Pacific Palisades: Bubba Watson captured the Northern Trust Open for the second time in three years on Sunday, emerging from a crowded leaderboard to win by just one stroke.
Meanwhile, Anirban Lahiri was hit by late bogeys, as he slid from a potential top-20 finish to tied 39th. The 28-year-old Indian was doing fine at one-under for 10 holes and six-under for the tournament, when he got run over by three bogeys on 12th, 15th and 16th and suddenly he dropped to two-over on Sunday. Lahiri finally finished at three-under for the tournament.
It was his third cut in four starts in 2016, but each week his game has suggested that better results are around the corner. Lahiri lies 94th in the FedEx Cup standings.
Watson, proved once again why he is such a dangerous player. Two shots adrift with four to go, the two-time Masters champion, who already has a win in the Hero World Challenge this season, albeit in the calendar year 2015, rallied superbly with a pair of birdies over the last three holes to overtake Jason Kokrak (68).
Rory McIlroy's hopes of launching his Masters preparations with a victory fell apart after the world No. 3 from Northern Ireland fired a final round 75.
McIlroy, who was making his first start at Riviera, eagled the first but then played the holes from four through 13 in six-over. "One of those days, I couldn't really get anything going after the good start," said McIlroy, who finished at tied 20th, ninth strokes back of Watson.
McIlroy was hoping to sharpen his game by switching his traditional pre-Masters schedule, but after three rounds in the 60s, he plans a return to Riviera. "This is definitely going to be a regular for me on the schedule going forward," he said. "Staying in Santa Monica and having the beach there."
The two-time Masters winner now heads to the first major championship of the season at Augusta National in seven weeks, looking for his third green jacket.
The 37-year-old American, who also won at Pacific Palisades in 2014, birdied two of his final three holes en route to a three-under 68 for a 15-under 269 total. "What I was looking for today was to make par and then throw in some lucky birdies," said Watson, who now has nine wins on the US PGA Tour. "I want to get to 10 wins because that is a big stepping stone in this day and age on the PGA Tour."
Watson's playing partner, Kokrak, fell just short in his quest for his first PGA title, closing with a 68 to finish at 14.
Kokrak, Scott, Dustin Johnson, K.J. Choi and Marc Leishman all took runs at top spot on the leaderboard.
Watson moved into a tie for the lead at 14-under with a birdie on the par-three 16th, landing his tee shot just five feet from the hole.
He had a 45-foot putt for eagle on the par-five 17th that stopped three feet short, giving him another easy birdie. Watson reached the green in two on 18 then two putted for the victory.
"Starting the day, it was anybody's ballgame, so I just held it together," Watson said.
"I looked at the leaderboard and I saw nobody was running away with it. So I knew that I still had a shot if I could make some good swings and some good putts down the stretch, and somehow it worked out."
