February 22, 2016: The west coast swing on the PGA TOUR came to a thrilling finish with Bubba Watson rallying back from a two shot deficit to clinch the Northern Trust Open for the second time in three years. Anirban Lahiri struggled to make an impression on the final day, slipping 13 places to finish T39.
Watson has been on cue this entire week and entered the final day with a one shot lead over Jason Kokrak and Dustin Johnson. With the race still wide open on the final stretch, Watson was trailing by two after the 14th hole.
But Kokrak was chasing a maiden tour title and the pressure got to him. He pulled his tee shot into the trees and nestled his ball in the bunker on his way to a bogey at the 15th.
Meanwhile Watson was busy underlining his ambition, playing some nerveless golf to overhaul Kokrak and Adam Scott for the title with back to back birdies at the 16th and 17th holes.
After making a pair of birdies and bogeys on the front nine, Anirban was hoping to end the week on a positive note with some good golf over the final stretch. But after a birdie at the 10th hole, he gave away three shots including consecutive bogeys at 15 & 16.
The 49th ranked Indian finished the week at 3-under 281 in T39. He gained 12 spots on the FedexCup rankings, rising from 106 to 94 this week.
Johnson had an opportunity too but he failed to press hard enough under a demanding final day situation, settling for solo fourth place.
Marc Leishman and K J Choi also shot 69 to round out the top five at the event. The tour travels to Florida next week for the Honda Classic.
- In this article
- Pros
- anand datla
- anirban lahiri
- bubba watson
- Northern Trust Open
