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LA QUINTA – The rain stayed away, yet for much of Sunday this leaderboard still looked like a hot mess.

No one held a lead for long. Contention was like a revolving door. Finally, though, Hudson Swafford’s four-hole flurry to the finish seized control of what appeared to be an uncontrollable tournament.

Swafford birdied three of the final four holes Sunday, finishing 20 under par and earning his first career victory at the CareerBuilder Challenge by a stroke over Canadian Adam Hadwin at PGA West’s Stadium Course.

“They don’t give them away here,” said Swafford, a University of Georgia alum who secured the title about 30 minutes before his Atlanta Falcons won the NFC championship.

“It’s not easy,” he added. “I’ve been close. I’ve been in the heat lately and just keep putting myself in position, and this feels unbelievable.”

In his 93rd start, the 29-year-old Swafford won the $1 million-plus purse, moved up to No. 6 in the FedExCup standings and survived golf’s version of a scrum. Six players were tied for lead at one point on the back nine Sunday, and seven finished within four shots of Swafford.

But he remained steady, hitting three solid tee shots down the stretch to take the title with a back-nine 33, a final-round 5-under-par 67, and a 72-hole total of 268.

“You’ve just got to execute your shots,” he said. “You can’t really focus on the leaderboard. (Caddie) D.J. (Nelson) kept telling me, ‘Just don’t look at the leaderboard, let’s do what we need to do, let’s just keep giving ourself the best chance at birdie.”

Appropriately enough, as Swafford sank the winning putt, the tournament broadcast was interrupted by a flash-flood warning, culminating an event that danced with rain threats but never actually stopped play.

Tournament officials also looked smart Sunday, moving tee times up an hour. It started pouring about an hour after Swafford raised the trophy.

Hadwin shot a historical 59 at La Quinta Country Club in Saturday’s third round and became the ninth player in PGA history to break 60 in competition. He didn’t go away Sunday, as he shared the lead at times and birdied the 16th and the 17th – on a 25-foot putt, no less – to stay within a shot of Swafford.

He hit into the rough twice on the 18th, yet still scrambled for par and finished with a final-round 70, but it wasn’t enough to win.

“A couple of shots here and there,” Hadwin said, “and who knows what could have happened?

“But it was an incredible week – my best ever – so I can’t be disappointed with that.”

Swafford’s teammate at Georgia, Brian Harman, tied with Bud Cauley for third place at 18 under, and both shared a lead for a time. First-round leader Dominic Bozzelli finished fifth at 17 under, while Idyllwild native Brendan Steele and former CareerBuilder winner Chad Campbell tied for sixth at 16-under-par.

Campbell also got into the running but was derailed by a triple bogey on the par-3, sixth hole.

Swafford jumped into a share of the lead with an 111/2-foot birdie putt on the 15th. He drove 319 yards into the fairway on the par-5 16th hole, then hit a 4-iron to 15 feet and 2-putted for birdie. He followed that with a choked-up 8-iron to 17 inches on “Alcatraz” – the island green on the 17th – for birdie.

He held serve on the par-4 18th, nearly making birdie before tapping in to wrap up the title.

“I would have loved to have made the last putt,” Swafford said of the birdie opportunity on the 18th. “I got a great read. … I thought mine would have gone left to right at the end, but it didn’t. But I’ll definitely take a 2-inch putt for a win at any PGA Tour event.”

Contact the writer: lnegri@scng.com