The Loop

"I guess I look like a Bubba, whatever a Bubba looks like"

April 09, 2011

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- From across the 18th green, the free-spirit country boy named Bubba Watson coaxed in a birdie putt, 30 feet bending right to left, the ball falling in on its last turn, for a five-under-par 67 that got him into red numbers for the week. Five-under's nothing much to puff up about when the leaders are in double figures, but it's enough to cause a reporter to ask if that last putt made the Ryder Cup lef-thander optimistic about Sunday's last round.

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*Photo by Getty Images

"Who knows?" Watson said brightly. "I might wake up sick, I might wake up perfect and play great, might play bad." All he knew about that last putt, he said, was it "makes my dinner taste better."

About then, Bubba Watson of the Florida panhandle Watsons, heard the aristocratic tones of an interviewer from the British Broadcasting Company who inquired about the origins of that name, Bubba. "My father called me Bubba," Bubba said, causing the BBC man to press on. "But what does it mean?" "Nothing," Bubba said. "Nothing?" said the forlorn inquisitor. "I guess I look like a Bubba," Bubba said, "whatever a Bubba looks like." Then a smile. "Must look like me."

I turned to the official PGA Tour Media Guide. There, under "Full Name," you can learn that Nick Watney is Nicholas Alan Watney. Under "Full Name" for Bubba Watson it says Bubba Watson.

*-- Dave Kindred