PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Jason Bohn says he wanted to go back to his room to take a shower before going to the hospital with chest pains and didn’t realize he was having a major heart attack until paramedics at the Honda Classic put him on a stretcher and called for an ambulance.

“So it was kind of a scary moment for me,” Bohn said Monday in an interview with SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio. “I didn’t realize what was happening. I just never thought at age 42 I’d be having a heart attack to the degree that I had one.”

Bohn figured the chest pains were from bronchitis and pneumonia. He made the cut on Friday and then sought medical attention, and before long he was in an ambulance on his way to Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center.

He told SiriusXM that his heart is pumping at a weak rate and suffered damage from the heart attack. Doctors told him his left anterior descending artery was 99 percent blocked. That’s known as the “widow maker” because a heart attack can lead to a sudden death.

In that respect, Bohn says he was lucky to be alive.

“My doctors all have told me that had I passed out or gone down on the golf course that they really don’t think they would have had time to get the proper blood thinners in me – and put the stent in that they were able to do – in time,” he said. “I got one hell of a mulligan. That’s all I can say.”

Bohn said he looks forward to returning to competition, though he has no idea when that will be.

He remained hospitalized Monday for more tests and that his blood pressure was still low. He said he looked forward to getting home to the Atlanta area so he could meet with a cardiologist and figure out the best course of recovery.

“It’ll be sooner than later I’ll be back out there chatting away, having my fun, doing what I love to do,” he said. “So I know that this isn’t going to take me down and I’ve got a second chance. Like I said, when you drop that mulligan, that second ball is always better than the first ball. So I look forward to my return and I really feel like I’m going to come out of this a lot stronger than I have.”

Bohn is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour who is No. 15 in the FedEx Cup this year based on a pair of runner-up finishes and a tie for third.

Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., – Effective immediately, fans at PGA TOUR events are permitted to take photographs with their mobile devices throughout tournament week, except in areas of play during official tournament rounds or when requested by players, security, and TOUR officials to refrain from taking a photo. Previously, the policy restricted all photography to Designated Cell Phone Areas during tournament play.

Anything outside of a mobile device, such as cameras and video recorders, are not allowed during official rounds.

Following are the TOUR policy guidelines:

• Devices must be on silent at all times.
• Calls may be placed or answered only in designated “Cell Phone Zones.”
• Devices may not be used to capture audio/video at any time during tournament week.
• During practice and pro-am rounds, photography is permitted in all areas.
• During official competition rounds, photography is prohibited within any areas of competition (i.e. teeing grounds, tee shot landing areas and on/around putting greens) or when requested by tournament staff, security, players, or player representatives. Photography in non-competition areas is permitted.
• Data use (e.g., texting, email, etc.) will be permitted outside of the designated “Cell Phone Zones” all week, but away from play.
• Data use is not permitted when players are in position to compete (i.e., when QUIET PLEASE paddles are raised).
• No video recording is permitted at any time.

“Our mobile device policy has been met with great enthusiasm by fans,” said Andy Pazder, PGA TOUR chief of operations. “We believe the expanded policy will significantly enhance the on-site spectator experience while maintaining a suitable atmosphere for all players on the course.”

In early 2011, the PGA TOUR implemented its Mobile Device Policy which allowed fans for the first time to bring their mobile phones into tournaments. The Honda Classic was the first event for which the mobile device policy was implemented as an enhancement to the overall fan experience. This followed testing at five TOUR events in late 2010 and early 2011 to gauge the potential impact of mobile devices at PGA TOUR events.

The Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, Open Championship, PGA Championship, Ryder Cup and Rio 2016 Olympics are not PGA TOUR co-sponsored events and have their own respective policies regarding the use of mobile devices on-site.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Adam Scott tapped in a 30-inch par putt to win the Honda Classic on Sunday, and the smile was more relief than joy over ending the longest drought of his career.

A small measure of satisfaction might come from the silence he hopes will follow.

Yes, he still can win with a short putter.

In his third tournament since a new rule that outlaws the anchored stroke Scott used for a long putter the last five years, he made enough putts at PGA National for an even-par 70 to hold off Sergio Garcia and win for the first time since Colonial in May 2014.

“Probably good for everybody who likes talking about it, absolutely,” Scott said. “And therefore, good for me. Good for me because maybe we don’t have to go over it too much anymore. Again, it just reassures me I’m on the right track with the things I’m doing on the greens, and I’m just going to try and get better every week. And I think it’s in a great spot at the moment.

