Weekly PGA Recap: Russell and Bustle

This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.

Golf fans watching the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday witnessed quite the conundrum.

It was clear that the winner would come from the leading trio of Collin Morikawa, Russell Henley and Corey Conners. Yet those three golfers, while all having multiple wins on the PGA Tour, had lately developed solid reputations for being unable to close the deal.

Henley hadn't won since 2022 and Morikawa and Conners had been blanked since 2023. Yikes. 

In the end, Morikawa lived up to the narrative, agonizingly so, but Henley didn't.

The Georgian birdied No. 14 and then dropped in an eagle chip on No. 16 at Bay Hill to vault Morikawa and win the API by one stroke for the fifth and biggest victory of his career. Morikawa stunningly lost a three-shot lead with five holes to go -- with only one bogey. Conners finished another shot back in third.

A month shy of turning 36, Henley is ranked higher than he ever has been before -- No. 7 in the OWGR -- and already appears almost a lock for the U.S. Ryder Cup team at Bethpage later this year.

This was Henley's Tour-leading fourth top-10 in 2025. NBC posted a graphic stating that he was tied for the most top-10s since 2024 without a win --10, along with Sungjae Im -- and Morikawa was right behind with nine.

The thing is, Morikawa had been contending for titles. This was his second runner-up in 2025, plus he had a second and a third last year and two runners-up in 2023. While Henley had been compiling top-10s – he was ranked 14th in the world coming in -- he had only one podium finish from 2023-25 before Sunday.

Henley was asked whether the long winless spell, going back to Mayakoba in the fall of 2022, was hard.

"Yeah, I mean, it really isn't hard, because I just feel like you can play some amazing golf and not win. I mean, Collin played so awesome this week and he didn't win. That's just the tough part of this game.

"I haven't really, because I just feel like there's so many amazing players out here that are so talented, I just, I haven't really put a lot of pressure on myself to win, I've just tried to focus on trying to be really, really good at what I'm good at, try to put myself in the best situation and try to knock on the door as much as I can and get as close to the lead as I can. And kind of have the intent to play to win and put myself in that position, but I haven't really put a lot of pressure on myself to win, just because I know it's just so hard."

Kind of an odd viewpoint for a professional athlete -- to say the least -- admitting that winning wasn't the be-all and end-all -- which, might explain why Henley hadn't won in almost three years.

It's for that reason, among others, that we may not see Henley win again any time soon, even though he's a top-10 player compiling top-10 after top-10.

Interestingly, when Henley was asked whether he felt like a top-10 player, he responded:

"No, I don't really feel like a top-10 player. I just, I have so much respect for this game and all these amazing players, and it's just, it's so difficult to even put yourself in the position to try to win a golf tournament in these, on the PGA TOUR.

"I definitely don't feel like it. I mean, I guess the rankings would tell you that, but I have so much respect for so many players out here who are all so talented, and so it's hard for me to kind of comprehend that."

Again, an odd take from a pro athlete.

Could you imagine Tiger Woods saying that? Could you imagine Arnold Palmer?

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Collin Morikawa
Morikawa has had some soul-crushing fourth-round meltdowns the past few years (see: 2023 Sentry). On Sunday, he had a three-shot lead with five holes to go. But he wasn't trying to fight off Jon Rahm, as he was at Kapalua two years ago. Henley is a mighty fine player but strikes fear in few. This was Morikawa's 11th career runner-up and fourth since 2024, most on Tour, according to the Tour. So it's clear he is playing well. He struggled with his vaunted approach play last year, but he's ranked 10th on Tour this year, plus 27th in SG: Putting. When results are inexplicable, it's often in a golfer's head and not in his game.

Corey Conners
Conners didn't do anything wrong down the stretch; he may have simply been too far behind. He went 1-under on the back-nine, with a birdie on 16. He's another guy who has had trouble contending, or even finishing in the top-10, because his putting has been so bad. But he ranked 13th at Bay Hill and is 111th on the season, which for him is an improvement. The big perk for Conners was that he got the one API berth available for the Open Championship at Royal Portrush this summer.

Michael Kim
After missing the cut at the Farmers a little more than a month ago and falling to 162nd in the world, Kim has finished T2-T13-T13-T6 and now solo fourth. It's clearly the best stretch of his career and, up to No. 52 in the world. That's thisclose to the magical top-50 to qualify for the Masters next month.

