Loran Smith: Beloved Bubba's early Open exit can't take away Masters moment

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June 16, 2012

Loran Smith: Beloved Bubba's early Open exit can't take away Masters moment

The Dalton Daily Citizen Sat Jun 16, 2012, 08:27 PM EDT

SAN FRANCISCO — It has been six weeks since Bubbamania reached a crescendo after a stunning wedge shot that had such a curve in its arch, nobody would have been amazed if it had boomeranged back to where he was standing.

Bubba Watson’s Masters victory moved him center stage as America’s most popular folk hero. The network entertainment shows came calling, tournament officials were eager to sign him up for their events and endorsement opportunities multiplied.

With a consistent habit of driving a golf ball more than 350 yards, fans were eager to come out just to watch him practice. They want to see the results that develop when a man can propel a golf ball at a speed of 194 mph.

Now the expectations are bringing about a new phase in his life. He can’t live off the Masters victory forever, and the cheering will retreat if he fails to produce.

You could see it with the gallery as he played the first two rounds of the U.S. Open in the company of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson this week at The Olympic Club. Win a major and you get marquee billing. Shoot 8 over par, as Bubba did on Friday, and fans eventually begin to focus their attention in other directions.

This is a week when Bubba can rally from a disappointing performance and become a consistent player on the PGA tour. If he wins, he will be a popular champion. He hits it beyond everybody else on the tour, and with a nickname with which everybody can identify — nobody would ever call him by his real name, Gerry Lester Watson — his opportunities appear limitless.

While he was obviously disappointed in his play at the U.S. Open, Bubba still got encouragement from the galleries, which followed him, Tiger, and Mickelson for the first 36 holes of the tournament. You could hear shouts of “C’mon Bubba!” If he was not going to contend for the championship, they could at least enjoy seeing him bomb a drive 350 yards down the fairway. He obliged a few times.

Until the next major, the British Open at Royal Lytham and St. Annes in July, we have to wait to see when Bubba might contend again. In the meantime, we can reflect back on his comment after making his memorable shot in the playoff to win the Masters.

“I hit my 52 degree, my gap wedges, hooked it down about 40 yards, hit it about 15 feet off the ground until it got under the tree, and then it started rising,” he said. “Pretty easy.”

The gallery came out this week to see the long drives — maybe some of them might have thought there would be another gap wedge opportunity — hoping for Bubba to get in contention for another major. At 33 years of age, there is plenty of time for him to win. And as his career moves forward, there is one important highlight to appreciate — he will always be a Masters champion.

Two old-timers in attendance this week made reference often to the lasting value of a major championship: Billy Casper, who won the Open here in 1966, and Jack Fleck, who won in 1955. Fleck, who denied Ben Hogan a record fifth title with his upset, is the oldest living champion at age 90.

The U.S. Open title was one of seven professional wins for Fleck, with two of them coming on the senior tour. He never made a lot of money, and there was virtually no endorsement opportunity.

And since he was playing clubs made by the Ben Hogan Co. at the 1955 U.S. Open, he probably did not get a bonus for winning.

Loran Smith is a contributing columnist for The Daily Citizen. You can write to him at loransmith@sports.uga.edu.

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Loran Smith: Beloved Bubba's early Open exit can't take away Masters moment

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