Tour News
Tears of joy — Bubba Watson wins The Masters
By Michael Williams
GolfWRX Staff Writer
PGA Tour crowd favorite Bubba Watson combined prodigious drives with fearless iron play to engineer a victory over South African Louis Oosthuizen on the second playoff hole at historic Augusta National. Watson and Oosthuizen finished regulation play at 10-under par 274, 2 shots ahead of a pack that had chased the lead until the final moments.
“I never go this far in my dreams,” an emotional Watson said during the Green Jacket Ceremony at Butler Cabin.
The round produced drama from virtually every part of the field. Bo Van Pelt recorded a Masters record-tying 64, including an ace on the par-3 16th. Adam Scott also aced the 16th. But the leaders produced the real fireworks.
Oosthuizen made history with his double-eagle three at the par-5 second. Oosthuizen hit a 4-iron from 253 yards that landed the front of the green and funneled down to the traditional back right pin and into the hole. The albatross was only the fourth in Masters history and the first ever on No. 2. That shot rocketed him from third to first place and he held onto it with dogged determination and a ice-cold demeanor. Throughout the round Oosthuizen displayed a rhythmic, balanced swing that made it seem it seems as though he is always going to hit what he is aiming for. Oosthuizen made key par save putts on No. 3 and No. 6 of 10 feet. He was rock solid on the later holes as well, making quality putts from every angle on Augusta’s treacherous greens.
Playing partner Watson was undeterred. He recorded birdie on the second and birdied No. 13 and No. 14 after a bogey at No. 12 to get within one shot of Oosthuizen and the lead. He sank an 8 footer at No. 16 to tie for the lead.
On No. 17, both Watson and Ooosthuizen sent their tee shots into the woods. Oosthuizen made another remarkable par save after a superb wedge out of the greenside bunker. Watson also saved par, sending the duel to the final hole of the tournament. Both players hit long drives into the fairway, and both had makeable putts to win the tournament. But Oosthuizen’s 15 footer slid just right of the hole and Watson’s birdie attempt curled to the left, sending the tournament into a playoff for the 14th time and the first since 2009.
On the first playoff hole, Watson produced a carbon copy of the drive he hit in regulation, finding the right side of the fairway; Oosthuizen left himself 151 on the opposite side. Oosthuizen drilled his approached to 15 feet and Watson responded by putting his within 10 feet. Both missed their birdie chances to take the competition to the second playoff hole, No. 10.
Both players hit wild tee shots to the right of the fairway, with Oosthuizen getting another good break as his tee shot rebounded out of the woods into the first cut of rough. Watson’s ball rested some 20 yards right the fairway and 150 yards from the flag. But fortunes were soon reversed as Oosthuizen left his approach short of the green and failed to get the ball up and down for par. Watson responded by hitting one of the most clutch shots in Masters history, hooking a pitching wedge 151 yards to 8 feet. He two-putted for par to clinch his 4th professional win and his first major championship title. Watson is the third left-handed golf to win the Masters, joining fellow American Mickelson and Canadian Mike Weir.
Oosthuizen’s historic shot was not enough to carry him to victory, but he was stoic in defeat. “I’m happy with the way I played,” he said. “I had my chance on that last hole when he hit a bad drive, but I didn’t take it. I’m happy for [Watson].”
Going into the final five holes, eight players were within three shots of the lead.
Mickelson did not recover from a disastrous triple bogey on the par 3 4th. After sending his tee shot into the brush left of the green, Mickelson declined to re-tee, hacking two shots right-handed on his way to a dismal six. He was never able to dig out of the pit he dug for himself there, finishing with a final round of even par 72 and a four-way tie for third with Matt Kuchar, Peter Hansen and Lee Westwood. No one has ever won the Masters while carding a triple bogey during the week; Mickelson recorded two.
“It was unfortunate,” said Mickelson. “I knew that I didn’t want to leave the ball out to the right, but I went too far. I had my chances later in the round but I just couldn’t hit the putts that I needed.”
Kuchar stayed in the hunt to the end, but ultimately couldn’t convert enough birdie opportunities to catch the leaders. He finished in the group at 8-under.
Third round leader Peter Hanson never really got any momentum going. Loose shots and shaky putting left him in the pack tied for third.
Pre-tournament favorites Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy ended a disappointing Masters for both with final rounds of 74 and 76 respectively to finish at 5-over for the tournament. 52-year old Fred Couples couldn’t sustain the play that carried to him to a share of the second round lead but finished at a very respectable 2-under for the tournament.
Click here to read the more discussion in the “Tour Talk” forum.
Michael Williams is the contributing editor of Newschannel8 Capital Golf Weekly and Bunkershot.com, as well as a member of the Golf Writers Association of America.
You can follow Michael on twitter — @Michaelontv
- LIKE0
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0
Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 RBC Heritage
GolfWRX is on site this week at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island for the RBC Heritage. Plenty of golfers who competed in the Masters last week will be making the quick turnaround in the Lowcountry of South Carolina as the Heritage is again one of the Tour’s Signature Events.
