THE DRIVE THAT WON THE 2014 MASTERS
(And forced Augusta to eliminate Bubba’s shortcut)
The 2014 Masters ended with a putt from three inches on Augusta’s 18th. But the shot that effectively secured Bubba Watson his second Green Jacket came on the tee of the 13th, when he unleashed one of the greatest – and most impactful – drives of all time at Augusta National.
At the time, Watson held a twoshot lead over playing partner Jordan Spieth. Before him, he faced a 510-yard hole that dog-legs wildly to the left. Watson knew he could play it safe by firing a tee shot to the centre of the fairway, allowing himself a mid-to-long-iron into a green protected at the front by a tributary to Rae’s Creek and at the back by a quartet of bunkers.
Watson could achieve this with a gently fading fairway wood. No heroics required. But that’s not ‘Bubba Golf’, and as he pulled the electric-pink Ping driver from his bag, it became clear he had more dramatic ideas.
The 13th is named Azalea with good reason: it’s lined by 1,600 trees all the way down its left side. Unperturbed, Watson knew that if he could carry the trees and shrubs, he’d have a wedge into the green.
“We don’t do yardage on that hole,” revealed Watson’s caddie Ted Scott afterwards. “If it’s into the wind, he slices it. If it’s not, he hammers it.” And so Bubba hammered it. All of 366 yards. It left him with just 144 yards into the pin.
“I’ve hit wedge to that hole a few times,” said Bubba afterwards. “Today, I hit a sand wedge in there; a 56° sand wedge.”
Spieth could only make par, whereas Bubba took two putts for birdie, extending his lead to three. Five holes later, with that threeshot lead intact, Watson slipped into the Green Jacket again.
That moment on 13 was big, and the consequences were still being felt last year when the Green Jackets finally ‘Bubba proofed’ the hole, moving the tee back by 35 yards and cutting off the shortcut over the trees. That one change has shifted the risk-reward balance for the second shot and put the wedge back in the bag for the game’s biggest bombers.