After a meltdown by third-round leader Rory McIlroy (sporting a final-round 74), 24-year-old Russell Henley birdied the first playoff hole — the only one to do among the four who made the playoff — to win the Honda Classic giving him victory No. 2 in his young career. The four-man playoff included Henley (72), Official World Golf Ranking No. 8 McIlroy, Ryan Palmer and Web.com graduate Russell Knox (71).

After rounds of 64-68-6,8 Henley found himself in the final pairing with McIlroy who was champion of the Honda in 2012, a win that vaulted him to No. 1 in the OWGR. Stepping on the first tee with a two-shot lead, McIlroy birdied the par-5 third hole to give him a two-shot lead over Knox, who birdied two of his first three holes to climb to 11-under. It was on the fourth hole that McIlroy’s decline began: he went on to play holes Nos. 4 through 17 in 5-over, needing to hit his his 245-yard second shot on No. 18 to 8 feet and an eventual birdie just to get into the playoff.

Three-time winner Palmer (69) got himself in the mix by making birdies on three of the first four holes. Standing over his third shot on No. 18, his wedge came up just short of the putting surface, forcing him to get up and down to finish at 8-under and earn a seat in the playoff.

The playoff provided some drama with McIlroy, Henley and Palmer all taking cracks at the green in two with eventual winner Henley being the only one to find the surface. After rolling his 69-foot eagle putt to about 4 feet, Henley punched in the birdie for his second win (he won 2013 Sony Open in his first official start) in as many years on the PGA Tour. The win earned Henley $1.08 million in prize money and pushed him from 126th on the FedEx Cup list to 16th.

“This isn’t going to sink in for a while,” Henley said to NBC commentator Roger Maltbie after his round.

Other notables that finished in the top 15 included Spain’s Sergio Garcia (67, T8th), England’s Luke Donald (72,T8th), 2013 Masters Champion Adam Scott (69, T12th) and Keegan Bradley(73,T12)

As in recent years, the Jack Nicklaus-designed PGA National Champion course (7,158 yards) proved to be a stout test for the players with the famous “Bears trap” (holes Nos. 15 to 17) playing a critical factor on the outcome once again. The combined scores of the four in the playoff at the hole was 6-over and Knox was the only one of the four to get through unscathed.

World No. 1 Tiger Woods, who fired a brilliant 65 in Round 3, withdrew after No. 13 on Sunday with severe back pain.

“Too early to tell,” Woods said in a statement about playing next week at Doral. “I’ll get treatment every day to try to calm it down. Just don’t know yet. Wait until Thursday and see how it feels.”

Next week, it’s off to the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championships at the Donald Trump-revived Doral Resort and Spa where Woods (health permitting) will try to fend off a field of the entire top 50 in the OWGR.