LOS ANGELES • Adam Scott is battling Father Time after welcoming his second child in 2017, but it did not stop him turning back the clock to triumph on the golf course.

After his first victory at Riviera 15 years ago, the 39-year-old Australian won the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles on Sunday and, this time, his victory is official.

The 2013 Masters champion overcame an early double bogey to shoot one-under 70 and triumph by two shots over South Korean Sung Kang (69) and Americans Matt Kuchar (72) and Scott Brown (68).

It was extra special for former world No. 1 Scott, who had not tasted PGA Tour success for nearly four years as he juggled his career with parenting.

"Everyone tells me I'm turning 40 this year. I don't know if they're insinuating that that's the beginning of the end," he said.

"I'm very healthy as far as a golfing 39-year-old goes. My career is in a good spot, I guess.

"Even before winning this week, I feel physically and somewhat mentally, I'm okay after 20 years out here.

"It's incredibly satisfying to win a tournament of this stature on a golf course of this stature - even better to come out on top and have your game really tested. It was not easy."

He all but clinched victory when he sank a 10-foot birdie at the penultimate hole, and he parred the last to finish at 11-under 273 for his 14th official PGA Tour victory.

The count does not include his trophy at home from Riviera in 2005, when rain cut the tournament in half and his win was deemed unofficial.

He has also won 14 times internationally, including the Australian PGA Championship in December.

Riviera was his first event of the year, and one he hopes will provide a launchpad to add to his single Major before time catches up.

"This has to be my year," he said.

"I can't afford to let the next 10 years slip away. I have to make it happen now.

"It's only going to get harder.

"The big goal now is to be a multiple Major winner and I think the habit of winning is good for that."

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy, who started the final round tied for the lead with Scott and Kuchar, was not a factor after a triple bogey at the same fifth hole that Scott bungled.

He tied for fifth with a 73, three shots behind the winner.

Apart from his lapse on the fifth, the Ulsterman played "pretty well", but also admitted: "Definitely the toughest day of the week. The wind was up, hole locations were sort of tricky spots, the course was firming up again."

Tournament host Tiger Woods' day could hardly have gone worse. Already 15 off the pace at the start, the 15-time Major champion dropped five shots in his last six holes as he stumbled home in 77.

He had seven bogeys and one double bogey, to cancel out his one birdie and an eagle on the way to an 11-over 295 to finish 68th, last among those who made the cut and 22 strokes behind Scott.

His game deserted him on the course where he played his first PGA Tour event as a 16-year-old.

It was the 13th time he had come up empty and there is no other course he has played so many times without a victory.

Yet, the 44-year-old did not lose his sense of humour.

"The good news, I hit every ball forward, not backwards, a couple sidebars," he joked to reporters.

He was gunning for a record 83rd PGA Tour title, having matched Sam Snead's 82 at the Zozo Championship in Japan last October.

He is skipping this week's World Golf Championship in Mexico City but will play the March 12-15 Players Championship.

In April, he will return to Augusta National to defend his Masters title and go for a 16th Major, still shy of the record 18 held by Jack Nicklaus.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE