I remember watching the 2007 U.S. Open, a massacre of a golf tournament at Oakmont, where Angel Cabrera bombed and gouged his way to victory on a score of 5 over par. It was a major championship examination at its most brutal. I recall observing American Bubba Watson, who played in the final group on Saturday, and thinking to myself, "this guy doesn't have the temperament to win a major." He was also hot under the collar, as an on course spat with Steve Elkington the following year would demonstrate.
Gerry Watson, as the Floridian was christened, matured, got himself in peak condition and won the Masters in 2012, his miracle recovery shot from the pine straw in the play off against Louis Oosthuizen worthy of a green jacket. With Bubba, it's completely off the cuff. He has incredible natural talent and the ability to bend the golf ball to his will with his pink driver. Self taught. The booming drives arc over 300 yards. He's a good putter. He's an idiosyncratic one off, unpredictable, a self described 'head case' who has found stability with a great family life, freeing him up to win another Masters title and now claim a 10th victory on the U.S. PGA Tour. A genuine 'hall of famer', Watson won the Genesis Open at Riviera at California yesterday after falling out of the top 100 in the world. The secret? For a man who has ADD, it was a host of distractions. He played a charity basketball game on Friday and filmed an interview with Ellen DeGeneres. He took the pressure off himself, and when he holed a bunker shot before taking a bathroom break on the back nine in the final round, one could sense his name was on the trophy.
Watson was thinking about retiring after a mystery illness last year contributed to weight loss which affected his game. His wife Angie told him to snap out of it, and his talent has kicked in again. As humans, we all have talents, but sometimes we don't allow them to flow in order for us to reach our potential. The mind plays tricks and we seize up. Sometimes a new approach is required; to have fun, to loosen up, to not take it all too seriously. What golf fans like about Bubba Watson is that he is real, just a regular guy with a supreme talent. Sometimes he can be irritable, often the tears flow, as they did after this latest win. He let it roll, he was himself, he won.
It got me thinking of the late great comedian, Bill Hicks, who had the most insightful approach to life I have ever seen. Don't think about it folks, don't sweat it. Enjoy it, revel in it. It's just a ride.
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