Bubba Watson wins at Riviera for the 3rd time
AUTO RACING: Austin Dillon put the No. 3 back in Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway. Dillon won the Daytona 500 with the car number made famous by Dale Earnhardt and won it 17 years to the day after the Hall of the Fame driver was killed in a last-lap accident at NASCAR’s famed track. Dillon also won in the No. 3 two decades after Earnhardt’s lone victory in the Daytona 500. Danica Patrick, driving in her final NASCAR race, crashed and did not finish the race. Her final record was a dud: 0-for-191 in the Cup series.
BASEBALL: 1B Eric Hosmer reached a preliminary agreement on an eight-year contract with the Padres, pending a physical. Hosmer, who spent his first seven major-league seasons with the Royals, would receive a reported $144 million . ... Mets GM Sandy Alderson said he believes OF Tim Tebow has been making good progress and could make it to the majors . ... The Angels signed veteran slugger Chris Carter and longtime OF Chris Young. Carter got a minor-league deal with an invitation to spring training, while Young agreed to a one-year contract . ... The Red Sox re-signed infielder Eduardo Nunez to a one-year contract with a player option for 2019, giving them another proven 2B to fill in while Dustin Pedroia recovers from knee surgery.
GOLF: Bubba Watson ended two years without winning with his third victory at Riviera. Watson closed with a 2-under 69 for a two-shot victory over Kevin Na and Tony Finau. It was his first victory since Riviera two years ago — the longest drought of the decade for the two-time Masters champion . ... Jin Young Ko shot a 3-under par 69 to clinch a 3-shot, start-to-finish win at the Women’s Australian Open in Adelaide. Playing in her first tournament as a full LPGA member, Ko shot 65, 69, 71, 69 to lead after all four rounds and finish with a total of 274, 14 under par at the Kooyonga Golf Club. She is the first player to win her first tournament as an LPGA member in the tour’s 67-year history . ... Joe Durant birdied the final two holes to win the PGA Tour Champions’ Chubb Classic in Naples, Fla. Durant shot a 5-under 67 for a four-stroke victory over Steve Stricker, David Toms, Lee Janzen, Billy Mayfair and Tim Petrovic . ... Joost Luiten won the inaugural Oman Open to break a title drought of nearly 17 months. It was Luiten’s sixth European Tour title and the first since the 2016 KLM Open.
SOCCER: Diego Costa and Kevin Gameiro scored second-half goals to give Atletico a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao and keep it seven points in back of Barcelona in the Spanish league.
TENNIS: Roger Federer overpowered Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-2 in less than an hour to win the ABN AMRO World Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands, for his 97th career title . ... Top-seeded Kevin Anderson won the first New York Open, beating No. 2 seed Sam Querrey 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1) in Uniondale for his fourth career ATP Tour title . ... Top-seeded Dominic Thiem beat Alijaz Bedene 6-2, 6-4 to win the Argentina Open for the second time in three seasons . ... Petra Kvitova defeated Garbine Muguruza in the Qatar Open final for her 13th straight win and second consecutive title.
LOS ANGELES — Bubba Watson was feeling low about his health and even worse about his golf. It reached a point that he wondered if he would ever win again, and he says he talked with his wife on a dozen occasions about retiring.
Being back at Riviera changed his outlook and made him a winner again.
Watson stayed in the game with three key putts early on the back nine, then fulfilled a playful pledge he forgot he even made on the par-3 14th by holing a bunker shot for birdie that allowed him to seize control Sunday in the Genesis Open. He never gave anyone a chance the rest of the way, closing with a 2-under 69 for a two-shot victory over Tony Finau and Kevin Na.
Watson won for the first time in two years, his longest drought of the decade. He joined Lloyd Mangrum and Ben Hogan as threetime winners at Riviera. And he won for the 10th time in his PGA Tour career, an important milestone to him.
“Nobody thought that Bubba Watson from Bagdad, Florida, would ever get to 10 wins. Let's be honest,” Watson said. “Without lessons, head case, hooking the ball, slicing the ball, can't putt, you know?”
He put on a clinic at Riviera, somehow managed to keep his focus, carved shots around, over and through the trees, and he made all the right putts.
Watson talks the way he hits the ball — all over the map — and he was particularly elusive about what caused him to lose so much weight last year. He says he reached close to 160 pounds, which he says affected his game and ultimately his confidence.
“I'm here. I'm healthy,” he said. “There are people that are a lot sicker than me in this world, so the illness is nothing.”
Watson, who finished at 12-under 272, moved from No. 117 to No. 41 in the world, making him eligible for the World Golf Championship in Mexico in two weeks.
Na hit a wedge close to perfection from the worst angle on the reachable par-4 10th hole for a birdie and two-putted for birdie on the 11th to briefly take the lead. He fell back with consecutive bogeys from the trees and shot 69. Finau lurked all day. His last chance was an eagle putt on the 17th that stopped inches short of the hole.
Patrick Cantlay had a one-shot lead going to the back nine until he ran into tree trouble on the 12th and 13th holes. The UCLA alum could do no better than pars the rest of the way for a 71 to tie for fourth with Scott Stallings (68).
Phil Mickelson also was in the hunt. He was within one shot of the lead when he hit a 4-iron from a deep bunker on the 15th hole to just right of the green. But he went after birdie and watched the ball roll 20 feet down the hill, leading to bogey. Mickelson shot 68 and tied for sixth.
Coming off good weeks at Phoenix and Pebble Beach, Mickelson has three straight top 10s for the first time since 2009.