Despite back-to-back runner-ups, B. Watson doesn’t like Phoenix course
Bubba Watson pulled out the golf equivalent of Marshawn Lynch’s “I’m just here so I don’t get fined.”
The two-time Masters winner has four consecutive top-15 finishes, including T-2 each of the last two years, at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. However, he’s not a fan of the changes original TPC Scottsdale designer Tom Weiskopf made to the track.
“I don’t like it,” Watson said Wednesday when asked why he liked the course. “I’m not going to PC it. I don’t like it at all. I just mentioned why I’m here. I’ve got three beautiful sponsors that love it here.”
Those sponsors? Ping, Oakley and Stance Socks.
The changes, debuted last year, lengthened a number of holes, including transforming the par-4 14th from a driver-wedge hole for the long-hitting Watson into one that requires a long-iron approach and brings a lot of danger into play. Watson also isn’t thrilled that the bunkering now targets players of his length.
“I didn’t see any reason to change it,” he said. “You know, again, they didn’t ask me. It’s just my own opinion. I didn’t see any reason to change it … Scores didn’t change. It just makes it goofier and tougher, which is not fun for us. We came here for a reason. We came here because we want to play golf and shoot good scores.”
Watson has an affinity for whining about courses, calling some major venues “too hard for [him].”
He whines when conditions change, including at the 2014 PGA Championship when he had caddie Ted Scott tee up balls for him in a driving rain, then went apoplectic when there was water on his club face at Valhalla.
Watson lost it at last summer’s U.S. Open on the 18th hole at Chambers Bay, maligning the bad pace of play.
The Bagdad, Fla., native has a hard time blocking out the annoying things about pro golf, and that’s why he tends to struggle at places where he doesn’t feel comfortable. However, TPC Scottsdale seems to be an aberration. He clearly doesn’t like the changes, but the result was the same before and after they were implemented.
So what will Watson say if he improves this week on his finishes from the last two years?
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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