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| Bubba hits approach to the 10th green in playoff |
The former Bulldog earned his first major championship title with a two-putt par on the par-4 10th hole after Oosthuizen missed a lengthy par putt that could have sent the two to a third playoff hole. Watson immediately began weeping in the arms of his caddie and later those of his mother on the 10th green. A few of his contemporaries on the PGA Tour greeted him minutes after the winning putt.
(click here for an article by Chip Towers of the AJC on Coach Haack's reaction to Bubba's win)
"I never really got this far in my dreams," said Watson, who lost a major in a playoff to Martin Kaymer at Whistling Straits in the 2010 PGA Championship. With the Masters victory, Watson becomes the first Bulldog to win one of golf's major championships. Watson had a final-round 4-under-par 68 and finished the tournament at 10-under. Oosthuizen shot a 69 in the final round.
Four players : Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar and Peter Hanson finished two shots out of the playoff. Those four lost hope of winning when Watson drained four straight birdies on the second nine with the run culminating in his short birdie putt on No. 16 to forge a tie with Oosthuizen, who made just the fourth double-eagle in Masters history earlier in the final round.
But Watson's second shot on the 10th hole in the playoff might be the one woven into Masters lore. The left-hander sliced his tee shot on the second playoff hole into the trees lining the fairway. He had hit the shot in a similar spot earlier Sunday, and he said he had an idea of what he would need to pull off to land the ball on the green. "The first time I ever worked with my caddie, (Ted Scott), six years ago, I told him, I said, 'If I have a swing, I've got a shot,' " Watson said. "So I'm used to the woods. I'm used to the rough." Watson noticed the gap in the trees that he'd need to pierce as he walked toward the gallery that had already cut a path to the 10th green. Bunkers guard the front and right side of the hole named Camellia, and Watson needed to hook his wedge shot about 40 feet from left to right to get it to the hole. He had hit a shot from the pine straw on No. 17 earlier in the round, sending the ball sky high over the trees to a spot on the 17th green. He lipped out for birdie from about 30 feet away there. Oosthuizen also found the trees right on No. 10, but he got a favorable bounce with the ball coming out onto the second cut of rough. He was more than 200 yards away from the uphill green, and he missed short. Watson found no such problems, cutting his wedge through the air to about 12 feet from the cup.
"Where I stood when the ball came out, it looked like a curveball going to the right," Oosthuizen said. "So I knew he had to hit a big hook. An unbelievable shot. ... That shot he hit definitely won him the tournament."
Oosthuizen chipped past the hole and just missed his par putt coming back.
Watson hit his birdie putt to less than a foot, but he paused and motioned for the crowd to settle down before stepping to the putt. He said he thought of I.K. Kim, who missed a 1-foot putt on the final hole that cost her a LPGA major a week ago Sunday, and he took his time to make sure he measured the short putt and then tapped it in for the win.
