Watson savors pair of new titles
Masters champ and proud father: ‘This is awesome’
Less than 12 hours after tapping in a par putt on the second playoff hole to win the 76th Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Bubba Watson changed his first diaper. Both were equally rewarding. “I only slept for three hours because I wanted to wake up and feed my boy this morning,” Watson said in a phone interview Monday from a house he is renting at Isleworth Golf & Country Club in Windermere, Fla. “I’ve changed two diapers so far. But they were easy diapers.
“All I can say is this is awesome. Winning the green jacket is great. I can pay for all the diapers I’m going to have to get.”
Watson also had to change his cellphone number after he earned his first major title Sunday when he stormed back with four consecutive birdies on the back nine and beat Louis Oosthuizen in a playoff. Watson’s key shot came on the second extra hole, when he hit a ridiculous recovery shot off pine straw and through a gap in the pine trees, curving the ball more than 40 yards to the 10th green from 155 yards away.
After fulfilling all media requests, Watson left Augusta just after midnight and arrived at his home at 3 a.m. He quickly went to his son’s room and hung the green jacket near his crib. Watson and his wife, Angie, adopted 1-month-old Caleb two weeks ago after a trying and frustrating four-year adoption process.
“When I got home, I picked up my son because he was crying,” Watson said. “I didn’t sleep much, so I woke up and we went for a walk.
“My life is fulfilled. The whole year has been a blessing.”
Watson will leave his wife and son behind today as he goes on a 36-hour blitz of news media outlets in Manhattan, from Late Show with David Letterman to The Early Show on CBS and Morning Joe on MSNBC. He’ll also talk with Charlie Rose, Piers Morgan, CNN and ESPN.
His next golf tournament is Saturday in the Tim Tebow Foundation Celebrity Classic at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Watson met Tebow last year in the parking lot during The Players Championship.
“We met for one minute. I asked him if he could follow me on Twitter,” Watson said. “So we talked through Twitter, then exchanged phone numbers. We’ve talked once in a while. We’ll have a great time raising money for a good cause.”
Of the hundreds of congratulatory phone calls, texts and messages, one from U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III had a big impact.
“I got a friendly note from Davis Love about my win and the Ryder Cup,” Watson said. “I told him that now we have to win the Ryder Cup. That’s one of my goals. Winning the Masters was great, but I have new goals and there are things I still want to do in the game.”
But don’t expect Watson to change. The self-taught lefty with the booming pink driver and a collection of shots few can match says he’ll keep playing what he calls Bubba Golf and keep thinking that if he has a swing, he has a shot.
“I’m not going to change,” Watson said. “It’s an honor to see that green jacket in the bedroom closet, but I’m not going to become somebody else because I won the Masters. I have a good team around me. I have people I trust around me. If I go the wrong way, they will yell at me. Just as they have in the past.”