Watson's week memorable in L.A.
LOS ANGELES — Bubba Watson packed plenty of memories from his week in LA. He has a kidney stone as a keepsake. He had a cameo in “Girl Meets World.” He received a text Sunday morning from Steph Curry offering shooting tips to Watson’s son. And he capped it all with the best memento of all.
“Hold on a second, my trophy is coming,” Watson said, interrupting his press conference as the shiny prize was placed on the table next to him.
It wasn’t clear if passing the kidney stone or winning the Northern Trust Open was more difficult.
Two shots behind with four holes to play, Watson rallied with flawless golf and a pair of birdies over the last three holes to overtake Jason Kokrak and hold off Adam Scott to win.
All week long, Watson spoke of the importance of making putts at Riviera, and he needed all of them — the 10-footer for par on No. 10 to stay in the game, and a pair of birdies to twice tie for the lead, from 30 feet on No. 11 and from 5 feet on the par-3 16th.
And then he took the lead with a birdie that was pure Bubba.
Both feet came off the ground as he hammered a drive 334 yards on the 582-yard 17th hole, and then he hit 2-iron to the back of the green that led to a two-putt birdie. He closed with a 3-under 68 for a one-shot victory.
It was a bitter taste for Kokrak, going for his first PGA Tour win and making it look like it was his time when he fired at a dangerous pin on the 13th and pulled it off for a short birdie putt that gave him a two-shot advantage.
But he made bogey from the fairway on the 15th, had to scramble for par on the next two holes and narrowly missed a birdie on the 18th.
