Bubba Watson actually tries at the long drive contest, but misses fairway
SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — One year after drawing plenty of criticism for his attitude toward the PGA Championship long drive contest, Bubba Watson relented and gave it the old college try on Tuesday morning.
Watson’s drive on the second hole of Whistling Straits, however, didn’t hit the fairway and so he failed to register an entry in the traditional practice round contest, which was resurrected after several decades at last year’s championship at Valhalla.
“At least last year, I hit the fairway,” Watson said to media members.
Watson, infamous on tour for his prickly personality, created plenty of bad headlines for himself in 2014 after pulling out an iron for the selected contest hole. It was his form of protest against the mostly harmless contest, which gives $25,000 to the charity of the winner’s choice and a nifty money clip similar to the one from 1963 that Jack Nicklaus reportedly still uses.
“I don’t see that we should have a competition like that while we’re playing a practice round and learning the golf course, trying to win a great championship,” Watson said in 2014. “There’s no reason to make something up in the middle of the practice round like that. That’s just me.”
But after seeing the incident mentioned in seemingly every profile of Watson since last August, the two-time Masters champion said at the WGC Bridgestone last week that he’d actually try in this year’s contest.
It’s not like fans don’t want to see him hit it far, either: Watson is ranked second on the tour in driving distance at 315.8 yards, just behind Dustin Johnson at 319.
“I gave it my best effort and the fairway — I don’t know if you know what No. 2 looks like, but it’s pretty tight at 300 plus yards,” Watson said on Tuesday. “For some reason they make golf courses longer and then the farther you hit it, the tighter it gets. It doesn’t make sense.”
Watson wasn’t the only big name to miss the fairway. Tiger Woods’ errant drive also did not qualify for the contest. Anirban Lahiri is the current leader at 327 yards.
Watson is coming off a second-place finish at Bridgestone (two shots back of Shane Lowry) and a second-place finish at the Canadian Open two weeks before that. But just like 2014, he missed this year’s cuts at the U.S. Open and British Open and is looking to bounce back in the final major of the year.
He finished second when the PGA Championship was last held at Whistling Straits in 2010, losing a three-hole playoff to Martin Kaymer. Watson lost that tournament after hitting water on the 18th, which was serving as the third playoff hole. Watson said on Tuesday that it still gives him bad memories.
“I’ll be honest, I haven’t played 18 since that day,” he said. “Maybe that’s why I’m not playing it, because I don’t want to go back.”
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Kevin Kaduk is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KevinKaduk
