For Bubba, life and golf great on the Riviera
By Art Spander
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — He kept dropping weight instead of putts. “I just wanted to get healthy,” said Bubba Watson. He also wanted to get his confidence back, play golf with the strength, the imagination and the verve that made him one of the sport’s best, made him a two-time Masters champion.
There was no full disclosure from Watson on Sunday when he won for the first time in two years, at Riviera Country Club, naturally, for a third time. But there were tears of joy.
Ben Hogan, the Hawk, and Lloyd Mangrum, the closer, won three times at historical Rivera. Now, Bubba becomes part of a memorable trio.
And whatever Watson’s ailment — “No worse than a paper cut,” he fibbed — it has been conquered.
So have his doubts. And in the process, so was an excellent field in the tournament now called the Genesis Open.
It was a predictably unpredictable final round at the Riv, with the wind coming off the Pacific less than a mile away, three different players in the lead at one time or another and, in the end, Watson, with a shot around tree branches at seven and then a shot out of a bunker and into the cup at 14, winning by two shots.
Bubba had a tough front nine, one over with three bogies, but was three-under on the back for a two-under 69 and a 72-hole score of 12-under 272. That was two strokes lower than Kevin Na and Tony Finau, who also had 69s. Patrick Cantlay, briefly in first as was Na, finished tied for fourth at 275.
Phil Mickelson, a multiple winner here over the years, had a three-under 68 for 276 and a tie for sixth. For someone four months from his 47th birthday, Mickelson has had an impressive three tournaments, tied for fifth at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, tied for second at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and now tied for sixth in the Genesis, the old Los Angeles Open.
Mickelson, the righthander who plays lefty, also had an explanation why Watson, the lefthander who plays lefty, has done so well at Riviera, with victories in 2014, 2016 and now 2018: Bubba is able to work the ball one way or the other.
“Yeah,” said Watson, “around here it’s all about visualization. It’s all about seeing your shots, using your imagination.”
Yet, to hear him talk about when he was down to 160 pounds (he usually is around 200), Watson, 39, never imagined he would win again.
“I had some issues, some medical issues,” he confided. “But it was nothing, nothing.”
It was more than nothing, or Watson would not have thought about quitting the Tour — something his wife, Angie, knew he wouldn’t do. Or she wouldn’t let him do.
“My wife basically told me to quit whining and play golf,” he said. “I would rather be healthy than play golf, so that’s what I was focusing on. I was focusing on the wrong things. Pitiful me, not how beautiful my life was.
“I got down in weight. My ball speed, my swing, everything had changed, right? And now we’re back to healthy. We’re back to putting on some weight and working out and doing the right things. That’s what’s changing it. I got better. I started eating better, got away from stress.”
His weeks in Los Angeles and Hollywood during the tournament, no matter what the name (Nissan, Northern Trust, Genesis) have been anything but stressful. Four years ago, in 2014, he finished 64-64. Then two years later he won while filming a segment of “Girl Meets World.” This time, on Friday, he played in the NBA Celebrity game, getting a jumper blocked by Tracy McGrady.
After his tenth Tour win, Watson was both elated and defensive.
“I’m not talking about the illness no more,” he said. “I’m here, I’m healthy. There are people a lot sicker in this world.”
However, there aren’t many happier.
“Nobody thought that Bubba Watson from Bagdad, Florida, would ever get to 10 wins. Let’s be honest,” Watson said. “Without lessons, head case, hooking the ball, slicing the ball, can’t putt, you know?”
What we don’t know was exactly what ailed Bubba Watson. Not that it matters one way or another after the way he won, once again, at Riviera.