Bubba Watson started the day by watching the rarest shot in golf. He
ended another thrill-a-minute Sunday at Augusta National with a
signature shot of his own to win the Masters.
So deep in the trees right of the 10th fairway that
he couldn't even see the green, Watson hooked a wedge off the pine
needles from 155 yards to about 10 feet from the hole. That set up a
par, good enough to beat Louis Oosthuizen on the second playoff hole.
"If I've got a swing, I've got a shot," Watson said.
It was Oosthuizen who set the tone for this wild day
with a double eagle — only the fourth in Masters history — on the par-5
second hole when his 4-iron from 253 yards landed on the front of the
green and rolled some 90 feet into the hole for a 2.
"Somehow it fell in my hands today," said Watson, who
closed with a 68. "It's amazing. It's a blur, the last nine holes I
don't remember anything. Somehow I guess I cried all my tears out."
He was blubbering hard on the 10th green, shoulders
heaving, for so many reasons. Just two weeks ago, he and his wife
adopted a baby boy, Caleb. The first person on the green was his mother —
his father died right after the Ryder Cup in 2010. And suddenly, the
powerful lefty with a million shots in the bag was a major champion.
"I never got this far in my dreams," Watson said in
Butler cabin, where defending champion Charl Schwartzel helped him into
the green jacket. "It's a blessing. To go home to my new son, it's going
to be fun."
Oosthuizen was trying to join Gene Sarazen in the
1935 Masters as the only major champions to win with a double eagle in
the final round. The former British Open champion made one clutch putt
after another on the back nine, none more important than a 4-footer on
the 18th for a 69 to force the playoff.
Both had a good look at birdie at No. 18 on the first extra hole and missed.
Watson, dressed all in white and using a pink driver,
hooked one into the trees and it appeared he would have no shot at
reaching the green. Oosthuizen followed him, clanged off a Georgia pine
and was left with 231 yards to the green. His approach came up short.
That's when Watson, who rarely hits a shot on a straight line, came up with the most magical shot of his life.
"I was there earlier today, during regulation," he
said. "So I was used to it. I knew what I was facing there. I had a good
lie, had a gap where I had to hook it 40 yards or something. I'm pretty
good at hooking it."
source : here
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