Bubba Watson takes us behind the scenes as he prepares for the 2010 Deutsche Bank Championship in this 3rd edition of Bubba Watson’s video diary.
Bubba Watson, the 2010 Travelers Championship winner, receives a VIP tour courtesy of the Blue Angels, which originated near his hometown of Milton, Fla. Watson’s return to his roots included a golf clinic at the course where he first took up the game. The event helped raise money and awareness for Birdies for the Brave. Bubba’s father, Gerry, a Green Beret Special Forces veteran, was honored at the event.
Check out Bubba’s latest video diary entry for a behind the scenes look at the PGA Playoffs 2010.
Watson serves as host and camera operator as he provides his own personal video diary throughout the Playoffs. Family members, friends and fellow competitors will be featured with Watson, for whom nothing is out of bounds.
“It’s one of the unique ways ‘Inside’ is able to document the PGA TOUR Playoffs, providing a fresh perspective of life outside the ropes through the eyes of Bubba Watson,” said Michael Riceman, coordinating producer of the Emmy-nominated flagship program of PGA TOUR Entertainment.
Chris Kirk shot a 67 Sunday to hold off the field and win in his hometown. (Photo by Stan Badz/PGA Tour)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — It was tongue-in-cheek but Tahnee Kirk was semi-serious about how she wanted to celebrate her first wedding anniversary. If she was going to watch husband Chris play the final round of the Knoxville News Sentinel Open, he’d better figure out a way to win the tournament.
Kirk, the 54-hole leader, came through with flying colors for his wife, who arrived in town Saturday night from their home in Georgia. The Knoxville-born Kirk fired a back-nine 31 to finish at 20-under 268 and earn his second Nationwide Tour title this year.
Kirk broke out of a late afternoon tie with back-to-back birdies on the final two holes to win by two shots over Travis Bertoni (67).
North Carolina’s Matt Davidson (64) and 48-year old Kirk Triplett (69) tied for third place, three shots behind Kirk, who joins Tommy Gainey and Martin Pilleras the Tour’s double-winners in 2010.
Kirk, who lost a playoff here in 2008 to Jarrod Lyle, collected $90,000 for his efforts and vaulted from No. 4 to No. 1 on the money list, becoming the first player to go over the $400,000 mark this season.
“It can’t get any better than this,” said Kirk afterwards. “My wife flew in last night and for her to be here, with so many of my family members, it’s just tremendous.”
Kirk began the final day at Fox Den Country Club at 15-under par and armed with a one-stroke lead over Triplett. He struggled with an even-par 36 on his opening nine.
“Playing with the lead can be difficult mentally at times,” said Kirk, whose first win came in June at the Fort Smith (Ark.) Classic without his wife in attendance. “I made the turn and I wasn’t happy with the way I was playing. I tried to stay patient but I knew even-par wasn’t going to win this tournament, not on this Tour. I knew making the turn that I wasn’t going to be leading anymore. I knew I had to get after it on the back nine. I figured four birdies would put me right where I wanted to be.”
Kirk followed through, finally breaking through with birdies at Nos. 11 and 12 to reach 17-under. Just about that time and some 80 minutes ahead on the pairing sheet, Davidson was polishing off an 8-under 64 to take the clubhouse lead at minus 17.
Playing alongside of Triplett, a three-time PGA TOUR winner, Kirk grabbed a one-stroke lead with a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-4, 1 th .
Bertoni was one group in front of the final twosome and one stroke back when he dunked his second shot on the par-5, 18th into the water that covers the entire front of the green.
“It was a bad shot at the wrong time,” he said of his 6-iron that came up short. “I wanted to try and force his (Kirk’s) hand and make him make birdie to win. I hit a natural fade and I just came out of it. I was begging for it not to kick into the water. I was trying to get it in there about 20-25 feet. If I could have that shot back I’d hit the exact same shot with the exact same club.”
Bertoni got up and down for par, finishing at 18-under 270.
Kirk’s closing tee shot was down the right side of the fairway and he had 210 yards to a middle right pin position. He aimed left but pushed his 5-iron a little too close towards the water before it drew back and settled 12 feet behind the cup.
“I wanted to hit it up there close and end it,” he said. “It was nice to see that ball land on the green.”
