Masters 2023: Bubba Watson says more LIV Golf tournaments should take place in Australia
Two-time Masters winner and LIV golfer Bubba Watson has backed plans for more LIV tournaments Down Under, specifically so he can see his favourite animal in Australia.
Bubba Watson has backed plans to hold more LIV Golf tournaments in Australia and insists that peace talks with the US PGA Tour have to happen for the sake of the sport.
But before we get to the serious stuff, let’s get Watson’s take on his trip to Adelaide and the impending LIV event in the city.
“I’ve always loved Australia,” Watson said.
“No, but the dead honest truth - the wombat is my favourite animal, because it’s like a big rock with four legs. If a car hits it, that thing, the car is more damaged than the wombat.
“In the Presidents Cup (in 2011), they came in with some animals so I grabbed the wombat straight away. It was a baby wombat and as soon as they walked in, like we were taking pictures with the team in our suits, and I saw the wombat and I said ‘I’m holding a wombat’.
“Everybody was saying ‘you know what this is?’ And I’m like ‘yeah, it’s a wombat’. So yeah. I’ve been to the zoos down there. I love it. I just love the animals.
“Boxing kangaroos, they’re like deer to us. You see kangaroos walking around, it’s awesome. It’s fun.”
Watson, a two-time Masters winner, missed the cut at Augusta National but wasted no time setting his sights on Adelaide and the next stop on the LIV Tour.
The tournament is already a sellout and demand was so high for tickets, LIV broke their own rules and allowed spectators in for the pro-am rounds.
There has been talk that LIV could add events in Australia given the clamour for quality golf, a move Watson says he would endorse.
“Outside of the US, we’ve had nothing but love,“ Watson said.
“It’s been amazing. They’re talking about three (tournaments) down there because the want is so high. Now I’m not saying that we will end up doing that but …. it makes sense to have two in a row [in Australia] and then let us go have a break because you can only play so much competitive golf in a row before you get tired, especially with travelling and everything.
“So two in a row would make sense down there. Three would be a stretch.”
He expects there to be plenty of adoration for Cameron Smith when the LIV boys touch down.
“It’s so funny - I thought about getting my hair cut like (Smith) just shaving it down the sides before I go down there,” Watson said.
“And then I don’t know if I can grow my moustache fast enough. We were wondering how many moustaches will be there when we get down there.
“But there will probably be some wigs. If it’s not real hair, it will be wigs. It will be great fun to watch. He’s great for the game, he’s one of the top players in the world and he’s the Open champion so it will be fun down there for him.”
Watson last played in Australia at the 2011 Presidents Cup, the year before he won his first Masters. He developed an affinity for the country six years prior when he was beaten in a playoff at the Australian Masters by Robert Allenby.
“Nobody’s bad-mouthing us down there so looking forward it,” Watson said.
“The whole golf industry is an exhibition. This is an exhibition. It is the Masters but it is an exhibition. We’re entertainers, right?
“That’s what we’re doing. Everybody’s watching these shots, everybody’s wanting shots to be pulled off, wanting Tiger (Woods) to birdie the last hole to guarantee the cut.
“We’re all wanting this. This is what sports is about. It’s entertaining. So when people want us there, then yeah we obviously want to be there as many times as we can to make them happy.”
As for the prospect of peace between golf’s warring factions, Watson believes it is only a matter of time.
“It’s got to happen at some point,” he said.
“Now when is the question? You can only go for so long. Somebody is going to have to take a step back and try to figure it out.
“But we’re at a point right now, it’s competition, right? You’ve got a coffee shop here and you’ve got a coffee shop over here and they’re battling.”
‘SLEEPLESS’ NIGHT AHEAD FOR PGA AS LIV CLOSES IN ON MASTERS HISTORY
The head honchos at the PGA Tour are in for a sleepless night. So to the volunteers who surround the 18th green at Augusta National. American Brooks Koepka is another step closer to a stunning win in the US Masters in what would be a seminal moment for LIV Golf and a resounding kick in the guts for the PGA Tour.
Any way you look at it, a win for Koepka (-13) is a win for LIV and a victory for its chief executive Greg Norman. It is also a blow to the PGA Tour, who have waged war against LIV and Norman over the past year.
When the third round of the Masters was called to a halt due to inclement weather on Sunday morning (AEDT, Koepka was four shots clear of the field and organisers had begun sizing him up for the presentation ceremony on Monday morning (AEDT).
He would need to fall in a cavernous hole to stop him being there at the finish. LIV players have apparently spoken about charging the 18th green if one of their outfit won the Masters.
Augusta National will need to be on high alert. The cavalry are coming.
Koepka’s win would also be a victory of sorts for Australia given the next event the American will play will be in Adelaide. There is every chance he will arrive with a green jacket in his luggage after he extended his lead over the field on a shortened day at Augusta National.
The PGA Tour was pinning its hopes on Spaniard Jon Rahm (-9) but he couldn’t make an impression on Koepka in the partially-completed third round, losing ground like the rest of the field to the metronomic American.
Rahm has the chance to close the gap when they head back to the seventh green, where their balls were placed when the siren sounded to end play.
He also has history on his side given the final round of the Masters will be played on the birthday of Spain’s most famous player, Seve Ballesteros. Omens don’t come much better. Yet Rahm will need all of Ballesteros’ shot making and pizzazz to close a gap that borders on insurmountable.
Jason Day (-4) aside, Australia’s chances fell by the wayside. Cameron Smith (-1) couldn’t get any momentum going as his putter ran cold. Adam Scott’s putter wasn’t so much cold as frozen as he made four bogeys before officials called a halt to proceedings with five holes remaining in his third round.
Scott (even) had optimistically spoken at the end of his delayed second round about making an impact. He did – only it was in the wrong direction.
“I feel like I just survived,” Scott said.
“I wasn’t feeling great out there this morning but managed some good saves. I didn’t give myself any chances.
“It was just hard work. I survived. Hopefully I just have to find a rhythm somehow and get a couple more looks.”
The conditions didn’t make life easy for anyone. Scott had 170 metres to the front of the 18th green, a distance that would usually demand a five or six iron.
He used a three iron and it came up short. Smith wasn’t having much luck either, his day reaching its nadir when he dumped his tee shot at the par three 12th in the water.
The Open champion took a penalty drop and made double bogey, leaving him 12 shots behind Koepka when play was called to a halt.
“A little unlucky with the draw, you win some, you lose some,” Smith said.
“It’s a hard tee shot in this stuff, even harder when you can’t feel your hands and it’s pissing down rain.
“I’ve played in misty, cold [weather] but not rainy cold. It was tough to keep everything warm and everything dry. The golf course is just brutal too.”
Day at least stemmed the bleeding, although even he wasn’t immune to making mistakes. He has played his opening 32 holes in this year’s Masters in nine under. The last 11 he has played in five over.
Still, he remains Australia’s best hope. It’s only a slim one, but a hope nonetheless.
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