A sunken putt. A thousand tears. A green jacket.
These words sum up Bubba Watson’s day on Easter Sunday. After defeating Louie Oosthuizen in a two-hole playoff, Gerry “Bubba” Watson Jr. celebrated his first career Major win in front of thousands of cheering fans.
Peter Hanson started the final round nine shots under par and was the tournament’s leader heading into Sunday. Oosthuizen was two shots behind Hanson, and Watson was three off the pace.
On the second hole, the South African-born Oosthuizen shot an albatross (no, he did not hit a rare, majestic bird; an “albatross” in golf terms means that he scored a two on a five-par hole). The two-shotter from Oosthuizen brought him to ten under for the tournament and propelled him into the lead. He held that lead all the way up to the 16th hole when eventual champion Bubba Watson tied the South African at ten under par. Throughout the day, players such as Phil Mickelson and Matt Kuchar crept up on Oosthuizen, but none could catch up until Watson did it at the 16th hole. Mickelson, who began the day at eight under par, seemed to be in a great position to win the tournament, but a triple-bogey on the fourth hole really hurt his chances at a fourth green jacket. Peter Hanson, the leader entering Sunday’s play, suffered three bogeys en route to a tie for third place.
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, favorites heading into the tournament, both finished with plus-five scores. Woods was unable to get anything going the entire weekend, as he finished with not a single round below par. McIlroy, on the other hand, was four under par heading into Saturday and looked as if he might redeem himself following his monumental collapse at last year’s Masters. That wasn’t the case, however, as McIroy shot five over par on Saturday and was just a shot better on Sunday, finishing five over for the tournament.
Oosthuizen and Watson remained tied at ten under after 18 holes, thus resulting in a sudden-death playoff. The first playoff hole was played on the 18th hole again, where both men shot for par. Then play moved to the tenth hole. Both tee shots landed in the rough, but Watson recovered by landing his next shot just ten feet from the hole. Oosthuizen ended up bogeying the hole, so all Watson had to do was sink the putt in two shots or less for his first Major victory. His first putt sailed just past the hole, but an easy tap-in for par won the tournament for the 33-year-old lefty from Bagdad, Florida, who never took a golf lesson in his life. But if you know in your heart that beginner’s luck is never on your side, then you might as well practice your golf swings as much as possible.
Then came the celebrations. Tiger Woods pumped his fist when he won his first Masters tournament in 1997; Phil Mickelson jumped in the air when he donned his first green jacket in 2004; Rory McIlroy, well, he has never won a Masters tournament. Bubba Watson, following his win, broke out into a sob almost immediately and rushed to embrace caddy Ted Scott. Then the 2012 Masters champion went on a hugging spree; it seemed as though he would never make it to the Green Jacket Ceremony given the amount of people he was hugging.
Watson did end up making it to the ceremony where he was greeted by Augusta National Golf Club Chairman Billy Payne and 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel. Bubba Watson didn’t stop smiling throughout the entire ceremony. Not many people look good in a green jacket, but Bubba Watson is not one of those people.
The next PGA Major is the U.S. Open, which will be held from June 14-17 at San Francisco’s Olympic Club. There Bubba Watson will look to win his second career Major title, and Rory McIlroy will look to repeat as U.S. Open champion.
