Watson rallies for another win at Riviera

McIlroy was even on the day after a disappointing par at the first followed by a birdie and bogey on the second and third holes. But he missed a pair of 8-foot par putts on consecutive holes and had to settle for a 69.

“You’ve got to eliminate the mental mistakes”, Kokrak said.

After missing the fairway off the tee, his second shot ended up under an electronic scoreboard below the green to the right from where he hit a superb lob wedge to within three feet of the pin. “I’m happy that I stayed at 10 under and didn’t drop to nine”.

With his putter on fire, the Queenslander was five-under on his round through six holes thanks to an eagle and three birdies.

Kokrak converted that birdie and suddenly had a two-shot lead over Watson, Scott, and K.J. Choi. McIlroy, sensing the importance of every stroke on a golf course that tends to produce tight leaderboards, then made the putt.

One huge key to the victory was Watson’s ability throughout the four rounds to not give strokes back to the field.

Rory McIlroy just proved it once again.

But Watson would not be denied and showed nerves of steel to convert birdie opportunities on the 16th and 17th holes to set up a comfortable two-putt on the 18th for the win.

“I love coming here”, Watson said. “But I turned a chance to win into a top-20 at the end of the day, so it wasn’t too good”.

The 37-year-old emerged from a stacked leaderboard to win the PGA Tour event at Riviera Country Club with a 3-under 68 on Sunday. He made a cameo appearance in a “Girl Meets World” episode, and he dashed out of Riviera to hang out with his pals at the Clippers-Warriors NBA game Saturday night. He said Curry sent a text about 15 minutes before he teed off Sunday offering some shooting tips to Caleb. “One of those days I couldn’t really get it going”.

The timing couldn’t have been better.

Earlier this month, Watson was left seething with frustration when negative comments he made about the venue for the Phoenix Open were twisted into criticism of the community there in Arizona, where he had previously lived. Reavie had a three-shot lead at one point on the back nine, courtesy of a perfectly placed drive that led to eagle on No. 2. He still managed to win.

Kang, the 2010 and 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, matched Shin and Nomura at 9-under 207 on The Grange’s West Course. The Honolulu-based player birdied Nos.

But Kokrak three-putted for bogey at 15, and then Watson charged. I made a 10- to 12-footer on No. 10 (the 305-yard par 4 that troubles so many) for a par to put me in position.

The Australian finished at 15-under 269 for his third European Tour title.

South Korea’s Simoon Lee and Miguel Tabuena of the Philippines were second on 13-under.