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Bubba Watson ready for bounceback weekend at Travelers Championship

By Tom Yantz
Published on
Bubba Watson ready for bounceback weekend at Travelers Championship

CROMWELL, Conn. -- After missing the cut at the U.S. Open, Bubba Watson didn't get an opportunity to wear his third- and fourth-round golf outfits. So he wore his yellow shirt and navy blue slacks Tuesday at the Travelers Championship.

"I took five weeks off before the Open, so for five weeks I didn't get a chance on Sunday," he said. "Then I missed the cut. This is my Saturday outfit, and I wore it [Tuesday]."

He hopes to wear his Sunday best in celebration Sunday at one of his favorite courses: TPC River Highlands.

Watson has been a fixture in Cromwell since he earned his first PGA Tour victory in 2010. In the four Travelers since, he tied for 38th, tied for second, finished fourth and tied for 31st.

"2010 was great memories and sad memories about my dad," Watson said of his father, Gerry, who had lung cancer and later died in October that year. "But overall it's a great golf course. It's always in great shape."

Watson, No. 5 in the World Golf Rankings, did not criticize the condition of Chambers Bay, the U.S. Open venue in University Place, Wash., or say that it contributed to his missed-cut score of 147.

"I played really nicely," he said. "Just the ball bounces one way or it bounces the other way. Mine chose to bounce the other way. I mean, that's just how it is. That's golf."

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In fact, he said he wouldn't mind if another U.S. Open was played there.

"The thing we haven't talked about the most is the USGA wants you scared, wants you nervous, wants you to have to think," he said. "They want you to have to play different shots, and it might be a shot away from the hole just to make par, and it's a tough up and down. So I didn't see anything wrong with the course except that I missed the cut.

"If you want to say the greens were bad, I [have] putted badly on great greens. I've putted badly on good greens. I mean on bad greens and good greens, so that didn't affect anybody. I played terrible. It wasn't because of the course. It was because of me.

"Some days you play good and you don't score well. So now I'm just looking to have a chance [to win] on Sunday."

If Watson should triumph in the Travelers Championship he'd join Arnold Palmer (1956, '60), Paul Azinger ('87, '89), Phil Mickelson (2001, '02), Peter Jacobsen (1984, 2003) and Stewart Cink (1997, 2008) as two-time winners of the annual tour event in Connecticut.

The transition from the U.S. Open to the Travelers has been easy and welcome for Watson.

His day Tuesday started with a morning appearance on the "Today" show. After other commitments in New York, he rode a helicopter to Connecticut.

The Travelers is a special tournament for him. And it extends beyond it being his first tour win.

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"You can tell, the first time I met Andy [Bessette and the Travelers crew]; you can just tell that they were excited for us to be here," Watson said. "This is their hometown. This is where Travelers has most of their employees. They were telling me 7,500 in this community. That's a lot of workers. That's a lot of people. I mean, that's Bagdad [Watson's home town in Florida] times 20. You can tell the energy behind their company. You can tell they want to be part of this golf tournament."

Despite his impressive 67.56 stroke average in eight Travelers, he's quick to identify some holes at TPC River Highlands where he hasn't done well.

"Well, 17 in 2010 I made double bogey, so I hate that hole," he said. "Then 16 [a birdie] -- but I still won. Then in '11 or '12, maybe '12, maybe '13, I made a triple bogey on 16 and lost the tournament. I had a two-shot lead at the time. So I hate that hole as well. I birdied 18 to get into the playoff [in 2010]. I birdied 18 in the playoff. So that was OK"

Watson paused after talking about the pond that protects the 17th fairway and green. "[Nos. 15-18 is] a very scary stretch, especially for a head case like myself," he said.

But he wouldn't miss playing those holes or this tournament. "I won my first tournament here," he said. "And the fans, well, I can feel they're pulling for me." 

This article was written by Tom Yantz from The Hartford Courant and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.