Russell Henley misses the Colony, Eric Cole stays, and Joaquin Niemann turns in Korea.

Sunday at the Charles Schwab Challenge was a sleepy affair, but Russell Henley woke up in a fiery mood. The 37-year-old turned in Fort Worth to win the sixth PGA Tour title of her career and achieve a career milestone.

Where there are winners, there are also many losers, and for Eric Cole, he has actually become the face of the latter group since he secured his spot on the PGA Tour in 2023. His losing streak hit another notch this week, but it’s not all bad for the former PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.

On the other side of the planet, Joaquin Niemann found the LIV Golf winner’s circle in South Korea. He’s benefited in a big way from leaving the PGA Tour, and what he lacks now is showing any pulse in the majors.

This is Par Talk, a weekly read to catch up on all the professional golf happenings you need to know. You can follow Mark on X @itismarkharris and send an email to him mark.harris@outkick.com.

Russell Henley Succeeds in Blowing Up the Castle

The theme throughout the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge on Sunday was that none of the half-dozen or so players with a chance to win it wanted to go out and take it. However, Russell Henley volunteered to do so when he reached the 16th while trailing by three shots.

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Down three and three play makes the path straight. It’s tough, but fair, and Henley came out and killed it by closing out his round with three consecutive birdies to earn a spot in the playoff with Eric Cole.

Henley hit his shot on the par-3 16th hole to 15 feet and pulled in a birdie putt to officially seize the momentum. He hit his approach on the par-4 17th to 15 feet and his final approach on the par-4 18th to just outside the same distance.

For a player who has earned a reputation for lack of aggressiveness on the move, the former Georgia Bulldog had a lot going for him Sunday afternoon.

As for the playoff, it was no surprise that all Henley needed was one hole to complete the feat against Cole. Driver and line within five feet, the job was done, and Henley was hugging his three children and his wife as a PGA Tour winner for the first time in 14 months.

In recent years, Henley has become a player who clearly relishes the tough tests, and he won at Colonial with 12 points-under checks in that box.

With his victory in Fort Worth, Henley passed the career mark of 50 million dollars. The most notable players on the leaderboard are Ernie Els, Bubba Watson, Tommy Fleetwood, Tony Finau and Luke Donald.

He could become the most unexpected $50 million winner in PGA Tour history, which may be exactly what he wants.

Eric Cole’s nightmare isn’t so bad

Eric Cole is a unique player. He is 37 years old, a professional golfer, has won a dozen times on the junior tour, yet is winless on the PGA Tour despite being awarded Rookie of the Year in 2023.

With that reboot as a guy in his late 40s, he’s earned a reputation as a perennial underachiever, and while he’s not a winner, the criticism he receives feels harsh.

Cole is in the middle of his fourth season on the PGA Tour, and this past week’s Charles Schwab Challenge marked his 120th Tour start. During that time, he made the cut 84 times, finished second three times, had 41 Top 25 finishes and earned $13.5 million.

It’s safe to assume that he could trade up for a few million dollars to turn his second base into a success, but it’s not like Cole is living in some perpetual, no-win zone inside the ropes.

Eric Cole tees off on the eighteenth during the third round of the PGA Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club on Saturday, May 30, 2026 in Fort Worth, TX. (Photo by Austin McAfee/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) (Austin McAfee/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Sunday’s defeat at Henley was the second time in his young Tour career that he had to birdie the first extra hole to close the door. Chris Kirk gave him the same treatment in the 2023 Honda Classic.

Cole wasn’t at his best on Sunday, hitting just 10 greens in regulation, but he also carded an even-par 70 to give himself a chance at his first win on Tour. He knows better than anyone out there that even rounds on Sunday don’t usually get the job done, and he understands that he got beat by a guy who just burned the floor.

It won’t make the sting any less painful, but that’s golf sometimes.

Joaquin Niemann Investigates After Another Victory at LIV

LIV Golf, or at least this version of LIV Golf, may be gone in just a few months, and of all the players in the cage, Joaquin Niemann may be the most upset about it.

The Chilean beat Talor Gooch in a playoff to win LIV Korea at the weekend for his eighth title since joining the circuit in 2022. Those eight titles are more than any other LIV player, and while he’s not the first, second, or maybe even fifth player fans think of when it comes to LIV, he definitely should be.

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LIV’s loudest critics will try to say that Niemann’s eight victories are unremarkable, but winning professional golf tournaments, even if they are not cut-off events, is not easy. To do so eight times in less than five years is very impressive.

Perhaps the scariest, and most frightening fact about Niemann, is that he is only 27 years old. If (when) LIV goes official, Niemann’s next move will be among the most interesting to follow.

Chile’s Joaquin Niemann of Torque GC celebrates his victory at the end of LIV Golf Korea at the Asiad Country Club in Busan on May 31, 2026. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP via Getty Images) (Jung Yeon-je / AFP via Getty Images)

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As a two-time winner on the PGA Tour and a former player ranked 15th in the world, there’s no denying that he has the game to make serious noise at the game’s major stages, but he has shockingly failed to do so throughout his career.

In his 28th major tournament start, he has only one top-10 finish, which was T-8 at the 2025 PGA Championship. The sample size is large, the results very poor, but he still has all the time in the world on his side, and what he does with it over the next ten years will be an interesting watch.