Russel Henley won the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The Arnold Palmer Invitational was played at Bay Hill Golf Club in Orange County, Florida. It took place from March 6-9 2025. He won by 1 shot over Collin Morikawa.
Collin Morikawa started off with an alright round one, shooting a 71(-1). At this point he wasn’t towards the top of the leaderboard, sitting at T23. Round 2 is when he started to climb up to the top. He shot a bogey-free 68(-4). Going bogey-free at a course of this difficulty is nearly impossible, you need to play a relatively perfect round. He climbed up to a deserving T4 spot at a total of -5. In his next round, he shot a better score, but played a little bit sloppier that round 2. He shot a 67(-5) with one bogey. His driving accuracy was significantly worse than the previous rounds, but he had some impressive approach shots to set him up for birdie opportunities. At this point he had took the lead by one stroke. His final round was an unfortunate turn of events with him shooting an even par 72. He was able to capitalize on some birdie opportunities, but made some avoidable mistakes and wasn’t able to save par on a couple of holes.
Henley had a very similar tournament. He started off with an even-par 72, with 4 bogeys, and 4 birdies. In his next round he had a relatively identical scorecard to Morikawa. He shot a 68(-4) going bogey-free. The only difference between the scores is that Henley made a tough eagle on the par-five 16th hole, instead of 2 birdies like Morikawa did. He was sitting at T5, tied with Rory Mcilroy and Jason Day. In round 3 he shot the same score ar Morikawa once again, a 67(-5). He started his back-nine with 4 birdies on a row. He had worked his way up to T2, only behind Morikawa. His final round was not his best, but it was just enough to get him the win. He shot 70(-2) with a very clutch chip in eagle on the par-five 16th for the second time in the tournament. That round was just enough to beat out Morikawa by one stroke
With the win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Henley won 4 million dollars in earnings, one of the higher payouts of any tournament on the PGA Tour. Although it was heartbreak for Morikawa, he still walked away with 2.2 million dollars, which is more than some tournaments give to the winner.
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