This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.
Bubba Watson is one of the hardest athletes to predict. It's difficult enough to forecast how any one golfer of up to 156 might do in a given week, but Watson presents other complexities. There's Good Bubba, who twice has been Major Champion Bubba. But there's also Bad Bubba, who on occasion has turned into Pouting Bubba. That's the Watson we saw last week at Chambers Bay, where he missed the cut at the U.S. Open. In fact, we hadn't seen Good Bubba in months.
So it was only natural for someone to go on the Internet and tell everyone to avoid Watson at the Travelers Championship. (That someone might have been me.)
Watson defeated Paul Casey on the second hole of sudden death on Sunday at TPC River Highlands, a course that is (now) obviously so much to his liking that it far outweighs months of sub-par play. He began with an 8-under 62 on Thursday and barely flinched until a bogey on the 71st hole opened the door for the fast-closing Casey to tie at 16-under 264.
But the Englishman botched the second go-around of par-4 No. 18 in the playoff so badly that he had taken five strokes without holing before Watson's winning birdie putt. That gave Watson his second Travelers title, to go along with two other top-five cashes at the Cromwell, Conn., track. Half of Watson's eight career wins - tied for second-most with Tiger Woods since 2010, behind Rory McIlroy's 11 -- have come
Bubba Watson is one of the hardest athletes to predict. It's difficult enough to forecast how any one golfer of up to 156 might do in a given week, but Watson presents other complexities. There's Good Bubba, who twice has been Major Champion Bubba. But there's also Bad Bubba, who on occasion has turned into Pouting Bubba. That's the Watson we saw last week at Chambers Bay, where he missed the cut at the U.S. Open. In fact, we hadn't seen Good Bubba in months.
So it was only natural for someone to go on the Internet and tell everyone to avoid Watson at the Travelers Championship. (That someone might have been me.)
Watson defeated Paul Casey on the second hole of sudden death on Sunday at TPC River Highlands, a course that is (now) obviously so much to his liking that it far outweighs months of sub-par play. He began with an 8-under 62 on Thursday and barely flinched until a bogey on the 71st hole opened the door for the fast-closing Casey to tie at 16-under 264.
But the Englishman botched the second go-around of par-4 No. 18 in the playoff so badly that he had taken five strokes without holing before Watson's winning birdie putt. That gave Watson his second Travelers title, to go along with two other top-five cashes at the Cromwell, Conn., track. Half of Watson's eight career wins - tied for second-most with Tiger Woods since 2010, behind Rory McIlroy's 11 -- have come on two courses: River Highlands and Augusta National. There are Bubba courses, and non-Bubba courses.
This year, however, Watson stumbled to a T38 at the Masters, then T42 at The Players Championship and the MC at the U.S. Open (there was also a T17 at the Match Play, which means he didn't advance from round-robin play). Watson hadn't played well since tying for third at the WGC-Cadillac Championship in early March. Clearly, none of that matters with the mercurial shot-maker.
In this, the Summer of Spieth, along with the on-going travails of Woods, Phil Mickelson and McIlroy -- yes, he's still world No. 1 -- it was easy to forget about Watson. But he's again No. 3 in the OWGR.
The soon-to-be 37-year-old now heads to the Greenbriar, where he played decently the past two years. But the real question with Watson is whether he can win a major outside Georgia. As he showed at Chambers Bay, links golf isn't his forte, so he's not considered a contender at The Open Championship at St. Andrews in three weeks. On the other hand, Whistling Straits, site of the PGA Championship, is also a links-style course, one at which Watson lost in a playoff to Martin Kaymer at the 2010 PGA.
In that tournament, Watson played Kaymer even through two holes of the three-hole aggregate playoff, then found the creek in front of the green on his approach to the par-4 18th. From there, he landed in a bunker and doubled the hole, giving Kaymer his first major.
At the worst possible moment, Good Bubba became Bad Bubba. Maybe that happens in Wisconsin. But not Connecticut.