We have general albums for you to check out, as well as plenty of WITBs — including Justin Thomas and Justin Rose.
We’ll continue to update as more photos flow in from SC.
Check out links to all our photos, below.
General Albums
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Monday #1
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Monday #2
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Tuesday #1
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Justin Thomas – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Justin Rose – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Chandler Phillips – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Nick Dunlap – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Thomas Detry – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Austin Eckroat – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Xander Schauffele – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Jason Day – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Will Zalatoris – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Patrick Cantlay – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Ludvig Aberg – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Collin Morikawa – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Sam Burns – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Stephen Jaeger – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
Pullout Albums
- Wyndham Clark’s Odyssey putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- JT’s new Cameron putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Justin Thomas testing new Titleist 2 wood – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Cameron putters – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Odyssey putter with triple track alignment aid – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Scotty Cameron The Blk Box putting alignment aid/training aid – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Cameron putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Odyssey Ai One Eleven T putters – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Christian Bezuidenhout – testing new Callaway Ti 340 mini driver – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Rory McIlroy testing the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Xander Schauffele testing the Callaway Ti 340 mini driver & the DUW – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Byeong Hun An, two new L.A.B. Golf putter builds with “T” alignment – 2024 RBC Heritage
See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.
- LIKE10
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL2
- IDHT0
- FLOP1
- OB0
- SHANK0
Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Valero Texas Open
GolfWRX is on site this week at the Valero Texas Open.
The event has been around since 1922, making it one of the oldest on the PGA Tour calendar. Over the years, it’s been held at a variety of courses across the Lone Star State, but it’s found its home at TPC San Antonio in recent years. Some of the biggest names in golf have taken home the title here, including Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Lee Trevino, and Ben Crenshaw.
GolfWRX has its usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs and special pull-out albums. As always, we’ll continue to update the links below as more photos come in from TPC San Antonio.
General Albums
WITB Albums
- Ben Taylor – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Paul Barjon – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Joe Sullivan – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Wilson Furr – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Ben Willman – SoTex PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Jimmy Stanger – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Rickie Fowler – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Harrison Endycott – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Vince Whaley – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Kevin Chappell – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Christian Bezuidenhout – WITB (mini) – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Scott Gutschewski – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
Pullout Albums
- Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Ben Taylor with new Titleist TRS 2 wood – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Swag cover – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Greyson Sigg’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Davis Riley’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Josh Teater’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Hzrdus T1100 is back – – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Mark Hubbard testing ported Titleist irons – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Tyson Alexander testing new Titleist TRS 2 wood – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Hideki Matsuyama’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Cobra putters – 2024 Valero Texas Open
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
- LIKE16
- LEGIT3
- WOW6
- LOL2
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK1
Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
GolfWRX is on site in the Lone Star State this week for the Texas Children’s Houston Open.
General galleries from the putting green and range, WITBs — including Thorbjorn Olesen and Zac Blair — and several pull-out albums await.
As always, we’ll continue to update as more photos flow in. Check out links to all our photos from Houston below.
General Albums
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Monday #1
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Monday #2
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Tuesday #2
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Thorbjorn Olesen – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Ben Silverman – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Jesse Droemer – SoTX PGA Section POY – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- David Lipsky – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Martin Trainer – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Zac Blair – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Jacob Bridgeman – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Trace Crowe – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Daniel Berger – WITB(very mini) – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Chesson Hadley – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Callum McNeill – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Rhein Gibson – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Patrick Fishburn – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Peter Malnati – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Raul Pereda – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Gary Woodland WITB (New driver, iron shafts) – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Padraig Harrington WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
Pullout Albums
- Tom Hoge’s custom Cameron – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Cameron putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Piretti putters – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Ping putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Kevin Dougherty’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Bettinardi putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Cameron putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Erik Barnes testing an all-black Axis1 putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Tony Finau’s new driver shaft – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
- LIKE19
- LEGIT5
- WOW2
- LOL4
- IDHT0
- FLOP1
- OB0
- SHANK0
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
Dave Portnoy places monstrous outright bet for the 2024 Masters
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
Tiger Woods arrives at 2024 Masters equipped with a putter that may surprise you
-
19th Hole12 hours ago
‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago
Report: Tiger Woods has ‘eliminated sex’ in preparation for the 2024 Masters
-
19th Hole1 week ago
Two star names reportedly blanked Jon Rahm all week at the Masters
-
19th Hole7 days ago
Report: LIV Golf identifies latest star name they hope to sign to breakaway tour
-
19th Hole1 week ago
Neal Shipley presser ends in awkward fashion after reporter claims Tiger handed him note on 8th fairway
-
19th Hole6 days ago
Brandel Chamblee has ‘no doubt’ who started the McIlroy/LIV rumor and why
Brant
Apr 9, 2012 at 4:05 pm
Well written wrap!
Pingback: Tears of joy — Bubba Watson wins The Masters | Augusta Blog