Scott holds on to win Genesis Invitational
LOS ANGELES — Adam Scott has another victory at Riviera, and this time it counts.
Scott survived a calamitous Sunday with just enough clutch putts — for birdie, par, even a bogey — and closed with 1-under 70 for a two-shot victory in the Genesis Invitational.
The victory comes 15 years after Scott won a playoff at Riviera that didn’t count as official because rain shortened the tournament to 36 holes. He earned every bit of this victory, his 14th on the PGA Tour and 29th worldwide.
Nearly a dozen players had a chance to win. Five players had a share of the lead at some point.
Scott went long off the fifth green, had a flop shot come back to his feet, putted the next up the hill and made double bogey. But he bounced back with a slick, scary 18-foot birdie putt on the par-3 sixth to regain a share of the lead, and he never trailed the rest of the way.
Rory McIlroy closed with a 73 and tied for fifth. Harold Varner III, looking for his first PGA Tour victory, had a 74 to finish out of the top 10.
Tiger Woods had his problems, too, but he was never in contention.
Woods played a fivehole stretch late in his round at 5 over and shot 77 to finish last among the 68 players who made the cut. It was the first time Woods has finished last alone since the Memorial in 2015.
“Good news, I hit every ball forward, not backwards, a couple sideways,” Woods said.
Matt Kuchar, who started the final round tied with Scott and McIlroy, birdied the par-5 opening hole and didn’t make another until the 17th when it was too late. He shot 72 and tied for second with Sung Kang (69) and Scott Brown (68).
Scott finished at 11-under 273 for his first PGA Tour title since the World Golf Championship at Doral in 2016.
“I’m stoked with this,“Scott said. “It’s a big step, whatever point in my career I’m at. I haven’t won for three years. This feels very special.”
In other news:
• Seven-time major champion Inbee Park saw a seven-shot lead shrink to two shots before winning the Women’s Australian Open at Adelaide by three strokes to clinch her first LPGA title in almost two years.
Park started her final round three shots in front of 19-year old South Korean compatriot Ayeon Cho.
She bogeyed the ninth hole but still turned five shots ahead of the field and went out to a sevenshot lead early on the back nine at the Royal Adelaide Golf Club. But the 31-yearold former World No. 1 faltered briefly, bogeying the 14th and 16th holes and walking off the 16th green only two shots ahead of fast-finishing American Amy Olsen.
Olsen had four birdies in a 3-under final round 70 and was in the clubhouse with an 11-under 281.
• Scott Parel overcame a three-shot deficit and closed with an 8-under 63 to win the Chubb Classic at Naples, Fla., by two shots over Bob Estes, his third career victory on the PGA Tour Champions to surpass $5 million for his career.
Parel moved atop the Charles Schwab Cup standings for the first time in his career.
• Luke Potter of Encinitas, Calif., shot a 10-under 62 to take a three-shot lead over first-round coleader Joseph Pagdin following the second of three rounds of the AJGA Simplify Boys Championship at The Woodlands.
Potter, who made 10 birdies without a bogey over the Fazio Course at The Club at Carlton Woods, has a two-round 15-under 129 entering Monday’s final 18 holes.