He had three putts to win but needed only two for a birdie and his final winning margin.
“This win was a lot harder than the first one,” he said. “In Fort Smith I was felt like I could have made every putt one-handed if I wanted to. This one was tough. I had to work for this one and it was a lot more rewarding in that respect.”
And it made for a pretty good anniversary celebration.
Fourth-Round Notes:
In the ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover’ category is the round Steve Pate put together today. Pate shot a 1-under 71 but it wasn’t that simple. Pate posted 9-hole scores of 42-29 for his round, finishing the week at 8-under 280. Pate got off to a bad start by hitting his opening drive out of bounds and making double bogey. He added bogeys at Nos. 3 and 6 and then hit another tee shot out of bounds on No. 9 for another double bogey.
“I kept hitting out of bounds! I hit trees. I had two putts come back at me. It was awful. Anything that could go wrong, did,” said Pate, winner of the Pacific Rubiales Bogota Open earlier this year.
Pate’s fate turned at the par-5, 10 th hole where he holed a 25-yard pitch for an eagle-3.
“That certainly got my interest back,” he said with a chuckle. “At that point I wanted to see if I could shoot 42-32 because I thought that would be pretty neat. Next thing you know I make a few birdies and I started thinking I might be able to get it back to even-par for the day.”
Pate birdied his final three holes, rolling in a 30-footer at the par-5, 18 th to close out one of the more bizarre 71s in quite a while.
“I have no idea what happened,” he said. “I’ve never had a round like that in my life. It felt like I played pretty good all week.”
• Steve Pate’s 7-under 29 on the back nine today matched the lowest back-nine score in tournament history. Gary Woodland set the mark with his 29 in Friday’s second round.
• Tournament winner Chris Kirk also received a bright University of Tennessee-orange sports jacket, courtesy of the Vols’ head men’s basketball coach, Bruce Pearl. Kirk, a University of Georgia graduate, donned the jacket for post-tournament photos and said he was expecting to receive a lot of calls from his Bulldog friends regarding the jacket. “The winner gets to wear the jacket, so I don’t mind putting it on for a while,” he said. “I’m just not sure how often I’ll break it out and wear it at home.”
• Sunday’s scoring average was 70.152.
• The scoring average for the week was 71.025.
• Tournament officials kept the tee way up on the par-5, 18th hole. The tee was forward about 85 yards from it’s normal spot and turned the 597-yard hole into a reachable, two-shot hole measuring about 512 yards. The hole yielded four eagles today, along with 30 birdies, 27 pars and five bogeys and had a scoring average of 4.500.
• John Daly drew big crowds as a sponsor exemption this week. Daly posted scores of 67-73-73-67–280.
• Jim Herman eagled the par-5, 18 th hole today to finish at 14-under and T7. This was only Herman’s second top-10 finish of the year and his first since winning the Moonah Classic in Australia, where he defeated Chris Kirk in a playoff. Herman collected $14,550 and remained No. 13 on the season money list.
• Andrew Svoboa birdied the final two holes today and wound up 14-under 274, good for a T7 finish, his first career top-10. Svoboa, a rookie on Tour, has made 20 starts this year and his previous best finish was T14 (twice).
• Second-year pro Jonas Blixt birdied his final three holes today for a bogey-free 66 and finished T7. Blixt, a graduate of Florida State University, was runner up in his last start at the Price Cutter Charity Championship.
• Runner-up Travis Bertoni had his career-best finish and collected $54,000. Bertoni vaulted from No. 104 to No. 52 on the money list.
• Veteran Kirk Triplett finished T3 this week, his first top-10 finish on any Tour since he won the 2006 Chrysler Classic of Tucson, a span of 80 starts (77 PGA TOUR, 3 Nationwide Tour).
For the fourth consecutive year, “Inside the PGA TOUR” will provide comprehensive coverage from the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, offering viewers an all-access pass to the game’s elite golfers from The Barclays, Deutsche Bank Championship, BMW Championship and THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.
This year, 2010 Travelers Champion Bubba Watson <http://www.pgatour.com/players/02/58/04/> will serve as a special correspondent for “Inside The PGA TOUR,” while still pursuing the FedExCup. Watson will serve as host and camera operator as he provides his own personal video diary throughout the Playoffs. Family members, friends and fellow competitors will be featured with Watson, for whom nothing is out of bounds.
