Our golf recap is a little bit lighter this week as the European Tour took a week off (following the ISPS HANDA Perth International). As a result, the best in the world converged at the Doral Golf Resort in Miami, Florida for the first World Golf Championships event of the season. Meanwhile, the Ladies’ tour continued overseas in Singapore with the HSBC Women’s Champions event. Here is our golf recap of all of the action from this past weekend.
WGC-Cadillac Championship
PGA Tour
We’ll start our golf recap on the PGA Tour. Adam Scott pulled off his second consecutive victory, following up his Honda Classic win with another at the Cadillac Championship. Scott didn’t shy away from giving luck its due following his latest victory, as he found a way to prevail despite a final round that included two shots hit in to water hazards and a shank on a greenside bunker attempt. Scott nearly had a third shot end up in the hazard, but fortunately for him the ball found a safe spot in the rough to nestle in to on the way to a 69 in the final round. He finished at 12-under, narrowly edging out Bubba Watson at 11-under, followed by Rory McIlroy and Danny Willett at 10-under. Scott became only the third golfer to win back-to-back PGA Tour events in consecutive weeks in the last five years, joining Billy Horschel and Mcilroy, who has accomplished that feat twice over that span. The victory is the 13th of his career, leaving the 35-year-old Scott with the most-career wins for players currently under 40. Meanwhile, McIlroy looked well on his way to another victory before the Blue Monster ripped his hopes apart in the final round when he shot a 74 to tumble down the leaderboard. McIlroy had shot a 65 on Friday and a 68 on Saturday, but failed to finish the job. Other notables include Phil Mickelson finishing fifth at nine-under, Rickie Fowler finishing tied for eighth at five-under and Jordan Spieth finishing tied for 17th at one-under. Next up is the Valspar Championship this week, with a short trip to the Innisbrook Resort & Golf Club in Palm Harbor, Florida.
Top 5 WGC-Cadillac Championship Scores
Adam Scott -12
Bubba Watson -11
Danny Willett -10
Rory McIlroy -10
Phil Mickelson -8
HSBC Women’s Champions Tourament
LPGA
The next stop for our golf recap is the ladies. South Korea’s Ha Na Jang added another impressive accomplishment to her growing resume with a victory at the HSBC Women’s Champions tournament. The 23-year-old fired six birdies and an eagle on the way to posting a seven-under 65 in the final round and finish at 19-under to win the event. It was Jang’s second win of the season and her career following a victory at the Coates Golf Championship in Florida last month. Her strong play and elaborate celebrations have made her a crowd favorite on the LPGA Tour and her brilliance stole the show in a tournament where Lydia Ko struggled. The World No. 1 Ko finished seven-under to tie for 15th. That was a big surprise to many in the media and a lot of bettors were actually burned quite badly. Remember that Ko was the clear-cut favorite on the betting odds to get the job done at the HSBC Women’s Champions tournament and she was a supposed shoe-in for propositional bets like the Top 5 and Top 10. She’s kind of become what Tiger Woods used to be on the men’s tour: she’s expected to win every single time she plays. However, while many people backed her in this spot in varying degrees, she failed to deliver big time. A Top 15 finish isn’t anything to be disappointed about for most golfers, but much more was expected of her.
Other notables included Jang’s playing partner Pornanong Phatium finishing second at 15-under, Canadian Brooke Mackenzie Henderson finishing tied for ninth at nine-under and Lexi Thompson finishing tied for 19th at six-under. The Ladies are set to take a week off before LPGA tournament play continues the following week with the JTBC Founders Cup in Phoenix, Arizona.
Top 5 WGC-Cadillac Championship Scores
Ha Nang Jang -19
Pornanong Phatlum -15
Amy Yang -11
Candie Yung -10
Ariya Jutanugarn -10
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