Scott wins at Riviera, and this time it counts

Adam Scott contemplated the safe shot to get him out of his mess on the 15th hole at Riviera in Los Angeles, knowing it probably would cost him his twoshot lead but not yet the tournament.

On a Sunday filled with big blunders and untimely mistakes, Scott changed his mind.

“I thought, ‘Well, you can maybe win the tournament if you hit a great flop shot here.’ So I thought I might as well go for it,” Scott said after his twoshot victory in the Genesis Invitational, this one that counts in the record book.

The flop shot to 5 feet allowed him to escape with bogey. Two holes later, he ran in a 10foot birdie putt for a twoshot cushion and carried that to a 1underpar and a win that felt overdue.

Scott won the Australian PGA two months ago and hadn’t played since then. Still, it had been nearly four years since his last PGA Tour victory. That changed at Riviera, his favorite course, on a day so tough no one shot better than 68.

Scott made clutch putts for birdie, par and bogey. But that decision and shot stood out.

“I had a little bit of that kind of mindset, not just today but the whole week, of ‘what have I got to lose?’ … Give myself a good chance to get back in the winner’s circle on the PGA Tour,” he said.

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 won by two shots over Sung Kang, who started eagle-double bogey and shot 69; Scott Brown, who played bogeyfree on the back nine for a 68; and Matt Kuchar, who had a 72. Women’s Australian Open: Seventime major champion Inbee Park saw a sevenshot lead shrink to two before winning by three strokes in Adelaide to earn her first LPGA title in almost two years. Park, the former world No. 1, bogeyed the 14th and 16th holes and was two shots ahead of Amy Olsen before recovering. Olsen had a 3under 70 and finished at 11under 281. Park was at 74 to end at 278. Chubb Classic: Scott Parel overcame a threeshot deficit with an 8under 63 to win in Naples, Fla., by two shots over Bob Estes. It’s Parel’s third career title on the PGA Tour Champions, and he passed $5 million in career earnings.