“If I can get better and better, then I like what’s to come.”

Scott opened with a 10-foot birdie putt that set the tone, and he seized control early on the back nine when Garcia missed a 3-foot par putt on the 11th hole, and Scott followed with a 9-iron out of a bunker to 2 feet for birdie and a two-shot lead.

Garcia made birdie on the final hole for a 71, forcing Scott to convert his short par putt.

“He played really, really solid,” Garcia said. “I played with him the last two days, and he looked awesome. I know I can play better. That’s the good thing. Without feeling like I was swinging that great, I still managed to have a chance, so I’m happy with that.”

It was the first time Scott won with a short putter since the 2010 Singapore Open. He switched to a long putter that he anchored to his chest at the Match Play Championship and when he won the Masters in 2013, he was the fourth player in six majors to use an anchored putting stroke.

It was outlawed at the start of this year, and Scott had grown weary of talking about it. Overlooked was that he had won 18 times worldwide with a short putter, including The Players Championship and the Tour Championship. He even led the tour in the “strokes gained” category over Tiger Woods, Brad Faxon and Steve Stricker in 2004, before the tour began publishing that data.

All the evidence he needed was the trophy he held on Sunday.

“I’ve kind of said it the whole time. I don’t think it’s going to be that big a deal for me,” Scott said. “It’s some hard work, and I’m not afraid of that. I’m glad it’s going in the right direction, and I’ve putted pretty solid the last couple weeks, and I want to make sure that keeps going.”

The final round was a duel between Scott and Garcia, though Justin Thomas and Blayne Barber both got within two shots at one point on the back nine. Barber didn’t make a birdie over the final seven holes and shot 70. Thomas took double bogey from the back bunker on the par-3 17th and closed with a 69. They tied for third, four shots behind.

Scott had one last hurdle to clear.

Garcia made his first birdie of the round with a 6-foot putt on the 14th hole to close to within one shot. They headed to the tee on the par-3 15th over water, where a day earlier Scott hit two balls into the water and made a quadruple-bogey 7, going from a three-shot lead to a one-shot deficit.

It helped that the tee was moved forward to make it only 151 yards (instead of 179 yards), though the front pin was close to the water. Scott was ready to hit 8-iron when he felt a small puff of wind in his face and backed off the shot. He got back in quickly when he felt the wind die, and the ball landed safely 30 feet away.

After both made careless bogeys on the 16th, Scott faced one more par 3 over the water on the 17th hole, where fans holding beer in both hands hurled insults at Scott and Garcia as they stood on the tee. “Two more in the water, Adam,” one man yelled.

Scott had a 7-iron that he hit “as hard as I could,” and it was a relief to see it find the green. He took a two-shot lead to the final hole when Garcia made bogey, and only needed a simple par for the victory.

Scott finished at 9-under 271 and moved to No. 9 in the world, his highest ranking in 10 months.

The timing was perfect.

This was only his 10th event since a permanent switch to the short putter dating to the Presidents Cup, and he has finished out of the top 10 only twice since then. And he finally had another victory.

“I want to feel somewhat relevant out here when it comes to being one of the best players in the world,” he said. “That’s just down to my results. You can talk it in your head and try and build yourself up as much as you want. But at some point, you’re going to have to have the results to actually prove it.”

Graham DeLaet shot 75 Sunday to finish 6-over and tie for 53rd.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Adam Scott looked as though he couldn’t miss as he began to pull away Saturday in the Honda Classic.

He hit every green through 13 holes at PGA National. He made seven birdies through 14 holes. He turned a three-shot deficit at the start of the round into a three-shot lead over Sergio Garcia. No one else was closer than seven shots.

One hole changed everything.

“Just one of those ones where it’s the wrong time to make an error,” Scott said.

Make that two errors. Scott put two balls into the water on the par-3 15th and made a quadruple bogey to lose the lead. He still managed a 4-under 66 to share the lead with Garcia going into the final round.

It was the other 17 holes that left Scott so optimistic about a chance to win for the first time since May 2014.

“I’m playing great,” he said. “I have to say, I’ve played better every day this week, and it started pretty good. It’s disappointing not to have walked out of here and shot 62 or something like that. But it might be tomorrow that I can do that.”

Garcia lost the lead again with a bogey from the bunker on the 17th, but a birdie on the final hole gave him a 67 to catch Scott.

