PGA: NORTHERN TRUST OPEN RECAP

Bubba Watson Wins at Rivera for 2nd Time in 3 years


Rivera Country Club has decided the winner of many great tournaments in its 91-year-old history like the U.S Open and PGA Championship. The 2016 Northern Trust Open was anther great one to add to its resume. The George C. Thomas designed course proved to be as strong as ever and created great drama on Sunday.

Several different types of players were in contention: KJ Choi and Chez Reavie were the strategic ball-strikers who needed to hit fairways. Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson were the long ball hitters who needed to be accurate ball strikers and good putters. Adam Scott and Rory Mcilroy brought the star power, and Jason Kokrak was an 8-year PGA tour vet trying to get his breakthrough win on the PGA tour. With the leaderboard close together at the top, each one of them had chances to win.

Adam Scott was the clear front-runner early on Sunday. He made 104 feet of putts in the first four holes on the way to a 5 under start through his first six holes. Scott was not the only one who started quickly on the “easier” beginning stretch. Rory Mcilroy holed out for eagle on the first. Although, the next highlight of his round would not come until the 18th, where he got a relieving roar from the crowd as his birdie putt went in from off the green. He finished with a 4 over 75, and a tie for 20th.

After Adam Scott’s putter settled down, the jockeying for lead position on the final straight away began.
Putting proved to be vital on the back nine on Sunday – no surprise here. With few scoring opportunities, it was crucial to take advantage of birdie putts and turn should-be-bogies into pars. Bubba Watson and Jason Kokrak emerged from the pack as the real contenders, but Bubba showed that he was the best golfer on the course.

The most important moment of the tournament happened on the 16th green. Jason made a great up and down for par to stay at -14. Kokrak was still momentarily in the lead until Bubba made his 6-foot birdie to tie after a great tee shot on the par 3. With a reachable par 5 and a difficult finishing hole that had more bogies than birdies all week, the tie seemed more like an advantage. If Bubba could hit the fairways and greens especially the way he has been putting, the tournament was his. He did exactly that. Leaving a tap-in on 17 for the lead and one for the win on 18 after an impressive display of pressure-cooked lag putting. Jason made two critical par putts as well on 16 and 17 from inside 10 feet to give him the best and only opportunity out of the challengers (a birdie putt from 14 feet that burned the right edge on 18) to tie Bubba.

Looking back, the 10th and 11th hole were key for Bubba Watson. They were confidence boosters on a course that needed mental fortitude. On the 10th hole, the short par four, a 9-foot putt went in to complete a difficult up and down. The par 5th 11 was also extremely important to Bubba’s win. He made a 28-foot birdie putt after putting his drive found the rough. Watson had the highest green in regulation percentage and the lowest putting count of anyone in contention to win on Sunday. Include those numbers with his length off the tee, and it is a winning formula.

Before the round started the quotable stat about Bubba was that he has won just twice out of the nine times he has held a 54-hole lead in a tournament. Afterward the round it was that he has won 9 times since the summer of 2010, which is second to Rory Mcilroy who has eleven. Congratulations to Bubba on another quality win in more ways than one.

More good news: The last time he won the Northern Trust Open (2014) he went on to win the Masters in April.

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John Richardson

Freelance golf writer.

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