WGC-Cadillac Championship: Rory McIlroy Collapses While Adam Scott Goes Back-to-Back

Rory McIlroy blew a three-shot lead in the final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship to give Adam Scott back-to-back wins on the PGA TOUR.

After posting a third round 68, Rory McIlroy entered the final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship with a three shot lead over Dustin Johnson and Adam Scott. McIlroy sat at -12 while the other two golfers had their work cut out for them at -9.

Prior to Sunday, McIlroy’s record for closing out 54-hole leads was six for eight. While this is a pretty successful percentage in itself, he missed the cut last week at the Honda Classic and shot a 75 in his final round at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in the beginning of February.

The other unanswered question was how McIlroy’s new putting grip would fare when it really mattered. The Ulsterman debuted a new grip similar to Jordan Spieth this week where he puts his left hand on the bottom rather than on top.

He struggled in the first round with a strokes gained putting of -1.7, but bounced back in the next two rounds. He gained 2.764 strokes with his putting on Friday and 1.683 strokes on Saturday.

Taking that into consideration with the fact that the No. 8 and 9 golfers in the world are chasing after him, Sunday would provide for plenty of theatrics.

Adam Scott made a move early with a birdie on the first hole to get to -10 and two shots off the lead, but double-bogeyed the third hole to drop back down to -8.

A few moments later, Dustin Johnson would also double-bogey the third hole to drop to -8 with Adam Scott and Bubba Watson. Just like that, Rory had a four-shot lead and would have the tournament in the bag as long as he could avoid a collapse, which wasn’t out of the question.

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McIlroy bogeyed the seventh hole to drop to -11 and seconds later Bubba drained a 60-foot eagle putt on the eighth hole to get to -10. Just like that, Rory’s lead went from four to one.

The Ulsterman had a scare on the par-5 eighth hole after he hit his approach shot in the water, but managed to salvage a par to remain at -11. He wouldn’t be so lucky on the ninth, however. McIroy bogeyed the 200-yard par 3 to drop to -10 and join Bubba Watson.

Two co-leaders wasn’t enough. Adam Scott, who had two double bogeys on the front nine, put together a streak of four birdies in six holes to get back to -10 and join the other two co-leaders. And then there were three.

However, Bubba doesn’t like to share. He’d birdie the 12th to jump into sole possession of the lead at -11 while his playing partner Danny Willett also birdied to get to -10.

The Aussie took note of the leader change and birdied the 12th hole himself to join Bubba Watson at -11. Bubba made a huge par save on the 13th to remain tied with Scott. Watson found trouble on the 14th hole and ended up bogeying the second-toughest hole at Doral.

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The Aussie was left with sole possession of the lead, but went on to birdie the hole that Bubba just bogeyed to give himself a two-shot lead at -12. He had a scare on short par-4 17th, shanking his bunker shot but still managed to save par.

In the group ahead of Scott, Willett birdied the 16th hole to get within one shot of the lead at -11, but the Englishman would hit one in the water on 18 to finish at -10. The other member in Willett’s group,  Bubba Watson, birdied the 17th and finished with par on 18 to enter the clubhouse with the lead at -11.

Adam Scott simply had to par the treacherous 18th to win his second PGA TOUR event in back-to-back starts. His approach shot missed the green and flirted with the water, landing just inside the hazard, but avoided getting wet.

His pitch would land within seven feet of the hole to leave him with a par putt to win the WGC-Cadillac Championship. The Aussie drained the putt to put him in the clubhouse as the new leader at -12. Scott would have to wait for Rory to finish, but McIlroy didn’t have a chance of winning.

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For the first time since Billy Horschel in 2013, Adam Scott wins back-to-back tournaments on the PGA TOUR. He didn’t win throughout the 2015 season, but already has two wins this year and leads the FedEx Cup standings for the first time in his career. No belly putter, no problem.