Keegan Bradley
Bradley might have some important dates on his golf calendar later this year. But the U.S. Ryder Cup captain is still devoting full effort to his golf game. He shot a 7-under 29 on the front-nine en route to a 64, zooming up the leaderboard to tie for fifth. Bradley now has two top-10s and two more top-20s in 2025 and sits at No.11 in the world, one spot off his career best.

Sepp Straka
We'll give you one guess who is leading the FedExCup Standings and, since it's coming in the post about Straka, you'll probably guess right. After opening with a 77, making it difficult to just make the cut, Straka closed 66-69-69 to soar into a tie for fifth. He now has three top-10s in 2025 – including his win at the Amex – and five top-15s.

Shane Lowry
Lowry led the API at the midway point. It was a bit of a surprise, since this course isn't normally his best fit. That bore out on a 76-70 weekend that left him solo seventh. Still, an excellent week.

Byeong Hun An
After returning to the Tour last year with spectacular results, An's game took a step back later in the season. To start 2025, he had missed three of six cuts with zero top-20s. But some guys just play well at certain tracks, and An tied for eighth at Bay Hill for the second straight year. We'll have to see more from him, obviously, before concluding that An is back to early 2024 form.

Jason Day
Day has quietly played decently to start 2025. He tied for eighth at Bay Hill – his second top-10 of the year and third top-15. He now returns to TPC Sawgrass, where he won nine years ago.

Justin Rose
Rose got one of the four sponsor invites – the ones that didn't go to Jordan Spieth or Rickie Fowler – and did the most with his gift. He tied for eighth, his second top-10 in four starts this year – both in Signature Events. Inching up to 34th in the world, Rose next month will be back at Augusta, where he has come close multiple times.

Scottie Scheffler
Is it time to worry about Scheffler? Is it time for Scheffler to worry? He tied for 11th – again, mere mortals would be thrilled – but he's now opened the season 0-for-4. And remember, he had won here two of the previous three years. Scheffler wasn't terrible in any way at Bay Hill: first in the field in SG: Off-the-Tee, 26th in Approach, fourth in Around-the-Green and 49th in Putting. Okay, the putting needs to improve. Scheffler now heads to THE PLAYERS, where he still will be an overwhelming favorite going after a record three-peat – after he became the first golfer to ever win it back to back a year ago.

Rory McIlroy
McIlroy was never in the mix, never breaking 70. He actually putted great – ranking seventh in the field – but was woeful elsewhere, ranking 26th Off-the-Tee and 40th on Approach. Just like at Bay Hill, that won't cut it at TPC Sawgrass.

Daniel Berger
Berger tied for 15th. What caught our eye was that he opened with a 78, surely heading to a weekend off. But then he shot 69-68-70 for another quality tournament. He jumped from 53rd in the world to 42nd and is on track to play the Masters.

Patrick Cantlay
Bay Hill is the right kind of course for Cantlay. But Cantlay is another guy who hasn't won in a long time. He wasn't even close this week, tying for 31st. He is down to 17th in the world rankings.

Justin Thomas
Thomas has been great in 2025, with a runner-up and two other top-10s. But he didn't have his best stuff this week, resulting in a tie for 36th. He's another former PLAYERS champ heading back to TPC Sawgrass.

Xander Schauffele
Schauffele showed enough in his first Tour start in two months after suffering a rib injury. He opened with a 77, battled hard to make the cut with a 71, took a step back with a 75, then closed with a 69. Never hurts to finish the week with your best round of the tournament.

MISSED CUTS

Viktor Hovland, Max Homa, Sahith Theegala, Maverick McNealy, Akshay Bhatia, Cameron Young, Billy Horschel, Tom Kim. There are a lot of big names here. Remember, only 21 guys missed the cut, from a field of 72 cutting to 51 on the weekend. Hovland and Homa continue to be a mess. Young might be joining them. Theegala has not had a great start to 2025. McNealy and Bhatia -- hey, you can't make every cut.

PUERTO RICO OPEN

The alternate-field event had a surprise winner, if that's even possible in such a weak field. Karl Vilips, a 23-year-old Aussie and Stanford alum, won in only his fourth career PGA Tour start. He was three shots clear of Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen. Vilips is a Korn Ferry grad who had made the cut in Mexico and at the Cognizant. The win put him into THE PLAYERS this week (but not the Masters) and bumped Bud Cauley to first alternate. Vilips is up to 106th in the world, which means he had to be playing well somewhere before heading to Puerto Rico. In fact, he had a win and a runner-up on the KF Tour last year.