For an hour or two on Sunday afternoon, Pensacola nearly had its own mini-Super Bowl victory, just a stone's throw away from the big game in Arizona.

Bubba Watson — Milton High School graduate and new co-owner of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos minor-league baseball team — for a time flirted with the lead Sunday afternoon at the PGA Tour's Waste Management Open in Scottsdale, Ariz., down the road from the NFL's finale in Glendale.

Watson played the first 9 holes at the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale at 4-under, recording three straight birdies on No. 2-4 before closing out the front side with another. But Watson managed just two birdies on the back nine and finished in a three-way tie for second place, a shot behind Florida State graduate Brooks Koepka.

"A couple shots here and there," Watson told CBS sports after his round, his son, Caleb, in hand, sporting a Russell Wilson jersey. "On 17 I three-putted, but I had, you know, an 80-footer.

"All in all it was a great day. It was a good challenge. ... I'll accept it at the end of the week."

The end of Thursday's first round saw Watson in a three-way tie for second place after carding a 6-under 65. His second and third rounds were less remarkable — even-par 71 on Friday and 2-under on 69 on Saturday. But that left him just five shots back of third-round leader Martin Laird.

Watson went into the closing holes a shot back of Japan's Hideki Matsuyama. Watson, playing three holes in front, drove a 288-yard 3-wood onto 17 green — playing 332 yards on Sunday. His 100-foot (give or take) eagle effort ended up about 7 feet short, and the birdie try pushed left for a three-putt par.

Watson's walk to 18 actually came amid a bit of a logjam, tied for the lead at 4-under total with Matsuyama, Scotland's  Martin Laird and fellow American Ryan Palmer. (Matsuyama, Palmer and Watson were in the second-place tie.)

Trademark pink driver in hand on 18, Watson blasted 335 yards to the right-center fairway on his final hole — we'll pause to let that sink in — and left himself just 135 to the hole.  His approach was a bit chunked, though, and the ball immediately dug into the green and headed right, ending up about 21 feet short and right.

Watson's must-make birdie putt came up a couple feet short, sending him to the clubhouse with a 14-under 206 for the tournament.

The $6.3 million tournament finally was won by Koepka on the final hole. He'd eagled the par-5 15th for a share of the lead and finished with three straight pars for the one-shot victory. Koepka took home $1.13 million for the weekend.

Watson made $470,400 for the week's work.

Watson has seven victories on the PGA Tour, including The Masters in 2012 and 2014. He most recently won the World Golf Championships HSBC Champions in Shanghai in November.