LOS ANGELES — Rory Sabbatini was wondering if anything would go right for him at the Nissan Open.

His four-shot lead was gone when he walked off the 12th hole Sunday, courtesy of three putts he missed from 4 feet. He heard a few snide remarks from the gallery that so desperately wanted Fred Couples to win at Riviera. And with only three holes remaining, he was in a four-way tie for the lead.

"You always hear the stories ... `Ah, he blew it.' I didn't want to give them anything more to fire at me," Sabbatini said. "I didn't want to give them any more ammunition."

He found opportunity waiting on the 16th tee.

Craig Barlow misjudged the wind and came up well short of the green. Fred Couples blocked his 6-iron so far to the right that it caromed through a birch tree and landed in the bunker.

The shot was so crucial that Sabbatini, who speeds around the golf course, decided to take his time.

"A big gust came through, and I knew if there was pretty strong gusts, I didn't have enough club," he said. "I just hit an aggressive shot and made the most of it. And when I was over the putt, I knew if I made it, if I could par the last two holes, I'd have a pretty good chance of winning."

Sabbatini hit 7-iron into 5 feet for birdie, sending him to a 1-over 72 and a one-shot victory over defending champion Adam Scott, who closed with a 64 and was on the practice range hoping to go extra holes.

But a dramatic back nine at Riviera ended with a tap-in for par, giving Sabbatini his third PGA Tour victory and first title in three years.

The others could only look back at missed opportunities.

Scott started the final round nine shots behind, shot 31 on the back nine and needed the leaders to collapse for him to have any chance. All but Sabbatini were accommodating.

Barlow (70) recovered from back-to-back bogeys early in the round to pull into a share of the lead when he birdied the 15th as Couples and Sabbatini made bogey, creating a logjam at 12 under par. He missed two short putts on the 16th (for par) and 17th (for birdie) and wound up in third place.

No one has more regrets that Couples, who shot 71 and was alone in fourth.

A two-time winner at Riviera, a guy who dominated this classic course during the 1990s, the 46-year-old Couples won't get many more chances like this. He caught Sabbatini in 12 holes with steady golf and a few clutch par saves, and was on the verge of seizing control as he stood over an 8-foot birdie on the 13th.

He left the putt short, and seemed burden by expectations and support.

"I haven't played tremendous golf in a while," Couples said. "It was a lot of fun. But toward the end, they were pretty hard shots, and I didn't hit them."

The two-shot swing on the 16th gave Sabbatini the lead by one over Scott, who was headed for the practice range with hopes of a playoff. The 29-year-old South African finally steadied himself with two pars, hitting the fairway on the 18th, playing safely to the green and two-putting from 45 feet.

And finally, the cheers were for him.

"A lot of mixed emotions," Sabbatini said. "A lot of it is relief."

He was relieved to have won despite losing his four-shot lead. And he was pleased to finally have something to show for his sterling start to the season.

Sabbatini was coming off his worst year since he was a rookie in 1999, and was determined to block out the distractions around him and worry about his own game. He had two runner-up finishes (Sony Open and Pebble Beach) and hadn't finished worse than a tie for 20th.

"It seems like I have been flying a little bit under the radar, but putting a lot of good rounds together — just not good enough to get in the winner's circle," he said. "This week, everything came together."

He finished at 13-under 271 and earned $918,000, putting him atop the PGA Tour money list for the first time in his career. Sabbatini has nearly $2.2 million heading into the $7.5 million Accenture Match Play Championship next week at La Costa Resort near San Diego.

Of players in their 20s, Sergio Garcia with six is the only player who has won more on the PGA Tour.

"Rory is a very confident guy and really believes in himself," Scott said. "His attitude seems to be more relaxed than I've ever seen with him. He's that talented, and if he gets it all figured out, he's going to be in contention and winning tournaments."

He figured out how to get it done at Riviera, although it wasn't easy.

Sabbatini knew the crowd would support Couples, who won twice and was runner-up three times at Riviera during a seven-year span in the 1990s. But he didn't appreciate the jeers he heard coming out of a bunker on the 12th hole, when he made bogey to lose the lead for the first time since Friday.

And when he hit a spectacular 2-iron over the trees toward the 13th green and heard the cheers, he figured his shot was close to the hole. Turns out the crowd was cheering when it rolled off the green.

"I thought it must be on the green, but I was wrong," he said. "That was the Freddie Couples Support Team. That just seemed like the way everything was going, hitting a lot of good shots that seemed to go the wrong way."

It turned out just fine in the end.