They were at 9-under 201.

Blayne Barber had a 69 and was four shots behind.

Scott and Garcia were quick to point out that Sunday might not be a two-man race, and there was plenty of evidence to back them up.

Rickie Fowler had a one-shot lead going into the third round and was the first player at the Honda Classic to go bogey-free through the opening 36 holes. And then on Saturday, he couldn’t make a birdie. Fowler made bogey on the easiest hole at PGA National, the par-5 third, and wound up with a 74 to fall five shots behind.

Nothing went right for Jimmy Walker, starting with the first tee. Playing alongside Fowler, he was introduced as “Jimmy Fowler.” Walker had the lead with his birdie on the third hole. He didn’t make another birdie until the 18th hole, and that was to break 80. Walker was 11 shots back.

“Who can tell me that the guys that are 4 under are not going to go and play like Adam did today?” Garcia said. “We’ll see how the day goes. And then if it becomes a two-horse race on the last three or four holes, I’ll welcome that. But I will expect some of the guys behind to shoot a good number and make it tough for all of us.”

Thanks to one swing by Scott, those guys at least have a chance.

Justin Thomas opened with three straight birdies and had to settle for a 68, putting him at 4-under 206 with Fowler. Graeme McDowell had a 67 and was six shots behind at 207 along with Scott Brown and Vijay Singh (68). Singh made a double bogey on the 15th hole without hitting in the water, hitting in the bunker or hitting in the rough. His problem was the golf ball hit the putter four times from 20 feet.

Still, nothing was more shocking than Scott how quickly his fortunes turned.

The former Masters champion with one of the prettiest swings in golf was flawless. He ran off four straight birdies to close out the back nine, starting with a 50-footer on No. 6, the toughest hole of the day. Garcia’s three-putt bogey on the 13th made the deficit three shots, and he was in danger of falling too far behind.

“Obviously, if he shoots 61 the way the course was playing, the only thing you can do is just say – I want to say it in Spanish, but you’ll have to beep it,” he said with a laugh. “There’s nothing you can do. So I was just trying to make sure to stay with him again, still have a shot at tomorrow. I’d rather be where I am right now.”

Scott’s most important holes were the next two. He pulled his tee shot left, cleared the water from the rough and got up-and-down for par

“The par there was very important at the time, because it’s really stopping a severe bleed after 15,” he said.

And then he hit 6-iron to 10 feet on the 17th for birdie, regaining the lead when Garcia made bogey.

Scott last won at Colonial in 2014. Last year was his first without a victory since he was a 20-year-old rookie in 2000. Garcia ended last year with a victory in Vietnam on the Asian Tour. His last PGA Tour victory was in 2012.

“I think we’re both pretty desperate to have a win tomorrow after putting ourselves in this position,” Scott said. “So hopefully, we both play well and it’s a good show.”

 Canada’s Graham DeLaet carded a 69 Saturday and is tied for 22nd at 1 over.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -Rickie Fowler kept bogeys off his card for the second straight round Friday for a 4-under 66 and the early lead in the Honda Classic.

In some respects, it was identical to Fowler’s opening round – no bogeys, another 66 in windy conditions and a big par save on his 10th hole. Having started on the back nine, Fowler worked himself out of his toughest spot well right of the fairway and managed to get up-and-down for par to keep some momentum.

Otherwise, this was a clean day. His longest par putt was 12 feet on the fourth hole after driving into the bunker, and he ended his round with a 25-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole to reach 8-under 132.

Jimmy Walker finished birdie-eagle, holing a 40-foot putt on the 18th hole for a 66 and was one shot behind. Sergio Garcia had a 69 and was another stroke back.

Fowler is the first person to go bogey-free over the opening 36 holes at the Honda Classic since it moved to PGA National in 2007.

“I’m definitely pleased about that,” Fowler said. “Got a nice break on 1 to kind of continue that. But yeah, I kept myself in it with some up-and-downs, made some good putts, and then continued to move forward. Made a couple birdies coming in, so it was a little bit of a bonus there at the last.”

Rory McIlroy was hopeful of a bonus to keep playing.

He headed home after a 72 and it was uncertain if he would be back this week. McIlroy took a triple bogey on the par-5 fifth – his 14th hole of the round – and a birdie on the final hole put him at 4-over 144. He would not speak to reporters as he left the course.

It would be the second straight year for McIlroy to miss the cut.