“It’s one of the unique ways ‘Inside’ is able to document the PGA TOUR Playoffs, providing a fresh perspective of life outside the ropes through the eyes of Bubba Watson,” said Michael Riceman, coordinating producer of the Emmy-nominated flagship program of PGA TOUR Entertainment. “Bubba’s excitement for this project and his engaging personality make him a natural player to showcase.”
“Inside The PGA TOUR” airs six times weekly on Golf Channel, premiering Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. ET. Extended video diary entries will also be posted to PGATOUR.COM each week, beginning with the submission above in which Watson prepares for the start of the Playoffs.
Bubba Watson gives a free clinic at the "Birdies for the Brave" program, honoring U.S. veterans. Bubba is seen wearing our TM polo, TM shorts style B-Slick in black, and TM ICON logo belt.
In their positions with the Blue Angels, Shawn Adkins and Larry Pitzer are usually working to help people get awestruck. But they stood Wednesday on the practice range at A. C. Read Golf Course, mesmerized with a couple hundred other spectators, watching one of PGA Tour’s hottest stars, Milton High graduate Bubba Watson, send golf balls soaring into oblivion.
“This is awesome. I just love to be able to see somebody who is that good hit the ball,” said Adkins, a Bonifay native stationed at Pensacola Naval Air Station, where he works as an aviation electricians mate for the U.S. Navy’s famed flight demonstration squadron.
“It’s an honor to get to meet him and for him to take the time out and do this. Even though it’s his hometown, he doesn’t have to do this and spend time with us, so it’s great,” said Pitzer, a Missouri native, who is an aviation electronics technician.
Watson, who became one of the nation’s biggest sports figures Sunday with his runner-up finish in the PGA Championship, returned to his home region for a charitable cause.
Watson provided a free clinic in partnership with the PGA Tour’s “Birdies for the Brave” program with the U.S. Armed Forces.
The program was founded in 2005 by PGA Tour star Phil Mickelson and his wife, Amy, as a way to raise money and awareness for injured combat soldiers and families.
Watson’s father, Gerry, 64, who is battling lung cancer, was a lieutenant in the Green Berets’ Special Forces during the Vietnam War.
Prior to his son’s clinic Wednesday, Gerry Watson was honored for his military service with a plaque presented to him by Gen. Steven Duff, commander of U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, N.C.
“It’s special. With my dad’s situation, it’s brought to my heart that the military is much more important than what we do for a living,” said Bubba Watson, after wowing people with booming shots from his trademark, pink-shaft Ping driver. “So I needed to do something for the Green Berets and bring light to the Pensacola area.”
Between hitting shots with various clubs on the practice range, Watson answered questions from spectators. Bleachers were brought in to accommodate the crowd.
Watson, attired in white shirt and shorts to combat late-afternoon heat, was relaxed and cracked jokes as he conducted the hour-long clinic. He addressed why he uses a pink shaft driver (a favorite color as a kid), to his mindset before hitting the hard-luck approach shot that hit water in the deciding third playoff hole Sunday at the PGA Championship.
He then demonstrated his effortless, left-handed swing that has helped him rise to the No. 26-ranked player in the current World Golf Rankings.
Adkins was among the spectators filming the event on a hand-held camera.
“I’m going to take it home, look at it and study it a little bit,” said Adkins, an avid golfer who plays at the A.C. Read course on Pensacola N.A.S. “For us military guys, we work hard and to be able to take time out and see somebody like Bubba Watson, this is really cool. A lot of us never get this opportunity.”
Following the event, Watson signed autographs under a tent where Mary-Grace Reeves was among the first in line with her parents.
“It’s wonderful. He’s not only a local celebrity, but a national celebrity, so it’s fantastic to see how much he supports our community,” said Reeves, 15, a junior at Pensacola High, who has been playing golf for the past five years.
“He is a role model for young people today.”
Added her father, Hank, who works at Saufley Field, “We’re big fans. I think it’s great he supports the military this way.”
Watson became the 10th PGA Tour player to get involved with the Birdies for the Brave. Fellow Milton High grad Boo Weekley is among the group, along with Corey Pavin, the U.S. Ryder Cup captain.
