Watson, Bubba

Bubba Watson, in fullGerry Lester Watson, Jr., (born Nov. 5, 1978, Bagdad, Florida, U.S.), American professional golfer noted for his two Major championships and powerful drives. He won the Masters Tournament in 2012 and 2014 and reached 2nd place in the world rankings of golf in 2015. He is one of the few left-handed golfers on the PGA Tour.

Watson began playing golf at age six with a cut-down 9-iron provided by his father. He practiced by hitting a whiffle ball around the house. His father taught him the basics of the game during these early years, but he has never had a professional golf lesson; he takes pride in being self-taught and untutored. Although also a standout left-handed baseball pitcher, Watson stuck with golf, honing his skills while playing for his high school golf team. He continued to play competitive golf in college, first at Faulkner State Community College in Alabama and then at the University of Georgia. He left college a year before graduating, turned pro in 2001. He joined the developmental Nationwide Tour and played there through 2005. As a rookie on the PGA Tour in 2006, he led all professionals in driving distance, averaging 319.6 yards per drive; his longest PGA drive measured 442 yards.

Watson won his first PGA title at the Travellers Championship in June 2010. Later that year he turned heads again by coming in second at a Major tournament, the PGA Championship. In January 2011, he won his second tournament, capturing the Farmers Insurance Open by a single stroke over Phil Mickelson. He captured his first Major win at the Masters in 2012, winning in a sudden-death play-off with South African Louis Oosthuizen. On the second playoff hole, No. 10, from pine straw deep in the woods and with no straight path to the green, Watson executed one of the greatest shots in the history of the tournament, intentionally bending his shot nearly 90 degrees and landing on the green a mere 15 feet from the pin; as commentators noted, only a left-handed striker with his enormous power and club speed could have executed such a miraculous hook. Watson earned a second “Green Jacket” by winning the Masters again in 2014.

Watson is also one of the more colourful and carefree players on the PGA Tour, and there are several popular backstories that have shadowed his career, including his nickname “Bubba,” which his father gave him in honour of star professional football player Bubba Smith; his diehard Christian faith, of which he publicly speaks often; his famed pink driver, which makes him easily recognizable on the golf course; his 6’4” wife, a former professional basketball player who met Watson while playing collegiate basketball at the University of Georgia; and his prototype hovercraft golf “cart,” which due to the cushion of air it travels on propels bump-free across grass, sand, woodlands, or water with 30 percent less “footprint” than a standard wheel-based golf cart.