PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Russell Henley’s dramatic Honda Classic victory in a four-man playoff Sunday at PGA National was his second career win. He won $1.08 million for it. Neither of those two things, however, matter as much to him as one particular by-product to the win: An invitation to next month’s Masters.
Henley is from Macon, Ga., not far from Augusta, and he grew up worshipping the Masters, dreaming of one day winning it. He qualified for his first Masters in 2013 with his victory at the Sony Open, his first career victory in his first career PGA Tour event, but missed the cut.
His 25th birthday falls on the Saturday of this year’s Masters, meaning he’ll need to make the cut to play there on his birthday.
“I saw a couple Masters commercials this week, and I’ll be honest, it hurt, it hurt to see them,’’ Henley said. “It hurts to see guys wearing the hat that you’re wearing and knowing that I wasn’t in. I just kept thinking to myself, and it’s been like this for a while … I just can’t imagine not playing again. I just feel like that would hurt me really bad.
“I try to think positive and not get my hopes up too much about it, but I think about it a lot and hopefully this year will be a little bit better than the last. I think going there growing up almost every year as a junior golfer and getting there and just the whole process of going. It was such a cool, like big deal.
“It was definitely a little bit overwhelming for me [playing there last year]. I didn’t expect to be in the Masters my first year on Tour, but I just think going there, growing up and just it’s always so special. It’s going to be cool to go back.’’
Henley is going back to Augusta because he persevered best on a final round that was defined almost more for players failing to handle the pressure well than for great shots.
Henley’s final round was a microcosm of the entire day. He birdied No. 13, then chipped in for birdie on No. 14 for the second consecutive round to vault himself into serious contention. He then hit his tee shot on the par-3 15th hole into the water and double bogeyed it.
He parred in from 16 in regulation to finish in the playoffs at 8-under and was the only one of the four players in the playoff, including Rory McIlroy, to birdie No. 18 the second time around.
“This doesn’t feel real,’’ Henley said. “This is not exactly what I was expecting at the start of the week. It was a rush to be out there playing with Rory and the crowd. I hope I can have a bunch more Sundays just like that in my career.’’