Rose blooms in Doral
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Justin Rose came from behind on a dramatic final day in Miami to win the WGC-Cadillac Championship.
The Englishman carded a two-under par 70 to win by one shot from Bubba Watson on 16-under par to win his fourth PGA Tour title.
Rory McIlroy surged up the leaderboard on Sunday, firing a five-under 67, which included a holed bunker shot for an eagle at the 12th, to finish alone in third. It was his fifth top-five finish out of five events in 2012 and he’ll now take a three-week break before the Masters in April.
Tiger Woods also made the headlines when he was forced to withdraw with an Achilles injury after playing 10 holes of the final round.
Watson began the day with a three-shot lead but was wayward off the tee early on and dropped shots at the third, fourth, fifth and ninth after birdieing the easy par-four first.
He came to the treacherous final hole one behind Rose but managed to set-up a makeable birdie putt from the right rough with a superb long iron. Unfortunately for the American, the putt was weak and slid by on the low side, leaving Rose to claim the biggest win of his career.
“There’s been a lot of hard work going on in my game,” said Rose, who moved up to ninth in the world rankings.
“And days like this make it all worthwhile. I really enjoyed playing with Bubba Watson for three days. And going out one group ahead of the leaders is never a bad thing. But the two shots he hit into 18 had me sweating.”
Rose’s fellow Englishman and World No.2 Luke Donald finished on 12-under in a tie for sixth – his first top-10 finish of the year.
FINAL ROUND LEADERBOARD (US UNLESS STATED)
-16: J Rose (Eng) -15: B Watson (US) -14: R McIlroy (NI) -13: P Hanson (Swe), C Schwartzel (SA) -12: J Senden (Aus), L Donald (Eng) -11: K Bradley (US), S Stricker (US), B Van Pelt (US), M Kuchar (US) Selected others -6: R Rock (Eng), M Laird (Sco), D Clarke (NI) -5: L Westwood (Eng) -3: D Clarke (NI) Level: P Casey (Eng) W/D: T Woods (US)
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