Golf bags take a beating, Trump jinxes Rory McIlroy, and other takeaways from Doral

Adam Scott could have packed it in after starting Sunday’s WGC-Cadillac Championship finale with two double bogeys in his first five holes. But while the 2013 Masters champ (and a favorite to claim a second green jacket in April) was flop-shotting his way to back-to-back PGA Tour wins, other guys were having a heck of a time trying to navigate Trump National Doral — perhaps for the last time in competition, given the track owner’s predilection for controversial windbaggery.

Speaking of The Donald, the frontrunner in the Republican presidential race choppered into Doral in time to greet defending champ Dustin Johnson and 54-hole leader Rory McIlroy before their afternoon tee times. DJ proceeded to tank, carding four doubles and a final-round 7-over 79.

In the meantime, Rory could get nothing going and blew a three-shot lead to finish two shots back and in a tie for third after a closing 74.

Sergio Garcia set the pace for temper tantrums on Friday when he let his golf gear know he Was. Not. Amused.

The former El Nino earned a tsk-tsk for his behavior from a notorious Tiger Woods basher and responded by throwing some grenades back at Brandel Chamblee.

Despite the Olympic-level thrust and parry, though, the gold medal for golf-bag bashing goes to Victor Dubuisson, who would probably be just as happy if the PGA Tour goes ahead and dumps Trump National Doral from the rotation.

If you considered DJ’s 79 a gaudy number for a professional, consider Steven Bowditch. The 37-year-old Aussie set a WGC record for futility by chalking up four scores in the 80s and ending up DFL at 37-over par. We’ll let that +37 sink in for a moment.

And if you thought Bowditch could not wait to wave bye-bye to the Blue Monster, think again. After all, he got paid $48,000 to stink up the joint in the no-cut, limited field tourney.

“I shot 37 over par and still made a paycheck. All’s not that bad,” Bowditch, the winner of two tour contests, told reporters after the round. “Hey, it’s just golf.”

Bubba Watson is a self-acknowledged “head case,” but what happened on the 72nd tee was bizarre even for him. After setting up for his tee shot, Watson stepped back a few times, clearly perturbed by what he seemed to believe was a spectator’s shadow but perhaps was his own.

Whatever it was, Bubba, who came up one shot shy of Scott after a par on 18, declined to elucidate.

“I’m going to go with this: I’m just a head case and I had to back off to get refocused,” Watson said. “I’m going to get blasted if I say what the true answer is, so I’m just going to say I had to back off because I’m just a head case, and I tried to get the cobwebs out of my head.”

Bats**t crazy or not, Watson’s runner-up finish may augur a third green jacket for Bagdad Bubba.

The world No. 1 baffled the pundits with his indifferent play (69-72-73-73 = T17) as well as an unusual rules request. Jordan Spieth conferred with a tourney official during Saturday’s third round about whether he could spit on the sole of his putter to gain better purchase on Doral’s lickety-split greens. Spieth was denied his bid, with Slugger White, the tour’s vice president of rules and competition, pledging further discussion even while acknowledging to GolfChannel.com that “the intent was there. His intent was to keep the putter from moving around.”

No harm, no foul for Spieth, but J.B. Holmes was not so fortunate. After his first tee shot on Sunday splashed down into a water hazard, he took an improper drop and played two more shots before reaching the green and learning of his “serious breach” of the rules:

It could have been worse. Had Holmes teed off on the second hole before incurring the two-shot penalty and a double-bogey seven, officials would have disqualified him. Instead, Holmes’ 80 brought him to 13-over for the week and a 59th-place ending.