Winners and losers from Honda Classic week

This past weekend saw a lot of great story lines and we are here to give you the good and the bad of it. Here are our winners and losers from the past week in golf.

Winners

Russell Henley — There is a great line at the end of “Rounders” about the main character simply “hanging around,” and that is exactly what Henley did on Sunday at the Honda Classic. He didn’t have his best stuff over that final round, posting a 2-over 72, but with nobody at the top of the leaderboard making a run it was good enough to land in a playoff and that was all Henley needed. Now the 24-year-old adds a second PGA Tour win to his resume that already includes three Web.com wins, impressive considering he has only been a pro for three seasons.

Billy Hurley III — Sure, Hurley III would have loved to finish one shot better and land in that huge playoff with Henley and crew, but his final round 69 was good enough for a fifth place finish, his best on the PGA Tour since July of 2012.

Sergio Garcia — His final round 67 was good enough to jump him into a tie for eighth, meaning in four starts this season on the PGA Tour, Garcia has yet to finish outside the top-11. Pretty impressive stuff from Sergio considering two of those four events were World Golf Championship events and this star-studded Honda Classic.

Paula Creamer — If you haven’t watched this 75-foot eagle putt Creamer made in the LPGA playoff, do it right now. It isn’t just one of the best putts of the year, but maybe one of the best walk-off putts in the history of the LPGA, and her reaction pretty much tells the story of a great player realizing she just won her first event since 2010.

Losers

Rory McIlroy — I’m not as concerned with McIlroy’s poor play on Sunday as some critics, but that 4-over 74 was pretty alarming considering how well he had played PGA National all week heading into the final round. Rory is an incredible talent, nobody will deny that, but he hasn’t had to really grind out a lot of his wins, and he now drops to 0-4 in his career in playoff situations on the PGA and European Tours.

Tiger Woods’ health — He walked off the golf course on Sunday with back issues, adding another wrinkle to a long line of issues he’s had with his knees, Achilles, back and various other parts of his body. Woods is a fighter, a guy that grinds out every round and hopes to improve it by one or two shots, so he isn’t one to quit on a round, so this health thing is really becoming an issue for the No. 1 player in the world. Can you remember another top-notch golfer that had to deal with this many random injuries over his career?

Brendon de Jonge — De Jonge was paired with Rory McIlroy on Saturday in the final round of the Honda Classic, but his weekend went about as bad as it could without having to leave a course because of injury (And he probably wishes he could have after those 36 holes). A member of the 2013 Presidents Cup team for the Internationals, de Jonge shot 76-78 over the final two rounds, dropping all the way down to a T-63.

Phil Mickelson — His missed cut this week at the Honda Classic adds to an already disappointing season that saw Mickelson withdraw at Torrey Pines, finish T-42 at the Waste Management and T-19 at Pebble Beach. Phil is a streaky golfer, and will hopefully get something to click over the next few weeks heading into the Masters, but for now he seems like a confused guy on the course that can’t seem to avoid the big number.

Devil Ball Golf – Golf – Yahoo Sports