J.J. Henry made only one eagle, but it was enough to beat Kyle Reifers, who had three.
Henry won the Barracuda Championship for the second time in four years by sinking a 15-foot eagle putt from off the green on the second playoff hole to fend off Reifers at Montreux Golf and Country Club in Reno, Nev.
“I was just trying to put a good stroke in it and it went in the hole,” said Henry, who has three PGA Tour victories, also winning the 2006 Buick Championship and this event in 2012 when it was called the Reno-Tahoe Open.
“It’s been a struggle this year, but this was a great week. I dug deep and I’m proud of the way I hung in there today after I got off to a tough start. It’s a great feeling.”
The 40-year-old Henry was going in the wrong direction until he birdied four of the last seven holes, including three in a row through No. 14 and a tap-in birdie on No. 18. That gave him six points for the day under the Modified Stableford scoring system to tie Reifers with 47 overall.
Reifers, 31, who won the 2006 Chattanooga Classic on what is now the Web.com Tour but has yet to win on the PGA Tour, made eagles on the 13th, 14th and 18th holes to finish the day with 22 points.
In the playoff, he matched Henry’s short birdie putt with a clutch birdie of his own from 10 feet on the first extra hole and barely missed from about the same distance in his bid to prolong the playoff.
“It’s just disappointing,” said Reifers, who also won the 2006 Charlotte National Open on the Egolf Tarheel Tour. “At least I lost to a guy who made an eagle putt, did something pretty special. I thought I made that last putt.
“Even though it’s disappointing, all in all I’ll take a lot of positives from this week, and try to get myself back into this position again.”
Patrick Rodgers, the rookie from Stanford, holed a nine-foot eagle putt on the final hole to finish one point back in solo third with 11 points for the day and 46 overall, followed by Andres Gonzales with 10 and 43, David Toms with two and 42, and Retief Goosen of South Africa with eight and 41.
Brendan Steele of Irvine and UC Riverside sank a three-foot birdie putt on the final hole to finish with eight points for the day and 40 overall to tie for seventh with Derek Fathauer, who had 11 points in the final round, and Steve Flesch, who totaled six.
Jason Gore of Valencia and Pepperdine had 16 points in the final round, wedging his second shot into the hole from 104 yards for an eagle on the fourth hole, to tie for 15th with 31 points.
Ricky Barnes of Stockton tied for 18th at 33 when he holed a 20-foot eagle putt from the fringe at No. 18 to salvage a two-point day.
