Adam Scott was shaking his head as he watched his second shot at the final hole at Doral on Sunday.
It was headed left of the green, bounded on the side of the green, headed straight for the water then miraculously hung up in the Bermuda grass.
“I was so lucky for it to stay up,” Scott said, describing the moment that could have cost him victory at the WGC Cadillac. Instead, he salvaged par and shot 69 and got a most improbable second straight victory on the Florida Swing.
“When you get that lucky, you better it it up-and-down,” Scott said after he edged runner up Bubba Watson by a shot.
The day started fine for overnight leader Rory McIlroy, whose three shot lead increased to four after three holes. But things started going downhill for McIlroy at that point and for Scott, the eventual winner, the front nine was worse.
Scott suffered double-bogeys at the third and fifth holes and fell a full six shots off the lead and a win seemed out of the question.
“I think I used my experience to my advantage today,” Scott said, as he went on to bounce back from those disasters with three straight birdies to start the back nine and then he added a fourth at the 14th hole. From that point, he scrambled and as he put it, got lucky.
For McIlroy, it was a day of poor putting, pulled iron shots and drives that couldn’t find the fairways. He couldn’t birdie the par fives and by early on the back nine, had lost his lead.
That left Scott, Watson, Danny Willett and Phil Mickelson battling.
Willett was tied with Watson going to the final hole but his tee shot found the water left and he finished at 10-under and tied for third with McIlroy, who shot 74 on what proved to be a very long day for the youngster from Northern Ireland.
It was the same story for Mickelson. He played well, but not good enough to end his long winless streak.
For Scott, it was a rewarding finish on a difficult day.
“It was such a challenge out there today,” Scott pointed out.
Watson echoed Scott’s sentiment. “It was difficult. This IS the Blue Monster. And 18 was a real test.
Scott was the first player to win back-to-back in Florida since Tiger Woods in 2009.
