After 120 career appearances, the first PGA Tour win of Eric Cole’s career was within an arm’s reach. All he needed to do was score a 1-under par on Sunday. But he couldn’t get it done and ended up pushing things to the playoff with Russell Henley. With the maiden win remaining elusive, Eric Cole expressed how upset he was at the Colonial.

“It’s very disappointing,” Cole told Mark Immelman during a post-event interview. “I felt like I played pretty well today. It’s a tricky course. It hung pretty tough when I didn’t miss a few shots today. It’s disappointing. But I played well, and I’m proud of that. It feels good to be in contention here. The course played very difficult the last few days. So I was very proud of how I played. Just needed to shoot one shot better.”

Cole had the title in the bag for most of the final round. While he was only one stroke ahead of the field, no one was able to cover the deficit. In fact, Henley’s challenge came as a surprise, as after 15 holes, he was three strokes behind first place. He then scored three birdies in the last three holes to finish his round on level with Cole at 12 under.

On the first playoff hole, Henley made a birdie, putting the ball from inside 5 feet, and Cole saved par. It was Cole’s 120th start on the PGA Tour since his 2021 debut. Even Henley admitted that the final round was quite frustrating, as he wouldn’t have been a challenger if not for his performance in the end. Still trophyless on the PGA Tour, Cole also endured a tough run in the final round.

He started the day at 12-under par and finished on the same score. The 37-year-old had managed to score three birdies throughout the round. But a bogey on the 4th and a double bogey on the 9th pushed him back to where he had started.

“I was proud of the way I played. I think I played solid for the most part. I just needed to shave a shot somewhere,” said Cole. “It’s disappointing, but I still feel good and happy with the way I played.”

But Eric Cole’s run on Sunday was not a reflection of how he had performed throughout the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge. Let’s look at what he did in the other rounds.

Eric Cole’s rise to the top of the leaderboard in Texas before Sunday morning

Before the final round, Eric Cole had proven himself to be a firm favorite to win the tournament. He had progressively delivered better performance after each passing round.

On Thursday, he shot a 3-under 67 with three birdies and no errors throughout the day. While everyone on the field was making mistakes, he remained composed. He found the greens in regulation 83% of the time and had a 100% success rate with scrambles. These were the key factors that helped him save pars throughout the day.

He managed a 2-under 68 in the second round that included six birdies and four bogeys. Cole had an eventful day where he gained a lot of strokes around the green and made some excellent putts whenever he reached the green in regulation strokes. However, he struggled to score on other occasions.

Saturday was the most prosperous round for the 37-year-old as he shot a 7-under 63. He was excellent in his approach shots and putting throughout the round. Eric Cole found greens in regulation 72.22% of the time and made the putts per GIR to earn 1.46 strokes. That was the key to his earning such a great score going into the final round. Had he been able to replicate that form on Sunday, then he would have been a one-time PGA Tour champion already.