Players
February 22, 2016 - 9:38 am EST 9 years ago

Bubba Watson Wins At Riviera For Second Time In Three Years

Chris Chaney Chris Chaney
Bubba Watson Wins At Riviera For Second Time In Three Years

Bubba Watson emerged from a stacked leaderboard on Sunday outside of Hollywood to win the Northern Trust Open for the second time in three years. Watson shot a final-round, 3-under par 68 to edge joint runners-up Adam Scott and Jason Kokrak. Dustin Johnson was solo fourth and Marc Leishman and KJ Choi tied for fifth.

Early in the fourth round, Watson, Johnson, Scott and Rory McIlroy were all tied for the lead after a flurry of birdies and eagles on the easy par-5 first hole. 

Unfortunately for fans, that was one of the few highlights of the day for McIlroy who played his next 15 holes in 7-over par. He would eventually finish tied for 20th. 

Adam Scott looked to be the man to beat as he ran in 104 feet of putts on his first four holes. 

But just when it looked like Scott was going to run away and hide, he double bogeyed the par-4 eighth and let the field back into it. The back nine was a shootout with Watson, Scott, KJ Choi and Jason Kokrak all grappling for position down the stretch.

Bubba birdied 16 and 17 to claim the solo lead with one hole to play, but ahead just off of the 18th green, Scott was making a last ditch effort to put some pressure on.

Needing a par, Bubba hit a solid drive down the left side of the 18th fairway and hit an approach shot that gave Scott a glimmer of hope with a one-handed followthrough.

Watson’s playing partner, Kokrak, had a look to force a playoff…

…and with that miss, Watson had two putts for the win.

The win was Bubba’s ninth all-time on the PGA Tour and his second NTO title in the last three years.

And as the Tour moves to Florida for the Honda Classic and the start of the lead-up to the Masters, there are already storylines and trends that will need breaking.

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Highlights:

Leaderboard: Screen shot 2016-02-22 at 9.37.17 AM