MONDAY TAKEAWAY
Paul Casey
Casey made up three strokes in the final five holes to enhance his credentials for Comeback Player of the Year. But he lost in a playoff for the second time this season (to James Hahn at the Northern Trust Open, along with Dustin Johnson). Casey vaulted to No. 23 in the world with his sixth top-10 and he'll play the Greenbriar before heading to the Open Championship. Links golf oddly has never been this Brit's strongest suit, though he did tie for third the last time the Open was at the Old Course, albeit seven strokes behind winner Louis Oosthuizen.
Brian Harman
Harman was actually the 54-hole leader, overtaking Watson with a 66-65-65. Despite four birdies on the back nine on Sunday, his three bogeys on the day left him a shot out of the playoff in solo third. His consolation prize: an invite to St. Andrews, along with Graham DaLaet, Carl Pettersson and Luke Donald (the top four Travelers finishers not already exempt received berths). Harman came close to a second career title and, as one of the tour's shortest hitters, it's not a surprise it happened at River Highlands, only 6,841 yards, second shortest on tour.
Graham DeLaet
One shot behind Harman at the start of Sunday play, the Canadian promptly doubled No. 1 to derail his bid for a first tour win, and also closed with a bogey for solo fourth. It moved him to 83rd in the point standings, from 105th, but he's clearly not on par with last season, when he was 37th, or the year before, when he was eighth. He's got to be wondering the same thing as his owners: Why hasn't he won yet? And, was 2013 a flash in the pan?
Carl Pettersson
Meanwhile, Pettersson has won five times over a nice little career, but it's been three years since his last title, as his peak also appears to be behind him. His solo fifth at the Travelers was by far his top showing of the season, so not too much should be read into it.
Zach Johnson
Johnson is enduring a disappointing season for him, at 43rd in the point standings. He notched solo sixth at the Travelers, another short hitter enjoying the short track. This was Johnson's sixth top-10 of the season, though he really hasn't contended for a win in any of them. Still, would it surprise anyone if he caught fire now or in the playoffs and made it all the way to East Lake?
Luke Donald
Donald is 183rd in driving distance, and that as much as anything explains his precipitous fall from No. 1 a few years back - he simply cannot compete on the longer courses. So it's surprising he'd never played River Highlands before. His debut there netted him a tie for seventh and, as mentioned, a berth in the Open Championship. In 2010 at St. Andrews, Donald tied for 11th, so he could make noise there.
Bo Van Pelt
Van Pelt tied Donald and Mark Wilson for seventh, but the Englishman got the Open nod based on a better world ranking. Van Pelt is another short hitter, so his owners shouldn't read too much into his best finish of the season.
Peter Uihlein
Uihlein is an American playing largely on the European Tour, much like Brooks Koepka did last year. Unlike Koepka, Uihlein has been unable to garner full-time playing privileges on the PGA Tour. The Travelers was his first U.S. start since Puerto Rico in March, and he failed to take advantage, missing the cut. Uihlein has yet to qualify for St. Andrews, so unless you're playing in a Euro league, he's not a fantasy option.
Tim Clark
Another short hitter, Clark had been out since January with a sore left elbow. Of course he had to wait to be healthy, but it seems more than coincidence he would return at a short course. But rust won out, and Clark missed the cut. If you've hung onto him all this time, there's no telling how long he'll need to get back on form, and he has yet to qualify for any of the remaining majors or WGCs. The good news? He's 95th in the point standings, so he should comfortably reach the playoffs.
Sand saves: Charley Hoffman, Robert Streb, Kevin Kisner and Steven Bowditch also punched tickets to St. Andrews, based on their top-20 standing in the FedEx Cup points race on Sunday night. The other 16 are already in. … As many as four more spots are up for grabs at this week's Greenbriar Classic, for golfers who finish inside the top 12 and are not already exempt. Then there's one more berth available at the John Deere Classic the following week.