Fowler has bounced back nicely from giving up a two-shot lead with two holes to play in his last tournament at the Phoenix Open. And he put in some good practice last week after returning home to Florida.

The scores didn’t count, but they were impressive.

Fowler set the course record at The Medalist with a 66 (he broke his own record), and the next day went up to The Floridian and shot 60 to break the course record that had been held by Justin Thomas.

“Pretty good accomplishment,” he said.

The first two days of the Honda Classic haven’t been too shabby, either. Even though he lost the late lead in Phoenix and missed the cut at Torrey Pines, Fowler has been quietly moving into the conversation of the elite players this year. He finished fifth at Kapalua to start 2016, won against a strong field in Abu Dhabi that included Jordan Spieth and McIlroy, and now is the player to catch at PGA National.

Walker missed the cut at Riviera last week, though he has been steady since a tweak to his swing in the offseason. Except for Riviera, he has not finished lower than a tie for 13th since October.

So far, the 18th hole has been kind to him. On Thursday, Walker went into the water and made a 12-foot putt to escape with par. On Friday, he was trying to lag his long eagle attempt and “luckily, the hole got in the way.”

Garcia held his own for a big part of the round until he three-putted for bogey on his 10th hole (No. 1) and Fowler built his lead by making birdies.

“Tomorrow is going to be an important day,” Garcia said. “Rickie is playing really, really well, so I’m going to have to play extremely well to keep up with him. We’ll see. Hopefully we have a good chance on Sunday. See what we can do.”

Graham DeLaet had a 70 and was 2-over and will be the lone Canadian to play the weekend.

Adam Hadwin had a 77 that included four double-bogeys, he was 5-over.

Mike Weir and David Hearn both finished at 8-over.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Sergio Garcia made an eagle, avoided an alligator and wound up in a share of the lead Thursday in the Honda Classic.

Garcia holed out with an 8-iron from 142 yards into the wind on the second hole for an eagle, and he narrowly missed an eagle putt on the 18th hole at PGA National. The Spaniard shot 5-under 65 and shared the lead with Michael Thompson, the 2013 Honda Classic winner, who also birdied the last hole.

They were one shot ahead of Rickie Fowler and William McGirt.

Canada’s Adam Hadwin had a 68 and sits tied for 10th.

Graham DeLaet recorded 72 and is tied for 65th place at +2. Mike Weir had a 75 and David Hearn penned a 77 on his card.

The biggest excitement for Garcia was on the par-4 sixth hole, where he made his lone bogey.

His tee shot found the water left of the fairway, shallow enough for him to roll up his pants and try to play it out to the fairway. That part was easy. He looked over his shoulder because of an alligator on the island, making sure it wasn’t going anywhere soon.

“I was more worried about the alligator that was on the other side of the island than getting out of the water,” Garcia said. “The ball, I could see probably half of it, so I knew that I could get it out. Almost made 4, which would have been a great 4. I’m not going to lie, I was happy with a 5.”

And he was happy with other 60 strokes he took on a typical windy day at PGA National.

Garcia missed the cut last week at Riviera, two days in which he said he did nothing well. Hardly anything went wrong for him in the Honda Classic, and even when it did, he managed to avoid trouble. Garcia had to play a 40-yard hook from the rough left of the 10th fairway to just short of the green for a simple par.

Fowler had the only bogey-free round, which included a chip-in for par on the 10th hole. McGirt was more on the wild side by making seven birdies.

“Anything in the red is good around this place,” McGirt said. “At 4 under, I would say it was bordering on great. This place is never easy, even when it’s calm. You can’t fall asleep on any shot out here.”

For the early starters, it was a rude welcome to the Florida swing – chilly and gusts that approached 30 mph.

Phil Mickelson extended his good play from a runner-up finish at Pebble Beach and shot 69, among 10 players who managed to break par in the morning. The wind eased slightly and the warmth returned briefly in the afternoon, and the crowd had a lot more to cheer.

That included the loudest cheer of the day on the par-3 17th, where Alex Cejka made a hole-in-one.

Rory McIlroy, however, wasn’t in a happy place when he finished. Standing outside the scoring area, he smacked his putter on the concrete before going inside to sign for a 72. It wasn’t an awful score, but the finish led to his angst.

He hit the face of a bunker on the 14th hole and went into another fairway bunker, put his third in more sand left of the green and made double bogey. After a birdie on the 15th, McIlroy came up short into the bunker on the 16th for a bogey, and he finished his round with a three-putt bogey from 10 feet.

