Henley shot a 1-over 36 on the back nine, but with no one making the big-time charge they needed to in the final groups, the title was all Henley’s for the balance of the afternoon at El Camaleón Golf Course at Mayakoba.

“Walking up 18 I kind of felt like I wanted to cry a little bit,” admitted Henley. “It was almost … just a little bit of emotion, just so much happiness looking back at the times where I kind of choked. I remember at (the Wyndham Championship) a couple years ago, just should have easily won the tournament, was just playing great and didn’t get it done. It was such a tough feeling because I put in a lot of work like we all do and just, you know, choked.

“It was just a lot of emotion thinking about how … I’m still here, I’m still fighting, and I just can’t believe that I got it done.”

Brian Harman, a fellow Georgia Bulldog, finished runner-up at 19 under after a 5-under 66 on Sunday. Henley and Harman are the first pair of graduates from the same post-secondary institution to finish 1-2 on TOUR since Patrick Reed and Henrik Norlander (Augusta University) at the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open.   

Five players finished a shot further back at 18 under and tied for third. In that group included last week’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship winner Seamus Power and world No. 2 Scottie Scheffler.

Scheffler fired a 9-under 62, tied for the low round of the week, after switching putters on Saturday back to the flatstick he used to win four times earlier in the year. His Sunday charge wasn’t enough, and he’ll have to wait another week to try to return to world No. 1. A win or solo second by Scheffler would have done the trick at Mayakoba.

While Scheffler has won four times this calendar year, this marked Henley’s fourth career TOUR triumph. He hadn’t won since the 2017 Cadence Bank Houston Open, but it wasn’t for a lack of opportunities.  

In fact, this week marked the fourth 54-hole lead for Henley since 2020.

“You always have doubts, ‘Am I going to win again.’ I’ve had a lot of tournaments where I haven’t gotten it done, so this one’s really special,” said Henley. “To be leading by six, which is my largest 54-hole lead, I’m sure, and to just play solid today and get it done gives me a lot of confidence. I’m really excited, really thankful. Yeah, I don’t know what to say, it’s just surreal.”