Golf

Adam Scott wins as Graeme McDowell takes fifth at Honda Classic

Australian takes first PGA Tour win in two years while Louis Oosthuizen wins in Perth

Adam Scott hugs his caddie David Clark following his victory at the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Photograph: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
Mon Feb 29 2016 - 14:20

Stubborn to the end, Graeme McDowell - with a run of five straight pars - finished with a 69 for 276, four-under-par, that earned the Northern Irishman a fifth place finish in the Honda Classic at West Palm Beach where Australian Adam Scott claimed a first win on the PGA Tour in two years.

Scott, without a win since the 2014 Crowne Plaza Invitational, bounced back from his runner-up finish in Riveira last week to fire a closing 70 for 271 for a one shot win over Sergio Garcia, with Blayne Brner and Justin Thomas in a share of third.

McDowell - in the first of a four-week stretch of events on the Florida Swing in his build up to the Masters at Augusta next month - secured a top-five finish that confirmed his competitive well-being, having won the Mayakoba Classic before Christmas.

McDowell started his round with a birdie three on the first, bogeyed the fifth and birdied the eighth to turn in one under 34 before bogeying the 12th and responding with birdie on the 13th to move into a top-five position that indicates good form for the upcoming stretch in Florida and his attempt to break into the top-64 in the world ahead of the WGC-Dell Matchplay championship.

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Although any defence of his Honda Classic title had long drifted away, Pádraig Harrington - finishing up a four week stint on the PGA Tour - had to accept a finishing position of 43rd in the PGA Tour tournament at West Palm Beach after a closing round 71 for four-over-par 284.

Unfortunately for the 44-year-old Dubliner, a tee shot on the Par 3 17th that found water and resulted in a double bogey five proved costly and was the only blemish on his card on the back nine. Harrington had started his final round with birdies on the third and seventh with a bogey on the eighth, before reeling off nine successive pars.

Shane Lowry finished with a 75 for 286, six-over-par, in a disappointing weekend after jumping into contention early on. The 28-year-old Offalyman - who is playing in this week’s WGC-Cadillac Championship in Doral - struggled coming in with a double bogey five on the 15th and a bogey on the 17th as the two short holes came to bite him late on.

Fiji’s Vijajy Singh fell out of contention with a double bogey on 13 and then a bogey on 15, Singh has had a nice week. He just drained a 20-footer for birdie on 17 to move to 3 under and solo seventh. Eight years on from his last victory on the PGATour, Singh finished with a 70 for 277.

Kevin Phelan, the former Walker Cupper from Waterford, went into the final round of the Eye of Africa championship on the Sunshine Tour in second place and poised for a breakthrough professional win but struggled to a finishing 74 that left him in tied-11th, all of nine shots adrift of Jaco Van Zyl and Dean Burmester. Van Zyl won in a play-off.

Cormac Sharvin, playing on a sponsor’s invite, finished with a 72 for a one under par 287 that left the Co Down man in tie-52nd in the Perth International on the European Tour, where Louis Oosthuizen finished a shot clear of France’s Alexander Levy.

Oosthuizen eased to victory at the ISPS HANDA Perth International to claim an eighth European Tour title at Lake Karrinyup Country Club.

The World Number 21 came into the final day with a three-shot lead and, while he was briefly caught on the front nine, the South African cruised to a closing 71 to finish on 16 under, one shot ahead of Frenchman Alexander Levy.