Watson hits another masterful shot at Augusta
AUGUSTA — Ten years ago, Bubba Watson hit one of the greatest shots in Masters history.
His shot from the trees right of the 10th fairway — a hooked pitching wedge — helped him win the green jacket in 2012.
On Friday, Watson was almost in the exact same place — only he was not playing the 10th hole. He was going in the opposite direction, heading up the 18th. The Georgia product and two-time Masters champion had hit his tee shot right, and his ball came to rest almost like it was sitting on a tee.
“My ball was 2 inches in the air,” Watson said. “It was like a piece of a branch about that big (6 inches) had fell on the ground, and my ball was sitting on top of it, and then leaves were — two leaves behind it I couldn’t move, and then two leaves touching that I couldn’t move, so I had a gap way up in the trees. I was, like, ‘I’m going to hit wedge as hard as I can.’”
Known as one of the most creative shot-makers on tour, Watson studied the shot and, from 183 yards, he did what he does, creating a shot that only he could. The hard wedge went straight up in the air, cleared the trees, came down on the edge of the green and rolled within a foot of the cup.
“It’s teed up, right? If I hit a pitching wedge as hard as I can straight up, I thought I could hit that gap,” Watson said. “I wasn’t looking at the green.
“I knew roughly the number trying to get to the fairway, so I have a chance for par. That’s what I was looking at. It came out. Because of that lie and because of the tree branch, because of the leaves — these were big, thick leaves — it caught a flier. It caught like a knuckler. It went straight up, and then a gust
from the gods flew. It was a pitching wedge from 183 as high as I could hit it, and somehow it went a foot from the hole. They all said, ‘Good shot’ — the guys I was playing with. I said, ‘Where did it go?’”
The shot may have saved Watson’s chances to win a third green jacket. Standing over the ball, Watson was 3-over par, and a shot that hit a tree and ricocheted somewhere may have led to a double bogey or worse, which could have led him to miss the cut.
Instead, Watson sat at 2-over par and was 10 shots back of leader Scottie Scheffler going to the weekend.
Watson said Friday’s shot was better than his wedge a decade ago.
“Yeah, that was,” he said. “I’ll be honest. That was the best shot I’ve ever hit at Augusta National, that one right there.”
“Nobody in the world would have tried that shot that I tried. There’s
nobody on the planet that would have tried it. We can sit here and they can tell me they would try it. There’s nobody that would have tried it. I don’t believe they could have pulled it off.
“I caught a flier, drew a pitching wedge. Hit it as high as I could hit it. Yeah, situation-wise, the hook was better, but I’m just saying physical golf shot? Even that year in ’12, there was a shot on 11 and shot on 17 that I thought were better than the hook, but the hook was what helped me — helped the victory. At that moment, yeah, it was the best shot, obviously.”
Since Watson hit that shot in 2012, the spot in the trees has become a go-to spot for fans. In fact, his wife, Angie, was seen showing friends the area in question earlier in the day.
While Watson may think Friday’s
shot was better, the hooked wedge changed his life.
“My reminder is I adopted my son, Caleb, two weeks before, so he is 10 years old now,” Watson said. “It’s crazy to think about that. I’ve got a 10-year-old.
“It’s a 10-year-old shot. It’s one of those shots that changed my life forever. There were so many things. The platform that I’ve been given now hitting that shot, the ability to play the Masters for the rest of my life — there’s just so many things that happened in those moments, those two weeks before and then the Masters, the shot.
“Yeah, it means a lot to my family and me. It’s amazing how fast it goes. It feels like it was yesterday, but it was 10 years ago. Yeah, it’s a dream come true to be able to pull that shot off in those moments. It’s great.”