Fowler was playing for the first time since he lost a two-shot lead with two holes to play and Hideki Matsuyama beat him in a playoff at Phoenix Open. Fowler said he spent a week with friends and played plenty last week to get ready for a big stretch. He opened with two birdies in three holes and was in position most of the day.

“I think we got a good break playing in the afternoon today,” he said. “I think the wind laid down a little bit for us. I know the guys had a tough time this morning and the course was not easy. Still didn’t play easy out there for us. I felt like I swung it really well tee-to-green. Would have been nice to putt a little better, but still a nice, solid round to start off the week.”

Garcia is playing for only the third time this year. He tied for seventh in Qatar and was never close to making the cut at Riviera.

“I didn’t come in with a lot of confidence,” Garcia said. “For sure, you are wondering a little bit, because usually my long game, it’s up there, and even when I’m not playing great, I still can manage to get around it. But last week, I felt out of sorts. I didn’t know what was going on.”

He took four days off, played 10 holes Wednesday in the pro-am before the rain arrived and it all felt good again.

“It’s only the first round,” Garcia said. “We still have three tough rounds to go on a very difficult golf course. But any good round, it’s always welcome.”

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Tiger Woods posted a video of him swinging a 9-iron in a golf simulator on Wednesday to shoot down rumors on social media that suggested his recovery from back surgeries had worsened to the point he could not even sit in a chair.

The 13-second video Woods posted on Twitter shows him dressed in shorts and golf shoes, and he takes a smooth swing on a golf simulator.

“Progressing nicely,” Woods wrote.

Progressing nicely. pic.twitter.com/HKnnluR1OW

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) February 24, 2016

If nothing else, it provided the first update on Woods since he spoke at the Hero World Challenge the first week of December. This was intended primarily, however, because of the social media storm that began over the weekend with a Twitter account called “Secret Tour Pro.”

Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent at Excel Sports Management, released a statement Monday that said the rumors were “ridiculous and absolutely false.”

“With everything that went on this weekend with Twitter exploding and the ridiculous and erroneous discussions – I don’t even want to call it reporting – we were inundated with fans saying: ‘Wow. How can this be true?’ Clearly, it wasn’t true,” Steinberg said Wednesday.

“If I picked up the phone and called you and said he’s doing some chipping and putting and making some swings up to a 9-iron – and that’s what the club was – is that impactful or a visual evidence of that?” he said. “We felt that was a more appropriate way to go.”

Woods first had a microdiscectomy a week before the 2014 Masters, which kept him out nearly three months. He took off another three months to get stronger, but then announced another back surgery in September, and a third one at the end of October.

He has not played since August. He has not won since August 2013.

The tweet Sunday from “Secret Tour Pro” – who claims to be a tour player, though it has never been verified – said that Woods’ condition had worsened since Christmas and that he has to ride in a car with the seat full reclined. The tweet also said Woods has to lay down for the majority of the time and sitting in chair is no longer possible.

Robert Lusetich, who wrote a book about Woods’ 2009 season after returning from knee surgery, tweeted similar information the next day that he attributed to his sources, and talked about it on a national radio show.

Steinberg could not say if Woods would have posted the video without the rumors.

“He does want to keep people in the loop to some degree,” he said.

Missing from the update was anything beyond “progressing nicely.” Woods said in December that he misses competing and wants to return, though he does not appear to be in any rush this time. He has said he tried to come back too early from the first back surgery.

“He’s going to learn from the past,” Steinberg said. “We don’t want to put a timetable on it. He’ll come back when he’s ready.”

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Whether the road to the Masters started at Riviera (Rory McIlroy), PGA National (Rickie Fowler) or Doral (Jordan Spieth), qualifying for the most restricted field of the majors starts with the Florida swing.

Last year ended with 89 players having earned invitations to Augusta National. Seven weeks into the new year, the number is likely to be unchanged.

The only PGA Tour winner to earn a spot so far is Vaughn Taylor, who won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. The other addition was Paul Chaplet, who won the Latin America Amateur Championship. While there have been no official subtractions, Jim Furyk had wrist surgery and is hopeful of a return in May at The Players Championship, and the latest report on Tiger Woods is no report at all. It would be surprising if he returned to the Masters.

