Pro Golf Now
Fansided

Bubba Does Bubba Things and Wins the Travelers Championship

By Matt Cochran

facebooktwitterreddit

The logo for the Travelers Championship is a red umbrella, which seemed appropriate for Sunday’s final round. With weather in the forecast, groups went off in threes, otherwise it would have been a University of Georgia reunion of Bubba Watson and Brian Harman.

Both golfers attended the SEC school seven years apart and both golfers held the two lowest scores. Harman entered Sunday with the 54-hole lead and would be grouped with Watson and Graham DeLaet after the Canadian fired his season best of 64 on Saturday to squeeze into the final group.

Bubba would quickly regain the lead, however, starting with consecutive birdies in the first two holes. The real fun began on the second hole. Watson was face with a difficult shot when his tee shot came to rest in front of a tree. Some poor fan suggested Bubba use a 4-iron to punch the ball under the tree. Bubba had another idea.

Reminds me of Shooter McGavin at the AT&T Invitational.

Paul Casey put himself in contention after holing out on the par-4 3rd hole from 126 yards for eagle. Casey then drained a 64 foot putt on the eighth to put himself just one back of Bubba’s lead. The Englishman continued to play consistent par golf until the 14th hole when he made birdie to tie Bubba Watson for the lead at 15-under. His share of the lead would be short-lived.

More from Pro Golf Now

Watson was just one hole behind Casey on the par-5 13th and put his drive in the fairway bunker. Most normal human beings would have laid up in the situation, being 206 yards out in the sand, but as we know, Bubba isn’t normal.

He decided to go for the green and put it perfectly in the center of the dance floor, leaving himself with a 39 foot eagle putt. He must have heard whispers of Casey tying him, because Watson drained his eagle putt to take a two stroke lead. So Casey ended up dropping two strokes out of the lead after making a birdie. This is a brutal game we play.

He would make a mess of the 15th hole, a 300-yard par 4, and make a bogey, but bounced back with huge back-to-back birdies and just like that, he was back within one shot of the lead heading into 18. Casey salvaged par from a greenside bunker to enter the clubhouse at 16-under, clutch sand saves would become a theme for Paul.

More from PGA

The tournament was Bubba’s if he could avoid an epic collapse and that wasn’t out of the question.

Watson could have easily laid up on the 300-yard 15th, but his ego got the best of him and he used the gallery as a back board to save him from going out of bounce. He would manage to save par and do the same on the 16th.

Sticking with the driver theme on 17, Bubba put his tee shot in the bunker and then put his approach shot in the rough on the left side of the green. While he ranked first in scrambling all week at the Travelers, that meant nothing for him in this situation. He would end up putting his flop shot long and ending up with bogey. Just like that, Bubba Watson was tied with Paul Casey at 16-under and Bubba was headed to the 18th tee.

I’ll pause here for your random Bubba Watson Moment of the Week. This week’s edition is brought to you by the sand monster.

Poking his drive 287 yards into the center of the fairway, Bubba left himself with 156 yards to the hole. With the crowd cheering as he stepped up to the ball for his second shot, he let them down by pushing one to the right of the green in the first cut. There he putted one to 3 feet, 5 inches, knee knocker range. Making it, Bubba made the putt and headed back to the 18th tee where Paul Casey awaited for their sudden death playoff.

Casey drew the number 1, teeing off first and putting his drive in the middle of the fairway. Watson drew out his pink driver and pulled his drive into another group of patrons on the right hillside rough, 167 yards away from the hole. Casey had a poor approach shot that put him in a bunker on the right of the green and Bubba took advantage, knocking his shot within 25 feet of the hole, leaving him with an uphill putt for birdie.The Englishman pulled off a nice sand save for par and Watson missed his birdie putt. Back to 18 we go.

This go around the two golfers swapped tee shots on their previous tries and Casey was on the right hillside in the bunker, while Watson cut his in the fairway. That would be to costly of a mistake for the Englishman and he hit it into another greenside bunker and continue to make a mess.

Meanwhile, the Georgia alum put it within 8 feet for birdie and a chance to win the 2015 Travelers Championship.

Random fans in the crowd were screaming “Bubba!” as they resembled obnoxious oversized crickets. He stepped over the ball and drained the putt to grab his 8th career win, second most on TOUR since 2010 next to Rory McIlroy. It is the second time Watson has won at the Travelers Championship and his second win on TOUR this season as he puts himself to 3rd place in the FedEx Cup Standings, jumping up from 12th.

Next: Paula Creamer vs Suzann Pettersen Fantasy Match

Home/PGA