I'm not sure what was more newsy last week on the PGA Tour: that Adam Scott won his second straight event or that WGC-Cadillac Championship "host" Donald Trump didn't say upstage the whole tournament at his own resort.
The Aussie Scott found himself down by as many as six shots at Trump Doral's Blue Monster on a windy Sunday but beat out Bubba Watson by a shot for his 13th career PGA Tour win -- and Scott made that rally despite two final-round double-bogeys. Scott finished with a 69 Sunday, with six birdies in his final 13 holes, to finish 12-under 276 for the week and is now No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings and No. 6 in the world rankings.
Scott is the first player to win back-to-back weeks in Florida since Tiger Woods in 2001 and the first player anywhere with consecutive wins since Billy Horschel took the final two FedEx Cup playoff events in 2014. Scott is also the first two-time winner this season. He also won two titles in 2004 and 2013.
Rory McIlroy was the 54-hole leader and had a four-shot lead at one point early in his final round. But he made just one birdie on Sunday, shot a 2-over 74 and finished tied for third. A few weeks ago at the Northern Trust Open, McIlroy also imploded with a final-round lead.
You might want to bet on Watson to win the Masters for a third time. Four years ago, Watson finished second at this tournament and won the Masters a month later. Two years ago, he did the same thing. But by far my favorite statistic from last week belonged to Steven Bowditch. There was no cut at the WGC-Cadillac so Bowditch as able to shoot all four rounds in the 80s. No Tour player had done that in 23 years.
I wasn't a big fan of Scott's last week after he won the week before -- I didn't even pick him as top Aussie. I just missed on my third winner of the season as I went with Watson at +1000. Scott nearly had disaster on his 72nd hole that would have forced a playoff with Watson, who shot a final-round 68. I hit on Watson at +125 for a Top 10 as well as McIlroy at -110. Just missed on Dustin Johnson, but got him head-to-head at -130 over Jason Day (even). Also got McIlroy (-125) over Jordan Spieth (-105), Rickie Fowler (-150) over Justin Rose (+115), and Brooks Koepka (-130) over Patrick Reed (even). My top result overall was Danny Willett at +450 as top Englishman. He finished T3 with McIlroy. Also hit Louis Oosthuizen at +165 as top South African. So overall a pretty good week.
The Tour now shifts coasts in the Sunshine State and heads up to the Tampa/St. Petersburg area for the Valspar Championship and the field is weaker. Spieth is back to defend his title at Innisbrook Resort's Copperhead Course. Spieth rallied from three shots back with six holes to play on Sunday last year and then won with a 30-foot birdie putt on the third extra hole. Patrick Reed and Sean O'Hair also were in the playoff. The trio finished at 10-under 274. Spieth is one of seven players ranked in the world's Top 20 playing this week. Scott, McIlroy and Watson aren't.
Golf Odds: Valspar Championship Favorites
Spieth is a heavy +500 favorite at Bovada. He looks a bit off right now, failing to finish in the Top 15 of his past three events. He was 20th here in 2014 and tied for seventh in 2013.
Henrik Stenson is +1200. The Swede was just 28th last week but finished fourth in his debut at this event in 2015, missing the playoff by a shot. He had been playing very well overseas before his USA 2016 debut at Doral.
The favorites are rounded out by Willett (+2000), Oosthuizen and Reed (both +2500). Willet had that third last week and is playing here for the first time. Oosthuizen was 14th at Doral but has missed the cut here three years running. Reed had that runner-up here last year. He has struggled in the two Florida events thus far in 2016.
PGA Tour Picks: Valspar Championship Betting Predictions
For a Top 10, I'll go with Spieth (-200), Stenson (+135) and Luke Donald, a blast from the past, at +450. He has finished in the Top 6 here in four of his past five trips, winning in 2012. Go with John Senden as the top Aussie at +200; he won this in 2014. I like Donald at +900 as the top European.
Head-to-head, go with K.J. Choi (-140) over Bill Haas (+110), Justin Thomas (-115) over Branden Grace (-115), Harris English (-125) over Matt Kuchar (-105), Graeme McDowell (-120) over Ryan Moore (-110), Kevin Na (even) over Jason Dufner (-130), Gary Woodland (-120) over Ryan Palmer (-110), Donald (even) over Webb Simpson (-130), and Spieth (-150) over Stenson (+115).
As for the winner, I'm going to spread my wager over two guys this week: Na (+4000) and English (+3500). The latter has Top 10s in two of his past three trips here. Na was runner-up here in 2014 and T10 last year.
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