PGA Tour: Masters Champion, via the process of elimination: Notes from the Ballwasher

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leeeeeee!!

Hope they've got plenty of Kleenex in the cabin !

The manner in which it was done though, thouroughly deserved. Louis would have been a great champ after hanging in with all those pressure par putts, but bubba went out and pulled out a classic back 9 and a wonderful finish.

Thanks for winning me 50 quid Bubba

Thoroughly deserved winner, amazing player

Well done, Bubba. You are a worthy winner.

I set a personal record today. It's the most I have ever posted in a day.

Did ya see the Billy Payne "fly by" hand shake from bubba... hehe. Love it.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Cocktail will be the appetizer next year in the Champions dinner.

Gritz and Biscuits and gravy will be the main course.

Yum Yum

there wasnt much classic about his back 9 just a standard decent 3 under. i mean the way swartzel won with 4 birds last 4 last year was classic- westy had a 1 better back 9 than bubbs yet left 5 shots out there as well!!

look not taking anything away from bubba at all, he deserved the win big time, however if oosty won he would have deserved it in the same way.

even in the play off hole - he got lucky to have a shot that was only a wedge of a tight lie which only needed a standard draw(would have been much tougher out of the rough or could have been completly blocked out- did his drive deserve that??) and off course oosty didnt make par either basically giving him 2 putts for the win.

nothing undeserved, nothing overly deserved- he just played the best over the 72 and the play off and thats that! nothing special about his win at all from my pov- bar the obvious major win!

All about shots dropped?

Bubba and Oosty only dropped 2 each today, the four guys on 8 under dropped 3 each.

Yes, if my Auntie was... but simply, don't drop shots, it keeps your score up and gives you momentum. Of their combined 12 dropped shots, the runners up dropped 10 of their 12 on the front 9 with only Hanson and Kuchar dropping 1 shot each on the back nine.

But Bubba and Louis only dropped one each on the 1st and 4th respectively. Otherwise, they sank clutch putts, chipped close and built momentum.

Just my take on the stats (and hell, there are a 1000 ways to play them!)

He had 4 birds on the spin finishing -4 for the last 6. Not far away from dropping one in on 17 - it was a great charge in my book when the pressure was on.

The likes of Westwood were playing catchup and just shot at pins knowing that it's win or bust. Far far harder being in a genuine position to win and reeling off 4 consecutive birdies, thoroughly deserved win, i thought he was the best player of the last day. Although Ousthuizen holed some excellent saving putts.

ban_bam wrote:He had 4 birds on the spin finishing -4 for the last 6. Not far away from dropping one in on 17 - it was a great charge in my book when the pressure was on.

+1 Yeah, nothing special really...

I'd say the way Schwartzel finished last year was verging on Legendary. Couple it with his early round heroics, the 2 chip ins, and it probably slips into that category.

Bubba's finish was simply an Augusta classic. No, not in the same league, but classic none the less as it fulfilled the expectation we all have of a winner coming home strongly.

Had Louis won, the story would have centred on his albatross and clutch par putts. Birds on 13 and 15 on the back nine alone would not give his victory 'classic' status... Verging on it perhaps

Well done Bubba!!

I though it was Louie's day (after an albatross who didn't?), and he's got one excellent swing. Expect more from him for years to come.

Lots of pretenders out there, but when it was all said and done, only two real contenders. Too bad one had to lose ... fun stuff to watch.

Well done Bubba. Fantastic ending with Bubbas shot from the second hole playoff out of the trees oneof the great shots under pressure.

On Tiger the guy needs to drop his facade and lower himself down to the rest of the human race. He still talks to interviewers in a condascending manner and throwing his clubs and kicking out at them is no excuse for the lack respect to others who showed him better when he was trampling all over their scores over the years.

He's still obviously got his demons and when asked "Whats the chances of you not getting back to the former Tiger etc" to which he just answered 'Zero. Ive been there before and I know what to do to get back there'. I mean what a twerp.

Another wall put up between him and his humanity and the frailties we all have in live. As long as he continues to distance himself from the rest of us, particularly his peers the more he'll continue to live on this shaky path.

Its just a game Tiger. But its played with people. Without them you don't have the game. The sooner you realise that the better things will be for you.

Well, that tournament didn't pan out as expected...

