Mayakoba Leaderboard 2022, points: Russell Henley travels to win the Global Tech Championship
The 2022-23 PGA Tour season may be trending into a year of redemption after Russell Henley successfully clinched his fourth career win at the 2022 Global Tech Championships in Mayakoba. Following in the footsteps of Keegan Bradley and Mackenzie Hughes, Henley’s win at El Camaleon Golf broke a five-year drought since the winner’s round and marked his first title lift since from the 2017 Houston Open.
Ending the week at the age of 23, Henley not only broke his winless streak but also numerous scoring records along the way. Both 36-hole and 54-hole records fell at Mayakoba earlier in the week, and eventually gave way to Henley who also owns the tournament’s scoring record – equivalent to Viktor Hovland’s under 23 total in 2021.
For Henley, this week in Mexico, where his final shot matched his refined play and precise steering, was long overdue. Ranked second, sixth and third in strokes reached in the previous three seasons of the PGA Tour, Henley experienced heartbreaking and painful moments in the final stages of the tournament.
Earlier this year, Henley entered the weekend at the 2022 Sony Open with full control of his match. Playing the last 36 holes of 8 under, Georgia alum was followed by Hideki Matsuyama with a great effort with consecutive rounds of 7 eating under 63.
Having failed to make the playoffs at Waialae Country Club just a few months earlier, Henley had missed the extra holes entirely at the 2021 Wyndham Championships. The three-stroke lead into the final round, the 33-year-old hit four bogeys. nine reverses including one on his 72nd hole, resulting in a three-pointer from 25 feet.
“I was just trying to learn from my past and my troubles,” says Henley. “That’s what I’ve taken from the last two events I’ve played since the start of this season and just trying to figure out what I’m doing wrong and how I can get better at it. All those events that I didn’t finish, they got injured. You don’t know if you’ll ever get another win. It’s tough here. To go down to 18 with a four shot lead, that’s really great. It’s still just… I don’t even know what to say.”
These painful moments only made this moment of joy in Mayakoba so much deeper and more meaningful as Henley entered the event having failed to convert his last five 54-hole lead into victory.
The tenacity with which Henley was able to position himself in this position is commendable, yet consistency hardly pays off in golf without accompanying hardware, especially on the PGA Tour. With such a strong tee-to-green presence – akin to Bradley’s – it made his mind wander and imagining what this victory would do for Henley’s confidence and if this consistency of he can translate into many more titles.
From 2013-18, Henley was one of the best hitters on the PGA Tour before completely failing with a shot in hand. While Henley has weathered his troubles for a handful of recent seasons with a flat stick, his win at the 2022 World Tech Championship illustrates exactly what he can do when fishing. that club cooperates.
A not-so-great champion – despite a 54-hole lead at the 2021 US Open – and a Ryder Cup and President’s Cup non-participant for the US, conventional wisdom and the sheer depth of the PGA Tour shows. that won’t change in 2023. But don’t be surprised if it comes to major championship season or when Zach Johnson is selected as his captain for Rome if there isn’t a moment when Henley isn’t named at least raised in the conversation. Rank: A +
Here’s the score for the rest of the leaderboard at the 2022 World Tech Championships in Mayakoba.
T3. Scottie Scheffler (-18): After a quiet fall, Scheffler lit up the school grounds in Mayakoba on Sunday with a 9 under 62 and the round of the week at the Mayakoba Global Tech Championships. That’s what we got used to him at the start of the year, and even though he didn’t win, his final make it easy to picture him bridging from 2022 to 2023. Grade A-
“I feel good, the game feels good,” he said. “I hit it really well this week apart from a few, you know, bad breaks. And a few things came my way, a few more sets, I was able to get into the right tournament. , but it’s clear that Russell is playing great golf right now and hopefully he’ll continue his journey.”
T15. Collin Morikawa (-15): Morikawa had the best results this fall in Mayakoba, and it coincided with his job with a new batting coach. More interestingly, he goes back to analyst Trevor Immelman after Immelman suggested that Morikawa struggled a bit because it was so difficult to meet the ridiculously high standards he initially set for himself. career by winning too often (including two of his first eight majors). Morikawa’s answer… is a bit odd.
“Well, it’s hard to hear from him,” Morikawa told Golf Channel. “I couldn’t be more interested in what he said there because I don’t think it’s my bar. I think I have a lot more room for improvement. I’m close to reaching the bottom. I don’t think I’ve even finished close to average when placing. If I could just put my shot at average, I think there’s a lot more room for improvement. I don’t know where that comes. from where, but that kind of stinging I don’t like to hear that.
“I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not, I’ll be honest. If he says so, it’s probably wrong from what I’ve heard. As for me, I’ve never been naked. I just want to keep improving. Obviously we’ve taken a few steps back this year. It’s just trying to be better every day and trying to improve on the little things. play well. I set really high goals for myself. It’s only bad when they don’t make it through.”
This must have been a misunderstanding here since Immelman was not trying to offend Morikawa. He simply said that the high bar in one’s career is difficult to return, which is true. Morikawa’s reaction was disproportionate to Immelman’s stance towards him. Rank: B +
T10. VIktor Hovland (-16): It’s not the three peat Hovland envisioned, but Hovland has now scored 67-69-63-65-67-65-62-67-65-69-66-68 over the past three years at Mayakoba and lost to nine out of 393 competitors in that time period. That, of course, is absurd. Class B-
