Bubba Watson Proves You Don’t Need Lessons To Win The Masters!
In an enthralling 2012 Masters tournament at Augusta, “Bubba” Watson beat Louis Oosthuizen to the green jacket and the first prize of $1,440,000.
It’s been quite a two week period for Bubba as he and his wife Angie have just adopted a one month old baby boy named Caleb. Further, among his tears of celebration he also remembered his father, Gerry Lester Watson, Sr., who died in October 2010 of throat cancer. In emotional scenes, Watson’s mother Molly Marie Watson met her son as he walked victoriously off the 10th green and into the Butler Cabin to collect his first green jacket.
The day hadn’t started so well for Watson as he bogeyed the first hole and then watched as South African Louis Oosthuizen, who won the 2010 British Open, took the lead on the second hole with a marvelous albatross at the second hole… the first at that hole in Masters history and the fourth ever in this much storied event.
Slowly but surely Watson ebbed away and he finally caught Oosthuizen with four straight birdies, starting on No. 13. When he dropped a 6-footer on the 16th, he found himself tied with his playing partner at 10 under, where they remained until the play off. Watson had two earlier chances to win as he missed a 20-foot birdie putt on the 72d hole, then missed an 8-footer for birdie on the first playoff hole at the 18th hole.
In the end, the win featured the unconventional, long-hitting lefthander with a pink driver, pulling off the shot of his life. Unable to see the 10th green because he was well right of the fairway with his drive on the second play off hole, Bubba somehow wrapped a wedge from 155 yards around a few of the towering pines at Augusta National Golf Club, hooking the risky shot and waiting for the crowd’s reaction to tell him how good it was. It was much better than good, settling 10 feet away and setting up a two-putt par and enough to beat Louis Oosthuizen in sudden-death.
Watson became the 14th different player to win in the past 14 major championships and even more remarkable is the fact that he has now won his first major without ever having a golf lesson or ever watching his swing on video. It’s typical of a man who paid $110,000 for the original General Lee, the orange Dodge Charger for the TV show The Dukes of Hazzard and who has also participated in a humorous music video with Rickie Fowler, Ben Crane and Hunter Mahan, who call themselves “Golf Boys,” and have now became a sensation on YouTube.
After collecting his green jacket and title of 2012 Masters champion, Watson said “It’s a blessing. To go home to my new son will be a lot of fun. Golf isn’t everything for me. If I would have lost today, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world. To win is awesome, but I’ll go back to real life next week and I still haven’t changed a diaper.”
“After (Oosthuizen) dropped that 2 on me at (No.) 2, I just kept my head down because I knew there were birdies on the back nine. And I was over in the trees on 10 in regulation, so I was used to that shot when I got into the playoff. I had a huge gap, had to hook it about 40 yards, and it worked out. I just got into the trees, I saw a crazy shot in my head, and now I’m wearing the green jacket.”
Indeed it was a crazy shot… but it was the one that won the day and one that said to the whole world that anyone with a desire to play the game of golf can do so and you don’t need a lesson to do it. Congratulations to Bubba Watson… you get the feeling the journey has just begun for the boy from Bagdad, Florida. Enjoy your week at your Isleworth home Bubba… it’s a special time for you and your family.
