Alex Smalley made a charge on the back nine in his second straight final round on the PGA Tour.
And for the second straight time, he came up just a little short in a bid to earn his first Tour victory.
Trailing by five shots with fewer than nine holes to play Sunday, the Jamestown golfer and Duke graduate made three birdies over his last eight holes to finish one stroke from joining a playoff with Russell Henley and Eric Cole at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
Henley won the tournament with a birdie on the first extra hole.
After making one bogey and nine pars on his first 10 holes, Smalley got up and down for birdie on the par-5 11th, rolled in a 15-foot putt at 12 and a 15-footer at 18 to finish with 68 for the day and 11-under for the tournament.
Smalley rallied after slow starts in the final two rounds of his most recent tournament, the PGA Championship at Aronimink, where he tied for second place.
At Aronimink, Smalley shot 33 on Sunday after firing 37 on the front. In the third round of the PGA, he rebounded from 37 on the front to shoot 31 on the back nine to return to the top of the leaderboard.