Weekley, one of the stars of the U.S. win two years ago in the last Ryder Cup, has joined with four other PGA Tour players in the Wounded Warrior Project, as part of the program.
Watson earned his way on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, after winning the Travelers Championship in June, then finishing second in the last major championship event of the season.
“The response has been incredible,” said Marc Raiken, community outreach program adminstrator for the PGA Tour. “So many of (players) have such a personal connection with the military and some who don’t have a personal connection are still so willing to support the cause.” Watson asked how he could join the program, after spending time with military families at the Players Championship.
He said his father has never discussed his experience in Vietnam.
“I know a lot of Vietnam veterans don’t want to talk about it, so I really don’t know much about what my dad did,” he said. “I know he was a Special Forces captain and he controlled about 12 or 15 guys, but that’s all I know. I don’t even know where he was stationed.
“But for him to be recognized and thanked for his service in this way, it’s an honor for me to be his son.”
TM Player Craig Barlow seen here wearing TM polo style Brasher.
PGATour.com – Brian Wacker
This week marks just the ninth start of the season on the PGA TOUR for Craig Barlow, who has split his season between here and the Nationwide Tour. That said, he’s done a decent job of being competitive on the big tour with a tie for fifth in Reno, just one missed cut and an opening-round 66 Thursday to sit just two shots off the current lead.
Barlow, like much of the morning wave, played in a wave of steady drizzle that soaked the course but also softened it.
“Obviously soft conditions normally is good for scoring, but it rained on us like 10 or 11 holes today,” Barlow said. “It was tough this morning in the sense that you were just — I’m soaked right now so you were just trying to stay dry.”
This is also Barlow’s first trip to Sedgefield, where he expects scores to be low. Not exactly a surprise given that just two years ago, Carl Pettersson shot a tournament-record 21-under 259 that was highlighted by a 61.
“I’m happy with 4 under,” Barlow said. “That being said, I have plenty of things to improve on.”
Masters champion Phil Mickelson and Hunter Mahan, with three victories between them this season, will lead eight players who earned automatic berths Sunday on the 2010 U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Bubba Watson qualified for the United States Ryder Cup Team with his runner-up effort at the PGA Championship on Sunday. While Watson was disappointed to lose, he was ecstatic about making the U.S. Ryder Cup team for the first time. He moved up the standings from 18th to third place, which gave him one of eight automatic spots awarded Sunday night. He is one of four Ryder Cup rookies who will compete against the European team in Wales, October 1-3, at The Celtic Manor in Newport, Wales.
“I’m as happy as can be,” Watson said. “I made the Ryder Cup, that’s all I care about.”
When he said afterward that losing didn’t matter because he’d made the Ryder Cup, he meant it. Bubba is a guy who speaks his mind and wears his emotions like a badge of courage.
Watson is not limited to emotions of enthusiasm. When he won earlier this summer at the Travelers Championship, his post-round news conference was often interrupted by joyous bouts of sobbing in regard to his wife’s recent cancer scare and his father’s current battle with the disease. When he took the first-round lead earlier this week, he repeated the act, saying, “Hopefully, you all don’t think I’m a sissy. You know, I do hit the ball a long way.”
It’s true. Watson has never met a 300-yard carry he didn’t like, employing a pink-shafted driver to launch drives into orbit. He is hardly just a bash-it-and-find-it type of player, though, instead preferring to work the ball in different directions and with varying levels of height depending on the situation.
Put it all together and you have a player who is eminently likable, who can bring a smile to the stoniest face when simply explaining a round of golf.
The top eight players for Captain Corey Pavin’s Ryder Cup squad were determined at the conclusion of the 92nd PGA Championship at Whistling Straits and are as follows:
1. Phil Mickelson
2. Hunter Mahan
3. Bubba Watson
4. Jim Furyk
5. Steve Stricker
6. Dustin Johnson
7. Jeff Overton
8. Matt Kuchar
Mickelson, winner of the Masters, and Mahan — who has two victories in 2010, including the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational — each had their spots secured before the PGA Championship. Everyone else had something to play for.
Only two players in the top eight — Watson and Dustin Johnson — were previously out of the top 10. Watson was ranked No. 18 before his second-place finish in the PGA Championship. Dustin Johnson jumped from the No. 9 spot to No. 6 with his tie for fifth.
