With Late Chip-in Eagle, Russell Henley Steals Arnold Palmer Invitational

The Arnold Palmer Invitational proved that a golf tournament doesn't begin until the back nine on Sunday—and all it took was one swing for Henley to snatch the win at Bay Hill.

Russell Henley earned his fifth PGA Tour win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. / Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images

The saying is, a golf tournament doesn’t begin until the back nine on Sunday. 

The Arnold Palmer Invitational proved that to be true—and all it took was one swing for the lead to change. 

Seventy holes into the tournament, Collin Morikawa saw his once three-stroke lead shrink to one. Then, on the par-5 16th, Russell Henley chipped in from 54 feet for eagle, turning a one-stroke deficit into a one-stroke advantage. 

One he wouldn’t relinquish. 

MORE: Final results, payouts from the Arnold Palmer Invitational

With a par on the 72nd hole, the 35-year-old capped off a final-round 70 for his fifth PGA Tour win and his first since the 2022 World Wide Technology Championship. 

HENLEY HOLE-OUT!! 🦅

From 1 back to 1 ahead with one perfect chip.

📺 NBC pic.twitter.com/UZXUvwm4Hq

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 9, 2025

Until the final putt was made, Henley kept his emotions reserved, because he knew the job wasn't finished.

“I didn’t feel like there was much to smile about at that point (after the chip-in),” he said, “just because if I go to the next hole and hit it in the water and then hit it in the water again on 18, then I’m not sitting here, and there’s just a lot of really tough golf ahead of me. So I didn’t really feel like it was a time to smile. I felt like it was time to get really focused on what I need to do on my next shot.”

Morikawa held the 54-hole lead by one stroke over Henley. He got off to a fast start with a hole-out birdie from the greenside bunker on his first hole Sunday, but bogeys on Nos. 10 and 14 proved to be costly. Henley, meanwhile, birdied No. 14, staying on Morikawa’s tail until he finally jumped to the top of the leaderboard with his eagle on No. 16. 

“Just the pressure of knowing that Collin was going to play so steady and knowing that I had to play steady,” Henley said, “it almost made me kind of realize it was just so far from over, knowing that I knew he was going to hit great shots coming down the last two holes as well. So just tremendously hard to win out here.”

Morikawa, a two-time major champion, was looking for his first win since the 2023 Zozo Championship—and his first victory outside the PGA Tour fall series since hoisting the Claret Jug in 2021. 

Morikawa did not talk to the media after the final round.

Entering Sunday, the 28-year-old was 1 for 4 in converting 54-hole leads to wins. One of those was the 2023 Sentry, when he fumbled a six-stroke 54-hole lead, tied for the largest collapse in Tour history. 

At Arnie’s Place, though, he kept himself in position with a final-round 72, but it wasn’t enough to put Henley away. 

Instead, Henley has the biggest win of his career—and arguably its signature moment, too.

“It’s still surreal wearing this thing (the red cardigan sweater) up here,” Henley said. “I’ve tried to just work really hard in all aspects of my game to try to put myself in position to win tournaments and compete at the highest possible level on the biggest and best courses, and just crazy that it happened like that. It’s just hard to take in. I can’t explain it.”