A wet, weird win

This is the weird truth we learned at the Nissan Open over the weekend when the tournament was besieged by rains of biblical proportions (at least by southern California standards) and was shortened to 36 holes. When Chad Campbell lipped out his five-foot par putt Monday morning on the 18th green at Riviera Country Club, he knew he probably wasn't going to get the victory. Adam Scott had a four-foot putt for par and the win, which he made.

Except the win doesn't count.

So in this crazy, mixed-up tournament, Scott won but he didn't really win. The money is official. Scott won $864,000 but the victory isn't and players received only 75 percent of the points they would normally have gotten in the World Rankings had this been a 72-hole event. Scott doesn't receive a two-year exemption (not that he needs in, since he won last year's Players Championship) and he doesn't earn an invitation to the winners-only tournament next January in the Mercedes Championship in Hawaii .

The Nissan Open would be the fourth win of his career but since it's unofficial, it doesn't really count. The only thing that would have been weirder would have been if Campbell had won. The Texan, who played in his first Ryder Cup last fall, finished his second round Friday afternoon and didn't get on the course until he played Monday morning.

Has anybody ever won a PGA Tournament without hitting a ball the entire weekend? Probably not. Campbell nearly did. He didn't even practice all weekend. Saturday was a washout. He had a 4:15 tee time on Sunday to start the third round and arrived at the course at 3 o'clock to warm up, just in time to hear the horn blow that halted play. So he didn't even hit a practice shot all weekend.

"That might have been a little bit of an advantage for me," Scott said Monday after his win/non-win. "It was tough luck that Chad hadn't hit a shot for days and I had."

Everyone who had made the cut returned to Riviera Monday morning to try to play the third round but heavy rain throughout the night made that impossible and the decision was quickly made to cancel play and hold a playoff between the two players at nine under par, Scott and Campbell . The playoff was held at Riviera's famed 18th hole -- not only because it's a classic par 4 but also because the hole has no bunkers. Most of the bunkers on the course were either under water or washed out and in need of repair.

Campbell drew a number out of a hat on the 18th tee and drew a 2, which meant Scott had honors. "I hit a quick hook off the tee, which wasn't good," he said, chuckling. That left him 218 yards to the front of the green from a sidehill lie in left rough. Campbell hit a drive in the middle of the fairway and seemed to have the advantage. Scott then rifled a soggy 3-wood shot just short of the green. "That was a pretty good shot, I felt," Scott said. Then Campbell missed the green just right with a 5-wood shot. Scott pitched to four feet, Campbell chipped to five feet and lipped out. Then Scott rolled his putt in for the unofficial win. It was a strange finish for a strange tournament.