World number one Justin Rose described his victory as a "win-and-a-half" after carding a three-under-par 69 to beat Adam Scott by two shots at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego on Sunday.
The Englishman's latest victory was his 10th on the PGA Tour, matching the tally of Spaniard Sergio Garcia and giving him one more than Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros.
Rory McIlroy (14) is the only European player with more wins on the Tour since 1945. He finished tied for fifth, after also carding a final round of 69.
“Double-digits sounds really cool. Winning is never easy,” Rose said.
“When you’ve beat a class field on a great venue, that satisfies you as a player. It’s a win-and-a-half mentally.”
Rose teed off with a three-shot lead but found himself just one clear after three early bogeys.
“The first six holes anything that could go wrong did go wrong,” Rose said.
“In the past I might have got a little rattled, a little shaken by that start but I didn’t today.
“Had a bit of a gut-check time on the seventh hole but I’d been playing so well all week. Went about my business and it really started to turn around.”
Rose re-established a buffer with three birdies in four holes, and held off a late rally by Australian Scott, who finished with four straight birdies for a 68.
It could have been a special back nine for Scott, who failed to convert great birdie chances on 11, 12 and 13.
“I might have been able to make it interesting at the end,” said Scott, who also missed a tiny putt from inside two feet at the fifth.
Japan's Hideki Matsuyama (67) and American Talor Gooch (68) tied for third, five strokes behind Rose.
Tiger Woods (67) tied for 20th at 10-under in his first start of the year.
“I wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be (at start of the week) but each and every day I got a little better. Figured a few things out with the driver which was great,” Woods said.
Rose’s win came in his second tournament with new clubs after he switched equipment companies to join Japanese clubmaker Honma.
Changing can be a risky move for top players, but Rose seems to have adapted quickly.
“I’m really happy I challenged the status quo and changed everything up in the search trying to get better,” he said.
“I can’t believe how well I’ve driven the ball this week on a tough test. The off-season was short and sharp and I didn’t quite know exactly how I was going to come out.
“It’s awesome to play this well this week.”
Collated Final round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open (USA unless stated, par 72):
(a) denotes amateurs
South Course:
267 Justin Rose (Eng) 63 66 69 69
269 Adam Scott (Aus) 70 66 65 68
272 Talor Gooch 69 68 67 68, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 66 66 73 67
274 Jason Day (Aus) 67 71 69 67, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 71 65 69 69, Jon Rahm (Spa) 62 72 68 72
275 Billy Horschel 66 68 71 70
276 Joel Dahmen 68 67 70 71, Cameron Smith (Aus) 71 69 71 65, Scott Brown 70 68 68 70, Gary Woodland 71 70 69 66
277 Bud Cauley 66 70 74 67, Tony Finau 69 69 69 70, Michael Thompson 68 69 69 71, Matt Jones (Aus) 67 74 69 67, Sepp Straka (Aut) 69 67 71 70, Ryan Palmer 67 67 75 68, Patrick Reed 69 69 69 70
278 Tiger Woods 70 70 71 67, Jason Kokrak 71 69 69 69, Sung Kang (Kor) 71 70 66 71, Doug Ghim 63 73 67 75, Charles Howell III 66 70 75 67
279 Trey Mullinax 70 71 68 70, Xander Schauffele 69 70 70 70, John Huh 68 68 71 72, Danny Willett (Eng) 71 68 70 70
280 Jim Knous 70 71 70 69, Hank Lebioda 70 67 68 75, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 70 70 70 70, Jonas Blixt (Swe) 68 69 74 69, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 67 68 73 72, Robert Streb 69 68 72 71
281 Wyndham Clark 69 67 70 75, Keegan Bradley 68 71 69 73, Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 68 67 71 75, Adam Svensson (Can) 70 67 69 75, Jordan Spieth65 72 72 72
282 JT Poston 72 68 69 73, Luke List 70 69 71 72, Sam Burns70 66 74 72
283 Julian Etulain (Arg) 71 67 71 74, Scott Stallings 69 71 71 72, Sam Ryder 69 69 72 73, Marc Leishman (Aus) 68 73 70 72, Martin Laird (Sco) 73 66 69 75, Kevin Tway 70 71 72 70, Nick Taylor (Can) 71 68 72 72, Russell Knox (Sco) 67 70 73 73, Nicholas Lindheim71 69 70 73
284 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 67 74 70 73, Chris Stroud 66 71 74 73, Chris Thompson 74 66 70 74, Sungjae Im (Kor) 72 68 72 72, Braden Thornberry71 67 72 74
285 Adam Schenk 72 69 74 70, Bill Haas 67 72 70 76, John Senden (Aus) 68 73 72 72, Beau Hossler 67 70 74 74, Cameron Davis (Aus) 72 69 72 72
286 Shawn Stefani 67 74 70 75, Grayson Murray 68 72 71 75, Benjamin Silverman (Can) 68 71 72 75, Brandt Snedeker68 73 71 74
287 Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 70 71 72 74, Brandon Hagy 66 71 74 76, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 64 75 71 77, Rickie Fowler73 66 74 74
288 Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 72 68 76 72, Ryan Blaum 71 70 75 72
289 Nick Watney 72 68 74 75, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 66 73 70 80, John Chin66 71 77 75, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 68 72 75 74
290 Sean O'Hair 71 69 77 73
291 Morgan Hoffmann 70 70 79 72
