’m remembering right, and I hit a shot feeling like it was 115, kind of like ball above my feet, down off the right, knew it was going to take a bounce out. So we were playing a yardage that was 20 yards short because it was so hot and the ball was going. So just all of it worked out, I feel like I executed both those shots perfectly. And then was able to hit a decent putt under those circumstances.”Cole, meanwhile, began the day with a one-stroke lead. Looking for his maiden PGA Tour win, he led by two strokes on the ninth tee before rinsing his approach from the rough en route to double. He’d regain the lead with a birdie on the par-5 11th, but parred the ensuing seven holes. The 37-year-old was the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 2023. Since the honor’s inception in 1990, Cole is the award’s only recipient to have not won on Tour. Still, with three top 10s in his last four starts, Cole feels he’s on the verge of a breakthrough. “It’s definitely a positive, for sure,” said Cole, who also lost in a playoff at the 2023 Honda Classic. “I was really happy with the way I played yesterday [shooting 63], obviously. Then today, in the final group, trying to win at Colonial on the PGA Tour is a big spot. I felt like my game was pretty solid most of the day, and just take what I can from it and move on.”But with a birdie barrage for the ages, Henley, the second-highest ranked player in the field at No. 12 in the world, stole the victory for his sixth Tour triumph. Now, after 80 playings at Colonial, making the event the longest-running non-major held at the same venue, Henley’s name hangs on the Wall of Champions alongside icons such as Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino and Phil Mickelson.That’s not too shabby, especially considering Henley’s mindset on the 15th hole. “I’ve seen so many awesome tournament finishes here,” Henley said. “So to be a part of that tournament history is really cool.”More Golf from Sports IllustratedAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow