WGC-Cadillac Championship 2012: Rose Prevails, Tiger Withdraws with Injury

Justin Rose fired a final-round 70 to win the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral. He finished at 16 under (par) for a one-stroke victory.  

Bubba Watson struggled to a 74 after entering Sunday with the lead. He narrowly missed a birdie putt on the 18th hole to force a playoff. Rory McIlroy made a charge up the leaderboard with a 67 to finish third.

Tiger Woods withdrew on the 12th hole, citing a tight left Achilles tendon. He was three over par for the round at the time.

Bubba Watson had a horrific front nine, shooting a 39 on an easy part of the course. He played the tough back nine at one under, but the damage was too great to overcome. He hit one of the best shots you will ever see from the right rough at the 18th hole. It left him a nine-foot birdie putt on the toughest hole on the PGA Tour. The ball just missed the left edge of the hole, falling off-line at the very end.

Justin Rose played a solid round free of mistakes to win for the fourth time in his career. He did bogey the 18th hole, but it is essentially a par-five anyway. He entered the tournament tied for second with Keegan Bradley, two strokes behind Watson.

Rose was the only one of the three to shoot under par—Bradley imploded late finishing with a 75 and a 41 on the back nine.

Rory McIlroy was six under (par) through his first 12 holes and within one of the lead. However, he was unable to keep up the pace on the difficult finishing holes. Despite not winning, it was McIlroy's 11th top-five finish in his last 12 tournaments. He managed to contend yet again after being out of the picture going into the weekend.

Tiger Woods struggled through his round, making no birdies. He changed shoes shortly before he decided to call it a day. He withdrew following his tee shot on the 12th hole.  

NBC had the blimp chasing his Mercedes as Tiger drove off with his caddie riding shotgun. He did appear to be limping at the end and Woods claimed to have been struggling with his Achilles since the day's warm-up session.

Luke Donald finally put together a good tournament this season. He finished tied for sixth. Charl Schwartzel and Peter Hansen finished in a tie for fourth place. Steve Stricker finished in eighth place, tied with Bradley and Matt Kuchar.