DORAL, Fla. — Slow and steady won this race.
Bubba Watson finally stopped carving shots over water and around trees and Keegan Bradley’s short game fell apart. With the 54-hole leaders shooting 74 and 75, respectively, Justin Rose swooped in to take the WGC Cadillac Championship at the Blue Monster on Sunday.
“It’s been a great two weeks, to be honest with you,” said Rose, who tied for fifth last week at the Honda Classic and finished at 16-under 272 on Sunday. “I’ve been very focused on just sort of seeing this whole Florida swing as a body of work and not really trying to put too much focus on any individual tournament. I kind of knew I was playing well and if I just kept out of my own way for the most part and kept thinking well and doing the right things, I had a feeling something good might happen in these four weeks.”
After a week of lights-out scoring by the field, Rose won by shooting a final-round 2-under 70. He protected a two-shot lead with a bogey on the dangerous 18th, where a dicey chip shot out of the thick rough beyond the green had him holding his breath as it stopped short of the water. The Englishman was on the practice round when Watson somehow cut a 4-iron out of the rough and through the palm trees to nine feet on the final hole.
But Watson read too much break into the putt and was left lamenting the day.
“That’s the worst I’ve hit the ball all year,” he admitted.
Despite an opening birdie, Watson’s three-shot lead was gone, thanks to three straight bogeys. He didn’t hit his first fairway until the 10th hole and ended up hitting just four on the day. He pulled his first drive of the day, then overcompensated and started to push them.
“I just started blocking my tee shots,” he said. “Then I figured it out (a ball positioning issue) on the back nine. When you get down, you figure it out real quick.”
If there was a surprise, it was the normally steady Bradley, who says he relishes the big spots and tends to raise his game for them. But the PGA champ let this one slip away. Tied for the lead at one point, he played the last 10 holes in 5-over, including a three-putt from five feet on the par-5 10th.
“Yeah, I didn’t play that bad,” he said. “Just some really strange putts, and then I just kind of limped in. It wasn’t a very good finish.”
In fact, with Rose and Bradley coming back to the field, it looked as though World No. 1 Rory McIlroy might have the best shot of catching them. Eight shots out when the day started, he shot 33 on the front and finished with a 67, good enough for third place, two shots behind Rose. After a birdie on 16, he was just one back but closed with a bogey on the last.
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