Bubba Watson's victory still worth talking about

Bubba Watson never liked to talk about the Masters Tournament. Not at other tournaments, and not even on a quiet Sunday afternoon at Augusta Na­tional Golf Club a week before he won the 2012 Masters.

Now that’s he’s got a green jacket, that has changed.

The former University of Geor­gia golfer has spent the past year recounting his dramatic sudden-death victory over Louis Oosthuizen.

Watson’s first major championship victory came in a final round that had so much drama that two “shots of the year” – the first by Oosthuizen, then one by Watson – were struck.

In tournaments leading up to his previous three trips to Augusta National, Watson would brush off questions about the Masters.

In 2011 at Doral – played less than a month before the Masters – he was asked whether he ever worked on anything specific in tournaments leading into the Mas­ters to be ready for Augusta Na­tion­al’s challenges.

“What tournament are we at right now?” he asked the moderator, Chris Reimer of the PGA Tour.

“The Cadillac Championship,” Reimer answered.

“The Cadillac Championship I’m trying to win right now, and I could care less about Augusta right now,” Watson said. “And then next week when I go to Tampa, try to win the Transitions. And then I’m going to try to win Bay Hill.”

On the Sunday before the 2012 Mas­ters started, Watson declined an interview request after a practice round at Augusta National.

Four days later, after a first round 3-under-par 69 put Watson two shots off the lead, he said he had kept his pre-Masters routine of arriving in Augusta on Saturday and starting practice on Sunday.

It wasn’t easy to do, he said, because he wanted to stay in Windermere, Fla., with wife Angie and their recently adopted son, Caleb, their first child. Adopting was something the two had talked about for years, he said.

He was asked what it was like to play in the Masters with the excitement of having a new baby.

“Well, not that much fun because my baby is home and I have to play in the Masters,” Watson said. “We have only – hopefully only three more days of golf and then I’ll be home again to hang out with my little boy.”

Despite not having his wife and new son with him, Watson continued to stay focused. He shot a second-round 71, which put him one shot off the lead shared by Fred Couples and Jason Dufner.

Watson had 70 in the third round but dropped to three shots behind the new leader, Peter Han­son, who had 65, the low round through 54 holes.

Watson, who said he is self-diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, showed great discipline in the final round, when the pressure was intense.

He was paired with Oosthuizen, one group in front of the final pairing of Hanson and Phil Mickelson.

Watson followed his game plan of keeping his emotions in check, not getting rattled even after an opening bogey or when Oosthuizen made double eagle on No. 2, holing out a 253-yard second shot, to take the lead from Hanson.

“I’ve been working on it a lot, keeping my head down. Breathing, trying to keep calm,” Watson said. “Because I get so amped up. I get so excited. Not a nervous energy. I just get so amped up, and I’m just trying to calm down. So I’m trying to keep my head down in between holes, trying to keep my head down when everyone is screaming, ‘Go Dogs,’ and yelling, ‘Go Bubba.’

“I know they are behind me, and I know people are cheering for me and going for me to make birdies and keep going,” he said. “But I have to do it differently because I get so excited, like a little kid, basically, I get pumped up.”

Watson rallied behind a four-birdie streak from Nos. 13 through 16 to shoot 68. Oosthuizen, who won the 2010 British Open by seven shots, closed with 69. He and Watson finished at 10-under 278.

The sudden-death playoff started on No. 18, which Oosthuizen and Watson parred. They moved to the par-4 10th hole, where Watson’s poor drive into the right trees set the stage for his most memorable shot.

“I got down there and saw it was a perfect draw (to the green),” Watson said. “We just kept talking about you never know what’s going to happen out here. Anything can happen.”

His ball was on pine needles with no line of sight to the green – but he did have a chute back to the fairway.

The left-hander hooked his second shot of 162 yards about 40 yards around a grove of trees and onto the green.

It set up a two-putt par from 12 feet and a victory over Oosthuizen, who made bogey after being short of the green on his second shot.

“It was a crazy shot,” said Watson, whose philosophy is, “If I’ve got a swing, I’ve got a shot.”

Said Oosthuizen: “From where I stood, when the ball came out, it looked like a curve ball to the right. He hit an unbelievable shot there. Great stuff to him; he deserves it. The shot he hit definitely won him the tournament.”

After Watson tapped in the 1-footer for his par, he broke down in tears, just as did after his other three PGA Tour victories.

Afterward, Watson said he was inspired by the swashbuckling style of the late Seve Ballesteros and Mickelson, who together have won five Mast­ers.

“I attack,” Watson said. “I always attack. I want to hit the incredible shot. Who doesn’t?”

Mickelson, a three-time Masters champion who started Sunday one shot off the lead, fell back early with a triple bogey on the par-3 fourth hole – his second triple of the tournament – and never got closer than two shots after Oosthuizen’s double eagle.

Mickelson shot 72 and tied for third along with three other players: England’s Lee Westwood (68 on Sunday), Hanson (73) and Matt Kuchar (69).

Kuchar, a former Georgia Tech star, was tied for the lead after an eagle on No. 15 but bogeyed No. 16.

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, the two pre-tournament favorites, ended up tied, but not anywhere near Watson and Oosthuizen. They shared 40th place, with only McIlroy shooting in the 60s among their eight rounds. They were a combined 11-over par for the week.