He said he passed the kidney stone on Monday, and then took 3-year-old Caleb to hang with Justin Bieber.
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Then Watson declined a request from a tour official to go to the media interview room, because he had tickets for Saturday night’s Clippers-Warriors game at Staples Center and didn’t want to be late. That might be gravy.
SCHWARTZEL’S CARD: Lanny Wadkins said when he set the scoring record of 20-under 264 at Riviera in 1985 that he played the final round with the goal of not having anything worse than a 4 on his card.
Johnson is tied for second with second-round leader Jason Kokrak, who shot a 70, and Chez Reavie, who had a 69. “I’m pretty mad about it, but I’ve got to get over it. I’ve got to man up and be a better man, and with those comments, I’ve got to figure out how to answer things better, all the stuff going on in my head we’ve been working on”. Despite his mediocre start to the round, the world number three shifted his game to the next level on the back nine as he started with a birdie at the 10th before going on to make two more at the 15th and 17th.
The win was the ninth of Watson’s career, including two at Riviera and two in the Masters.
Ryan Moore scored the second ace of the week when he got a very lucky bounce on the 163-yard, par-three 16th hole. Reavie had a three-shot lead at one point on the back nine, courtesy of an eagle on No. 2.
But he missed the green with his approach to the 15th green and failed to get up and down, and he did well to save par at the next two holes before slightly misreading his birdie putt at the last.
“According to Ray, McIlroy’s 18’11” putt on the final hole was his longest of the day.
McIlroy made three birdies on the back nine to reach 10-under when he pushed his tee shot too far right on the 18th.
“My baby came out, I guess”, he said. “It would be nice to hear something like that again tomorrow”. “Not everyone is just going to fade away”.
“You definitely can call upon past experiences”, Kokrak, a double victor on the satellite Web.com Tour, told reporters.
The American left-hander used his booming length off the tee and his creativity around the greens to good advantage as he fired a four-under-par 67 at a sun-splashed Riviera Country Club, a venue he has always relished playing. He was able to clip the ball perfectly, and it checked up just 3 feet above the hole.
Phoenix Open victor Hideki Matsuyama was 9 under after a 68.
Watson made the cut with two shots to spare in 2014 and then went 64-64 on the weekend.
“I think quality courses produce a quality leaderboard, and you just have to look at the names up there at the minute – Bubba, Dustin, myself, Adam, all very, very good players”, McIlroy said.
The Northern Irishman, ranked third in the world, shot a third-round 67 to move to 10 under for the tournament. He shot 68 and was three shots behind, along with Troy Merritt (70).
Top-ranked defending champion Lydia Ko of New Zealand was second after a 67.
And he still shot 68 and was four behind.
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LPGA: Haru Nomura of Japan won her first tournament in her 72nd start, shooting 7-under 65 to win the Women’s Australian Open by three strokes at Adelaide. Australia’s Marcus Fraser was second after a 66.