So we now have another green-jacketed guy by the name of Waston. Not sure why I'm surprised - he did after all lose in a playoff in the last major of 2010. Elementary, you might say. Anyway, good for him - he must have had one or two thoughts along the lines of "I might have blown the best chance I'll ever have to win a major". I admit to having gone off big Bubba a bit since (a) Paris-gate and (b) he started talking about himself in the 3rd person, but that was an incredible approach shot on the final playoff hole.

Louis really impressed me though, showing a lot of cool under immense pressure. Reminded me of his demeanour at the 2010 Open, casually smacking long, accurate drives and holing crucial putts for fun - the difference then of course being that he was a squillion shots in front. Could see him winning more big ones. And that albatross will probably be my abiding memory from this event - absolutely amazing.

There ought to be a rule where people with preposterous names (Keegan, Tiger, Bubba etc) are excluded from competing in majors.

Shame a poorly educated redneck with a mullet dressed like an idiot wins a major but he did play well.

Super , unfortunately there seems to be a rule excluding people called Lee or Luke or Ian or Paul or Justin. Mind you I've always thought Justin was a pretty awful name.
Anyway go Bubba, I like the guy and he deserved it.

Well forecasted Diggers, I think you said earlier that Watson had a chance.

Can't stand the guy personally. Seems like a bit of an inbred to me, but fair play to him.

Very good final round without the blanket Woods coverage. Credit to Poulter too, very good performance in the last few weeks. Wretched shoes though, still nowhere near as bad as Hunter Mahan when he is on.

Billy Payne dissed by Bubba, lovin it. http://mobile.sbnation.com/golf/2012/4/8/2934965/bubba-watson-billy-payne-handshake-gif

How long would the queue be to punch Paynes redneck face in. I'd certainly be lining up.

Will it be Bubba on the trophy or Gerry? I suppose if it has been T Woods then it ought to be "B".

Anyone catch Sergio's little breakdown? Apparently in the post round interview he accepted that he doesnt hav what it takes to win a major, sounded quite despairing

Congrats to Bubba, I thought it was a very enjoyable tournament. Bubba seems like a very honest guy and I think the fact he never had golf lessons (that's what I'm hearing anyway) showed how committed he was to making himself better and he deserves a lot of credit for that.

Incontinentia - I did read Sergio's comments. What's he trying to do, place reverse psychology on the rest of the field? If he's a top professional (and he is) that's some odd point-of-view to have as you enter major tournaments.

Other thoughts --

Bubba brings those wayward tee shots to any other major and he likely won't last long. Still, I was VERY impressed with his composure down the stretch.

Tiger will likely be a force to deal with this year, but what a reversal to crappy form. Unlike Mr. Garcia, however, he'll be much more confident going into future majors.

Rory really surprised me. Scoring when you are not playing well does not seem to be part of his DNA. He'll need to work on that and a tournament like this hardly sends a message to the rest of the field as he mounts his US Open defense.

Really bad decision by Phil out there on the front 9. Should have gone back to the tee, rather than play such a low percentage shot right handed. That's Phil however.

Didn't Sergio make those comments after his 3rd round? Then he came back with a 71. Augusta National seldom a happy hunting ground for him, I take it all with a pinch of salt.

Now we've got Lee Westwood bemoaning his putting. It's not his putting that cost him this Masters, it's his focus. At least three absolute tiddlers, 3-putting from nowhere; that's bound to make you tentative on the longer ones. Adds up to 128 putts for four days.
Ray Floyd always said the secret to long putting is to know you're always going to make those knee-tremblers (well, that's the gist) coming back. Lee has no confidence he'll do that, but it's focus that goes awry in missing 18-inchers.
Plus two bogeys on par 5's.

If Phil had bogeyed #4 with his second ball he'd still have made a six . . . .

Some very good golfers ruined an otherwise decent Masters by not breaking 40 on their Sunday back nine when several others shot at least four under:
Stenson +8 (a truly eccentric Masters for Henrik)
Yang +7
Mechanic +6
Toms +4
Bae +4
O'Hair +4

lee should have won by a land slide- and he needs to understand how good he is and go out there and just do it!

Even if doesnt quite have this focus that kwini talks about but plays the way he has in another few majors- i am sure luck may just come his way and he will win one anyway.

And sergio does have what it takes, however - talk about lee not haveing focus- lol , sergio has zip in comparison- Lee was going through some tough times- like back 9 of the 3rd, front 9 of the 4th round- yet dug in well, he bounced back after missing short putts have half decent ones on the next few holes! rose dug in and so did pults, even donald dug in purely for pride final day. I am proud of the english performance even if they couldnt quite manage a win. Rory and sergio on the other hand didnt keep going, its as if they just didnt care

I think Mr Rotella might be getting a call from Westwood.

