Workday Charity Open: Bubba Watson done in by erratic first round

It didn’t take long for Bubba Watson to lose any chance of making the cut at the Workday Charity Open. He can now look forward to the next PGA Tour event

Bubba Watson has had a decent restart to the PGA Tour season. The lefthander has had an OK season, but on Thursday at the Workday Charity Open, Watson took himself out of contention early in his first round.

Watson opened his round on what seemed to be a somewhat normal path. He recorded a par on the opening hole, then birdied the par-4 second hole to get to 1-under on the day.

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The seemingly normal round continued, as Watson had a par on both the third and fourth holes, remaining at 1-under on the day.

That’s when things got wild. Playing the easiest hole on the course, Watson was unable to take advantage of the par-5 fifth hole. In fact, some might say that the hole took full advantage of him.

It started when Watson hit his tee shot into a penalty area. He was forced to re-tee, only to see his second tee shot (his third shot on the hole) also end up in a penalty area.

Hitting five and still nowhere near the green, Watson finally found the fairway, hit his sixth shot near the green, then pitched onto the putting surface. He would need two putts to finish out his quadruple bogey nine on the hole.

To his credit, Watson did not give up on the round at that point. He came right back with a birdie at the sixth hole, making a 17-foot putt to get back to 2-over par on his round.

But the positive vibes did not last long for Watson. He would bogey the seventh hole, double bogey the eighth and bogey the ninth. In total, Watson shot a 7-over par 43 on the front side, finding himself in last place among players on the course as he made the turn.

Again, Watson should be given some credit for not giving up on his round. He started the back nine with a par on the 10th hole before making a birdie on the par-5 11th hole to get back to 6-under par.

However, just like on the front side, the momentum was short lived for Watson. He hit a ball into the water on the 12th hole and ended up with a double bogey five, leaving him at 8-over par for his round.

The roller coaster continued for Watson as he headed for home. He would par the 13th hole before back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th holes, moving him back to 6-over par on his round.

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However, the positive stretch quickly ended when Watson bogeyed the par-3 16th hole. He would par the final two holes to shoot a 7-over par 79 on the day.

There’s virtually no chance that Watson makes it to the weekend. And he was largely undone by one hole early in his Thursday round. As this week’s host, Jack Nicklaus, once said about the U.S. Open, you can’t win it on Thursday or Friday, but you can lose it. That’s what happened to Watson on this day in central Ohio.

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