There are six PGA Tour events left for players to earn a spot in the Masters, and two of them are World Golf Championships: the Cadillac Championship at Doral, and the Dell Match Play in Texas. The latter has the top 64 in the world, and currently only seven of those players are not yet eligible for the Masters.

After two years of the Masters field coming close to 100 players or more for the first time since 1966, it most likely won’t come close to that this year. Augusta National will take the top 50 in the world ranking after the Match Play. As of Monday’s world ranking, everyone in the top 50 already is exempt.

The lone Canadian to already sit in the field is Mike Weir – being a former champion.

Among those not yet eligible are Matt Jones (No. 52), Rafael Cabrera Bello (No. 58), Thorbjorn Olesen (No. 60), Thomas Pieters (No. 61), Marcus Fraser (No. 62), Gary Woodland (No. 63) and Ryan Palmer (No. 64).

LOS ANGELES – The swing has always come easily to Bubba Watson.

He hits a golf ball with so much natural ability combined with such an unorthodox style that it piqued the curiosity of Tiger Woods when Watson first got on the PGA Tour, and even now it’s enough to cause his peers to stop and watch on the practice range.

His entourage has never included a swing coach. It’s all Bubba.

“Some of the shots he hits are so creative. He really has his style of golf under control,” Adam Scott said. “I don’t think you can teach it. He’s just such a natural talent. Watching a guy hit 5-iron to four different greens on the range about 85 yards, 120, 170 and 240 is pretty fun to watch.”

Scott didn’t have to watch him on Sunday, which was just as well because it might not have been all that fun for guys trying to beat him at the Northern Trust Open. Watson took the lead for the last time by swinging so hard that he nearly came out of his shoes on the par-5 17th. The ball traveled 334 yards up the hill, setting up a 2-iron that went 256 yards and led to a two-putt birdie. He wound up winning by one shot over Scott and Jason Kokrak.

He called it “Bubba Golf” when he won the first of his two Masters titles in 2012. Everyone knows what that is when they see it. It’s just hard to describe.

“I’m not trying to do anything. I don’t work on anything,” Watson said. “I just play golf. I see a shot and try to hit it. I’m scared to death on most of them, but I try to hit it anyway.”

The challenge for Watson is what goes on between his ears, and what occasionally comes out of his mouth.

Watson’s life is filled with conflict. He rubs some players the wrong way by bragging about the value of his watch. But there are plenty of other moments of quiet charity, such as the time he walked into a tournament office and wrote a $50,000 check to help with tsunami victims in Japan without saying a word.

He doesn’t like big crowds, but he couldn’t leave Riviera fast enough Saturday night so he could get to the Clippers-Warriors game and be part of the celebrity scene. He says he doesn’t like a lot of attention, but he is constantly posting videos of wild stunts and trick shots.

He is known for his prodigious tee shots, and one year at Doral he would turn to make sure fans were watching as he bashed tee shots to the back of the range. But then he refused to take part in a long drive competition at the PGA Championship two years ago.

Watson said he’s trying to get better, even though he accepts that he has flaws.

Most of the credit goes to his wife, Angie, and his caddy, Ted Scott, with whom he has worked for close to a decade.

“Angie is a saint. For her to marry me … she might have issues, too, I guess,” Watson said.

The wisecracks come easily when a trophy is nearby.

“If Angie has changed as much as I have since the day Teddy met me in 2006, we’d call her the second Mother Teresa. You know what I mean?” Watson said. “Me, I’m just a loser. I started as an ‘F’ and now I’m a D-plus. But me as a person has changed, and that’s what is happening in my golf. Not the swing.

“The swing?” he said dismissively. “I can hit shots.”

Watson wept when he won the Travelers Championship for his first PGA Tour title in 2010, and he nearly flooded the 10th green at Augusta National in 2012 when he beat Louis Oosthuizen in a playoff for his first major.

He doesn’t cry as much anymore.

Yes, he still gets angry. One video that showed up on social media at the Hero World Challenge was Watson screaming at the ground to say, “MUD BALL!” after an errant shot caused by a speck of mud. It looks as though he is harping on Scott when shots don’t go his way, but that was a product of a rant caught on TV a few years ago.

Watson said he was hurt by the verbal abuse he endured at the Phoenix Open two weeks ago, when he started his week by saying he didn’t like changes to the TPC Scottsdale and that he was playing mainly for his sponsors that week. He felt his comments were misconstrued in a headline. Watson said he reads only the headlines, and he believes that’s all anyone else does. He was booed so often Saturday in Phoenix that at least one player complained on his behalf to the tour.