“You’re playing for your country,” said Watson after learning he’d made the U.S. Team. “You’re playing for the USA. Until 2016, we don’t have an Olympics. That’s my Olympics. I’ve wanted to play the Ryder Cup my whole life. I’ve made many a putts when I was eight and 10 years old to win the Ryder Cup. So why would you not want to play for your country? Win or lose, when we get to the Ryder Cup, we all want to win, but at the same time you represent your country and we want to represent our country well.”
Bubba Watson cheerfully hammered the ball all week and didn't worry about the ramifications. (Getty Images) Bubba is seen here wearing TM Polo style Bentley.
It was all or nothing.
Bubba Watson’s gamble on the third playoff hole didn’t work out the way he wanted, but the big lefty had no regrets. He was playing to win and, he said, his aggressiveness had propelled himself into the playoff in the first place.
KOHLER, Wis. — In gambling terminology, Bubba Watson didn’t come all this way to break even.
That’s why the left-hander from Bagdad, Fla., went for the kill shot on the third playoff hole at the PGA Championship. Watson’s approach shot to the 18th hole came out heavy and landed in the water in front of the green, essentially killing his chances to win at Whistling Straits. But when the bell had sounded and Martin Kaymer was holding the Wanamaker Trophy, Watson had no second thoughts.
“Before you ask, if I had it to do over again, I would hit it every day,” Watson said. “I play to win a golf tournament. I don’t play to lay up and hopefully make a par and tie or win. I went for the win and I’d do it over again, just like I did earlier in the day.”
Watson and Kaymer were tied going into the third hole of the aggregate playoff, Whistling Straits’ difficult 500-yard 18th hole. Watson had birdied the first extra hole and Kaymer evened the match with a birdie on the second. Both hit their tee shots in the rough at No. 18, but Watson had to play first. He had 206 yards to the front of the green and pulled a 6-iron.
“I was hoping to catch a flyer with a 6-iron,” he said. “I hit it as good as I could, just came out dead. Went into the water. I hit a good shot. It just didn’t come out like I wanted it to and, then, I still had a chance to make bogey.”
After taking his drop, Watson knocked his approach shot into a greenside bunker. Despite a tough lie, Watson nearly beat the odds by holing his sand shot. The ball hit the flagstick and rolled a couple feet away.
“If it would have went in, we’d still be out there playing,” Watson said.
Watson used his length to overpower the course at times. For the week he was 9 under on the lengthy par 5s. He kept hammering the ball and not worrying about the ramifications.
“I just tried not to throw up on myself. I get nervous,” he said. “The game is fun, but I want to win every week. I’m like Tiger; I come to a golf tournament to win. I just don’t win as much as he does.”
While Watson was disappointed to lose, he was ecstatic about making the U.S. Ryder Cup team for the first time. He moved up the standings from 18th to third place, which gave him one of eight automatic spots awarded Sunday night. He is one of four Ryder Cup rookies who will compete against the European team in Wales in October.
Neither the champion nor the chump, Watson instead turned out to be the charmer of these festivities. This fact was evident even if you didn’t tune into the tournament until after his wayward second shot on the final playoff hole found a water hazard, ultimately eliminating him from title contention.
Whereas most players would be heartbroken after such a loss, Watson was hopeful. Flanked by a radio announcer and bouncing with anxiety, the first words he said upon losing the playoff were, “Do we know anything about Ryder Cup? That’s all I care about.”
Believe it, too. Bubba is a guy who speaks his mind and wears his emotions like a badge of courage. So when he was told that yes, he did qualify for the United States team — well, his smile turned so unending you could have mistaken him for the guy who won.
In fact, later in the interview room, one reporter began a question with “I’m sure you’re feeling a mix of emotions, but …” only to have Watson cut him off. “No,” the player maintained. “I’m happy as can be.”
Bubba Watson didn’t win Sunday, but that underscores his newfound role as a fan favorite and ultra-talented up-and-comer. This will go down in history as the PGA Championship that Kaymer won and Johnson lost, but chances are we won’t forget Watson’s sincerity and playfulness for a very long time.
An emotional Bubba Watson opens up about his father’s fight against cancer after grabbing the lead in the first round of the 2010 PGA Championship.
