On the day of his 44th birthday, Hendry prevailed in a five-man playoff after one of the most dramatic tournaments in recent memory.
It came just five months after he was diagnosed with leukaemia, thus ruling him out of the British Open for which he had qualified, and was his record ninth win on the Charles Tour.
It was an emotional moment for Hendry when he was presented with the trophy by Sir Bob Charles.
"Obviously, the trials and tribulations that I’ve been through this year ... I’ve been pushing hard to get back to the game, and to do this in my second major tournament back is pretty surreal, to be honest.
"I’m blown away."
The northwesterly wind was the dominant player in what became a two round-event at Clearwater.
Hendry, defending champion Josh Geary and Jordan Pruden had solid 4-under-par opening rounds to be two shots ahead of the field when the wind really picked up.
The wind was again fierce on Sunday, so a rare shotgun start was chosen to ensure an even playing field.
The lead seesawed in the final round on the front nine.
Hendry matched three birdies with three bogeys while Geary had one of each, and both players birdied 10 to be tied on 5-under.
On 13, Geary found the fairway bunker but an excellent shot from 170m allowed him to make par. Meanwhile, Hendry missed the short birdie putt for the lead, and both players had three bogeys from there to end on 2-under par.
Both came within a whisker of the win on the final hole. Geary’s longish birdie putt lipped out while Hendry missed a 1.5m putt for the win, much to his dismay.
Tyler Hodge, Dongwoo Kang and amateur Jared Edwards had meanwhile joined them on 2-under to create a five-man playoff on the 18th.
All five made par to go a second time.
Hodge and Edwards hit brilliant second shots for tap-in birdies, while Kang and Geary dropped out with bogeys. Hendry, with the shortest approach shot, left himself a testing 3.5m putt to stay in the playoff and drained it.
Edwards dropped out on the third playoff hole after finding the water behind the green, while Hendry and Hodge made regulation pars to send it to a fourth replay.
Hendry was imperious off the tee, leaving a 90m shot to the green then a 4m birdie putt, which went close.
Hodge, from 160m, was on the edge of the bunker with a testing 6m chip. Thankfully, he was left-handed or his stance would have been in the bunker. He chipped to 1.2m but missed the putt for par.
Hendry tapped in for a deserved victory that had threatened to slip from his grasp on the second playoff hole.
By Neville Idour