That's 6 major top 3's for LW, 9 top 5's. I think it's fair to say we Brits currently have both the best golfer and tennis player never to win a major or a slam.....yet.

If only our footballers were as good as them

super_realist wrote:If only our footballers were as good as them

so high ranked players that play well week in week out but ultimately fail on the big stage. I do admit that i prefer the english golfers attitude- however there are also many similarities

Don't think the footballers are anywhere near the standard that we're talking about when compared to those they are competing against.

I think they are alot better than they show in major imternational tournies as our golfers are. Not syaing they ultimately have failled by not winning WC's ore euro championships- however certainly not played at the same level that many have shown in big pl games and or cl games!

Bubba Watson has a college degree from Univ of Georgia. His Southern drawl is not as heavy as that of many golfers of the South, e.g., Boo Weekley. I don't see much wrong with how he dresses or conducts himself. I didn't see him spitting everywhere. In interviews, he comes across as more fairly articulate and intelligent. If you start with a prejudiced view that all Southern men are rednecks, you fail to see the brighter side of people. He is no more of a redneck than many Aussie golfers.

Yes, his comments about Europe were very well thought out and articulate weren't they leff?

Look at the evidence. He's got a mullet and he's called Bubba. Having a degree is irrelevant in an American sporting context. You get credits for going to Church for heavens sake. You can buy an American degree in Walmart.

Leff - Great comments - nice to see someone challenge the all-too-prevalent US stereotypes that sometimes pervade these otherwise enjoyable boards.

His comments when he went to France were (IMO) regrettable. But, I'm hopeful he learned from that.

Great to see him in a green jacket.

S_R - So the name "Bubba" and his hairstyle are all the evidence you need?

Uh, Ok.

All American stereotypes are intended to be light hearted, but like every stereotype there is an element of truth to them.

You can't have a mullet and actually insist on being called Bubba without being some sort of an inbred hill billy.

Bubba marches to a different drummer, and Thank Goodness for that.
We certainly need a few characters and he is one. He's overcome some A.D.D. problems that used to affect his golf and he's had the fortitude to continue classes at U of Georgia to get his degree after he didn't "graduate" on time.

Perhaps he fits a certain stereotype but he's actually played more golf overseas than most of his compatriots of a similar age. Certain British golfers say totally daft things but perhaps more articulately!!!!

Paul Casey said things about Americans he regretted. He realised painfully that if you are living in the US and say nasty things about Americans, it gets rather unpleasant.

Bubba is a common name in the South. Not everybody name Bubba should be viewed as an idiot.

Casey doesn't have a mullet or a stupid name though.

Well i will admit to saying that his mother might have had an idiotic moment !! but thats all- i really like bubba due to his style on the course- the way he bowls about, the way he plays the game- its refreshing

Yes, he is different and does unusually for an American have a personality, but it doesn't mean I have to like him.

I'm not convinced the English lads bar Luke are that eloquent to be honest. Lee's got better in recent years, bit of media training I suspect, but at Bubbas age he was all highlights and gold, just as bad as a mullet in my book.

Just a supercilious air. And I like him!!

The only reason they call him Bubba is to distinguish from both father and son being called "Jerry", (which of course is another entirely different problem!).

Simon Dyson must be on the cusp of being officially classified as mentally retarded. Not even the reddest of the redneck golfers come off as mentally challenged as he does.


Super

You really ought to travel to the US as I feel many of your stereotypes that “must have a hint of truth” would be comprehensively challenged. Bubba may be a little too wound up in the bible club but other than that he seems like a thoroughly decent human being and fresh take on how to be a PGA tour golfer. In the Bubba spirit, thank god for someone being a little different.

Mc that is seriously harsh on the hoover lol- in fairness though i havent heard him in an interview that i can remeber so i will check him out!!

At a superficial level, Andy Murray is no more sophisticated than Bubba Watson. Americans have their own digs about the dental hygiene of Brits.

Mac, if you are going to quote me, then do it correctly.

I don't see Watson as being as different as people are making out, other than bad hair, a terrible name, having gay pink clubs and coming from the south, he is the same as all the others really.

Dyson is an albino so clearly a bit "different"