Jeff Rude, Golfweek
AUGUSTA, Ga. — A year ago, Bubba Watson hit a miracle shot at the Masters. On Friday, he delivered a crazy scorecard. It was something out of an amusement park–up, down, sideways, emotional.
The defending champion made the cut on the number (4-over-par 148) after shooting a 73 that featured seven birdies, six bogeys and a double bogey. That means he made only four pars, remarkably none between the fourth and 17th holes.
But then a roller-coaster round like that was nothing new to him.
“I’ve had tons of them,” he said. “That’s what we call Bubba Golf.”
Watson birdied all four par 5s and three of the four par 3s, all but the long fourth, where he bogeyed. He also bogeyed Nos. 7, 9, 10, 14 and 18 and doubled after rinsing an approach at 11.
“Let’s not worry about the score,” Watson said. “Let’s worry about the putting.”
Oh, yeah, that.
By Bubba’s count, each day he three-putted three times plus another time from the fringe. That’s eight in his book. He’s mindful he’d be two shots off the lead if those were eliminated.
“Four both days,” he said. “I try to equal it out. Balance.”
Watson said he hasn’t come close to getting the speed of the greens down. He said he left almost all of his putts short because the greens are slower than in past years.
“It’s in my mind,” he said. “I’m a feel player. I was looking for the Masters we know and love. Obviously I don’t know and love it right now because it seems like I’m three-putting every hole.”
Nor was he delighted with the pace of play.
“A 5 1/2-hour round of golf is not fun for anybody,” Watson said. “We’re worrying about banning (anchored long) putters when we need to worry about speeding up play.”
Related
Before You Go
