By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

Tommy Fleetwood left the door open, and it sure looked like neither Russell Henley nor Keegan Bradley would squeeze through.

And then came No. 18, when all that seemed mostly settled imploded.

ARE YOU KIDDING?!?!

CRAZY GOOD from Russell Henley 🤯 he climbs to 14 under par pic.twitter.com/buG4e00hdD
— Golf on CBS ⛳ (@GolfonCBS) June 22, 2025

After two shots in the rough, Henley came through with his play of the weekend, drilling a 52-foot chip for a birdie that suddenly lumped him into a tie and suddenly increased chances for a three-way playoff.

Fleetwood followed with a staggering bogey, and then Bradley ended the possibility of a playoff by calmly draining the 6-foot birdie for the win.

Henley settled for a tie for second with a 14-under 266 and four under-par rounds, but his final shot of the tournament no doubt erased some frustration throughout the day.

The three made up the final group Sunday at The Travelers, and stayed together the entire afternoon, Bradley sharing the lead at times while also nearly falling out of contention.

Henley was the steadiest of the three on a status quo day, but couldn’t come up with the shot to put him in a tie for first or add to pressure on Fleetwood – who was 2 over in the final round – until the end.

It capped a solid tournament during which Henley jumped from 26th to 13th after two days before exploding on Saturday with a career-tying 61.

He went into Sunday tied for second, and strayed only into a tie for third momentarily en route to his third straight top-10 finish.

Henley storms through TPC River Highlands and ties career low to settle in second place through three rounds

Jason Day made a move into a tie behind Fleetwood, but couldn’t get over the hump. Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy were on the verge of getting in the hunt, but couldn’t crack the top three.

Harris English did, though, and went to the clubhouse tied for third, two back, finishing tied for fourth.

“Electric crowd,” Henley said. “Pretty awesome to finish like that.”

Henley’s final shot helped ease the pain of 15 and 16, when it appeared his putter killed his chances for a win, both wasting good approaches. His 12-footer for birdie on 15 and 7-footer for par on 16 were both off from contact.

But Fleetwood couldn’t pull away, and all three made their lives difficult down the stretch.

“I wasn’t doing a good job of getting it close enough to the hole to make a ton of birdies,” he said. “And when I did hit it to 10 or 15 feet, I just didn’t convert as much as I’d like.”

Fleetwood’s 29-footer for birdie left him a 5-footer for par on 17, and Henley’s 20-footer for birdie was just right. Bradley tapped in a 3-footer for par, and they headed to 18 with Fleetwood up one on Bradley and two on Henley.

His fate seemed sealed with two shots into rough, while Bradley installed drama into the final hole with a monster second shot from 137 yards out that left him a 6-footer for birdie, which – after Fleetwood bogeyed and Henley birdied – he calmly drained.

Things could have been clarified some on No. 15, but only got cloudier, as was the case most of the day.

Fleetwood went first, and into the crowd. Henley found major rough on the right side, and Bradley – having fallen from the tie for second a hole earlier - into a bunker.

Fleetwood got a break with the drop and a clean shot, but Henley had the best second shot of the three, getting to within 11 feet, compared to 37 feet for Bradley and 24 for Fleetwood.

Bradley pulled off the stunning birdie putt, Fleetwood came up short, and Henley was off-target from the start, settling for a 21-inch par and missing a chance to take sole possession of second.

And it was back to a three-way tie for second, two back of Fleetwood.

Bradley had the best tee shot on 16, Henley sitting on the fringe of the green, 41 feet from the pin. His birdie try came up six feet short, and Fleetwood gave a shot back with a bogey.

From 15 feet for a birdie and tie for first, Bradley was short, and then Henley was just right for his third bogey of the day.

That dropped him into a tie for third with Jason Day and former Georgia teammate English, who had just finished with a nifty 5-under to move onto the leaderboard, all two back of Fleetwood.

Day was one hole ahead of the final group, and just missed a birdie putt to finish 13 under and tied with Bradley and Henley, temporarily.

“I feel like I hung in there,” Henley said, “and did a lot of really good things.”

While Fleetwood’s inability to finish with a win and Bradley’s ability to overcome tough situations will be the prime topics, Henley giving back a stroke on Friday with a self-reported minor violation will be discussed as well.

His ball on No. 8 moved “a dimple”, something only Henley saw. He reported it, and took a one-stroke penalty for a bogey after what would’ve been an impressive par save.

“It was hard to put it behind me, just because it was such a hard day, it was such a good par save,” Henley said Saturday after, well, he put it behind him. “And to make a 3 but to count it as a 4 was like, ‘Ugh,’ but part of it.”

Fleetwood struggled at the start on Sunday, with three bogeys on his first four holes, coming back to the field a little. Quickly, Bradley joined him in a tie for first with Henley right behind.

Henley had a chance to tie it, but a low-percentage 26-footer on No. 5 was wide right by less than an inch.

Nobody was creating room or gaining ground. The top three were a stroke apart through five, with Day just 2 back through six, and that’s how the afternoon went: tight, with chances lost.

Through 10, Fleetwood remained on top by one over Henley, Bradley, and Day, with Scheffler two back of the group and McIlroy three back.

Fleetwood extended the lead to two with an eagle on par 3 No. 11, and Scheffler pulled within a shot of the group at second with a birdie on 14.

Day was the only player to crack the top three on Sunday.

Henley took home a check for $1.76 million, putting him over $40 million in career earnings with his 64th top-10 finish.