Watson tries to pretend he doesn’t care what people think or what they say.

But he does.

“Deep down, the human side of me, yes, I’m pretty mad about it,” Watson said. “But I’ve got to get over it. I’ve got to 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 that we’ve been working on in the last 11 years of PGA Tour life, I’ve got to get better at it. I think I’ve made the right steps, but the bad stuff is going to pop out every once in a while.”

As for the golf?

The good golf pops out every now and again, and it’s a spectacle to see.

LOS ANGELES – Bubba Watson ended his big week in L.A. as the star of his own show Sunday at Riviera.

Two shots behind with four holes to play, Watson made birdie on two of his last two holes to overtake Jason Kokrak and hold off Adam Scott for a one-shot victory in the Northern Trust Open.

Watson, who closed with a 3-under 68, won at Riviera for the second time in three years and moved back to No. 4 in the world.

He was among a half-dozen players who still had a chance over the back nine under warm sunshine. Watson took advantage of some late mistakes by Kokrak, who was going for his first PGA Tour victory, and his two birdies were enough to turn back the late heroics of Scott, who chipped in for birdie on the 18th for a 67.

That group of contenders did not include Rory McIlroy.

In his Riviera debut, McIlroy made eagle on the par-5 first hole to tie for the lead. He didn’t make a birdie until the 18th, giving him a 75 to tie for 20th.

Adam Hadwin was the top Canadian, finishing tied for 16th at -7. The former Team Canada member climbed 34 spots up the leaderboard Sunday thanks for a blazing 5-under 66.

Hadwin’s Canadian compatriot and fellow B.C. native Nick Taylor finished at 5-under and tied for 26th.

Watson, Scott, Kokrak and K.J. Choi were tied for the lead through 11 holes remaining and all of them dropped shots to fall out of the lead.

“For me to come back … and pull one out in a tough way means a lot,” Watson said.

He finished at 15-under 269 for his ninth career victory on the PGA Tour.

Kokrak had the lead to himself when Choi made bogey on No. 12, Scott missed 5-foot par putts on the 14th and 15th holes, and Watson went long of the 13th hole and watched his 20-foot par putt spin out of the cup.

Kokrak was firing at dangerous flags and pulling off the shots, stretching his lead to two shots with a daring approach to 4 feet on the 13th.

But one shot changed the dynamics of the final hour.

From the middle of the 15th fairway, Kokrak went long on one of the more difficult greens at Riviera and badly missed an 8-foot par putt as his lead shrunk to one. Watson stuffed his tee shot into 5 feet for birdie on the 16th, and Kokrak did well not to lose the lead by making a bending, 6-foot putt to save par from a bunker.

“You’ve got to eliminate the mental mistakes,” Kokrak said. “Hitting it in the middle of the green on 15 is just … I had a two-shot lead at the time.”

The decisive moment was on the par-5 17th, where Watson hit his tee shot so hard that both feet came off the ground. He reached the green with an iron and two-putted for birdie from about 40 feet. Kokrak hooked his tee shot into the trees, hit his second into a bunker and had to make a 6-foot par putt, falling one week.

Ahead of them, Scott stayed alive with a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th to get within one shot, and then the former Masters champion chipped in from 25 feet behind the green on the 18th, the ball slamming into the pin. That momentarily put him in a tie for the lead until Watson made his birdie on the 17th.

Once Watson hit his approach to 15 feet, Scott knew his chances were over.

“A guy like Bubba, he’s very tough to beat,” Scott said. “He’s proving tough to beat from that position. He’s wearing the course out on the toughest day.”

Kokrak had a putt from about the same distance to tie for the lead, but the ball slid by the left side of the cup and he settled for a 68. Two putts later, Watson was waving to the crowd and headed to another trophy presentation.

What a week for Watson. He took his 3-year-old son to hang out with Justin Bieber. He made a cameo appearance in a “Girl Meets World” episode (they even gave him a line), and he dashed out of Riviera to hang out with his pals at the Los Angeles Clippers-Golden State Warriors game Saturday night.

Best of all was winning another tournament.

Dustin Johnson also was in the mix for much of the day, making too many bogeys to hold him back. He closed with a 69 and finished fourth, two shots behind. Marc Leishman of Australia, one shot behind for much of the back nine, failed to save par from a bunker on the 16th and closed with a 69 to join Choi three shots behind.