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A18
SPORTSTuesday 23 February 2016
Bubba Watson more concerned with his head than his swing
DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The
swing has always come
easily to Bubba Watson.
He hits a golf ball with so
much natural ability com-
bined with such an unorth-
odox style that it piqued
the curiosity of Tiger Woods
when Watson first got on
the PGA Tour, and even
now it’s enough to cause
his peers to stop and watch
on the practice range.
His entourage has never in-
cluded a swing coach. It’s
all Bubba.
“Some of the shots he hits
are so creative. He really
has his style of golf under
control,” Adam Scott said.
“I don’t think you can teach
it. He’s just such a natu-
ral talent. Watching a guy
hit 5-iron to four different
greens on the range about
85 yards, 120, 170 and 240 is
pretty fun to watch.”
Scott didn’t have to watch
him on Sunday, which was
just as well because it might
not have been all that fun
for guys trying to beat him
at the Northern Trust Open.
Watson took the lead for
the last time by swinging so
hard that he nearly came
out of his shoes on the par-
5 17th. The ball traveled 334
yards up the hill, setting up
a 2-iron that went 256 yards
and led to a two-putt bird-
ie. He wound up winning by
one shot over Scott and Ja-
son Kokrak.
He called it “Bubba Golf”
when he won the first of his
two Masters titles in 2012.
Everyone knows what that
Japan’s Nomura wins Women’s Australian Open by 3 strokes
ADELAIDE, Australia (AP)
— Honolulu-based Haru
Nomura of Japan won her
first LPGA tournament in her
72nd start, shooting a clos-
ing 7-under 65 on Sunday
to win the Women’s Austra-
lian Open by three strokes.
Nomura, who was tied for
the lead with two others
going into the final round at a share of the lead, but
The Grange’s West course,
finished with a 16-under to-
tal of 272.
Top-ranked and defending
champion Lydia Ko, who
trailed by a stroke after
three rounds, finished sec-
ond after a 67.
Bubba Watson waves on the 18th green as he wins the Northern
Trust Open golf tournament Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016, in the Pacific
Palisades section of Los Angeles. Watson birdied two of his last
three holes to win by one stroke over Adam Scott and Jason
Kokrak. It’s the second time in three years that Watson has won
at Riviera.
is when they see it. It’s just
hard to describe.
“I’m not trying to do any-
thing. I don’t work on any-
thing,” Watson said. “I just
play golf. I see a shot and
try to hit it. I’m scared to
death on most of them, but
I try to hit it anyway.”
The challenge for Watson is
what goes on between his
ears, and what occasion-
ally comes out of his mouth.
Watson’s life is filled with
conflict. He rubs some play-
ers the wrong way by brag-
ging about the value of his
watch. But there are plenty
Five-time champion Karrie
Webb shot 71 to finish third,
seven strokes behind No-
mura. American Danielle
Kang was tied for fourth
after a 73, eight strokes be-
hind. Webb, who trailed by
a stroke at the start of the fi- own, it’s not against some-
nal round, had three birdies
in her first five holes to take
those were her last under-
par holes of the round.
Nomura, whose previous
best finishes were three top
10s, had birdies on 15, 16
and 17 and five overall on
the back nine before a bo-
gey on 18.
prodigious tee shots, and
one year at Doral he would
turn to make sure fans were
watching as he bashed tee
shots to the back of the
range. But then he refused
to take part in a long drive
Associated Press competition at the PGA
Championship two years
of other moments of quiet ago. Watson said is trying to
charity, such as the time he get better, even though he
walked into a tournament accepts that he has flaws.
office and wrote a $50,000 Most of the credit goes to
check to help with tsunami his wife, Angie, and his cad-
victims in Japan without dy, Ted Scott, with whom
saying a word. he has worked for close to
He doesn’t like big crowds, a decade.
but he couldn’t leave Riv- “Angie is a saint. For her to
iera fast enough Saturday marry me ... she might have
night so he could get to issues, too, I guess,” Watson
the Clippers-Warriors game said. The wisecracks come
and be part of the celebrity easily when a trophy is near-
scene. He says he doesn’t by. “If Angie has changed
like a lot of attention, but as much as I have since the
he is constantly posting vid- day Teddy met me in 2006,
eos of wild stunts and trick we’d call her the second
shots. He is known for his Mother Teresa. You know
what I mean?” Watson
said. “Me, I’m just a loser. I to the tour. Watson tries to
started as an ‘F’ and now
I’m a D-plus. But me as a
person has changed, and
that’s what is happening in
my golf. Not the swing.
“The swing?” he said dismis-
sively. “I can hit shots.”
Watson wept when he won
the Travelers Champion-
ship for his first PGA Tour
title in 2010, and he nearly
flooded the 10th green at
Augusta National in 2012
when he beat Louis Oost-
huizen in a playoff for his
first major.
He doesn’t cry as much
anymore.
Yes, he still gets angry.
One video that showed
up on social media at the
Born in Japan to a South Zealander just one shot be-
Korean mother and Japa- hind, Nomura responded
nese father, Nomura said with her three consecutive
she wasn’t intimidated by birdies.
Ko being so close late in Shin closed with a 74 to fin-
the round. ish nine strokes behind.
“Golf is the fight of my Ko said she was not happy
to finish the tournament
one else,” she said. “Even with a bogey, but was over-
though someone else plays all pleased with her play.
well, if I hit my goals, then I “My goal was to shoot 67
win.” Starting as third-round today and I shot 67,” she
leader with Kang and South said. “I played really well,
Korean Jenny Shin, Nomura but Haru played even bet-
had four birdies in six holes ter, and the roars I could
on the front nine. When Ko hear she seemed like she
challenged on the back was holing a lot of putts.
nine with three birdies in So when another player
five holes to leave the New does it, it’s really out of my Coast south of Brisbane.q
Hero World Challenge was
Watson screaming at the
ground to say, “MUD BALL!”
after an errant shot caused
by a speck of mud. It looks
as though he is harping
on Scott when shots don’t
go his way, but that was a
product of a rant caught
on TV a few years ago.
Watson said he was hurt
by the verbal abuse he en-
dured at the Phoenix Open
two weeks ago, when he
started his week by say-
ing he didn’t like changes
to the TPC Scottsdale and
that he was playing mainly
for his sponsors that week.
He felt his comments were
misconstrued in a head-
line. Watson said he reads
only the headlines, and he
believes that’s all anyone
else does. He was booed
so often Saturday in Phoe-
nix that at least one player
complained on his behalf
pretend he doesn’t care
what people think or what
they say.
But he does.
“Deep down, the human
side of me, yes, I’m pretty
mad about it,” Watson said.
“But I’ve got to get over
it. I’ve got to be a better
man. And with those com-
ments, I’ve got to figure out
how to answer things bet-
ter. All the stuff going on in
my head that we’ve been
working on in the last 11
years of PGA Tour life, I’ve
got to get better at it. I think
I’ve made the right steps,
but the bad stuff is going
to pop out every once in a
while.”q
hands.”
Webb said she was disap-
pointed she couldn’t con-
tinue her early birdie run.
“I got off to a good start,
I made a couple of putts
and that was it,” she said.
“I hit it really nicely again
today, and it just gets really
frustrating out there on the
greens.”
The tournament was also
sanctioned by the Austra-
lian Ladies and Ladies Euro-
pean Tour. Next week, the
two tours will sanction the
Australian Ladies Masters
at Royal Pines on the Gold