After an amazing win with a courageous shot through a thicket of 18-foot-high trees to a completely obscured green to win the 2012 Masters Tournament, all the sports world was abuzz with talk of Bubba's daring and gutsy play. He took a chance on that shot, when many players would have tried to play it safe. In the end, Bubba trusted that he was given a set of talents that would best be used to their fullest, so he went for the win. In his mind, golf is just a game. It's a fun game that he gets to play for a living - but still, just a game in the end.
So where does all of this courage to shrug his shoulders and just go for it come from? Bubba says it stems from his Christian faith. A faith that has only recently begun to take shape, becoming more than the average behind-the-scenes influence. You might not have caught that from one of several articles about him that mentioned his faith in passing as a mere footnote, but to understand where that wellspring of emotion and the carefree style of play comes from, it bears looking at Bubba's upbringing in both golf and in his faith.
Bubba Watson first developed a love for the game of golf when he was a kid, and for God when he was a young teen. He played in his first golf tournament at age eight, and since then he has become a self-made golf man, with no coaches or swing instructors helping him along the way. His family has always been the core of his strength and his biggest cheerleaders. Bubba recalls having his grandmother making his golf knickers when he was a kid and being saddened that his father never got to see him win a major tournament.
He was first introduced to the Christian faith in high school, when his neighbor invited him to come to a Wednesday night church service with her. He felt a calling to grow in the faith that he says he let slip by the wayside when he went off to junior college and then on to the University of Georgia where he played golf on a full-ride scholarship.
Watson says it was in meeting and marrying his wife Angie that his spiritual life made a come-back to the forefront.
"We started dating, and come to find out that we both wanted to be true Christians," he said in a recent Rock the Open interview with Tom Lehman and Aaron Baddeley at his home church in Scottsdale, Arizona."We got married three years later, and a couple of months later we got baptized together."
He jokes that his wife "makes" him read the Bible and pushes him to be open about his faith in public, but there's just something about Bubba Watson that makes you smile to hear it. Like it's the best annoying thing that anyone could ever do to him.
It may be that it really is the best thing that's happened, because it seems Watson's spiritual and golf life have been coinciding a lot, and not just because he won arguably the most prestigious golf major on the most revered Christian holiday of Easter, either. His game and his faith have been consistently reaching new heights in parallel. One hard-to-doubt example was the year that Bubba got his Tour card. In 2005 he was in his third year of playing on the Nationwide Tour and inching closer to the all-important top 20 money winning spots that are awarded PGA Tour cards. But Bubba finished 21st on the money list, which usually would have earned him another year of struggling to the top. But, lo and behold, the PGA gave out 21 cards that year, awarding Bubba his prized PGA card and giving him a clear sign that something big was at work in his life. So, he started working extra hard at his game and getting courageous in his shot making, and he also started taking his wife's prodding seriously and making public speeches and Tweets about his faith.
"(In the past) I didn't really want to talk about my faith to people in public. I was just scared. Nervous. So finally I just said, 'You know what? This is God's plan,'" Watson said. "He's given me theses talents, so people actually do want to hear what I have to say. So the last few years I've been building up the courage to do (public speeches)."
Bubba has realized that courage, having appeared on a couple of different public forum-type interview shows, speaking freely of his faith.
"God gives us different platforms," he said to Lehman. "Mine just happens to be on the golf course right now, where I'm successful right now. A lot of people want to interview me, want to hear what I have to say. I realized my platform is growing, and not because of really my success, but because God's letting me do this."
Using that platform, Watson has actually created converts through his Twitter feed.
Using that platform, Watson has actually created converts through his Twitter feed.
"A volunteer gave me a letter and said, 'Your scriptures on Twitter made me start going back to church,'" said Watson. "That's more important than any of that other stuff. It's kind of easy to get over your pouting really quick when (you hear that)."
Below are a couple of Tweets that have touched his golf fan base and help illustrate the mindset of the man before and after play in a major tournament.
Two days before his final round of the 2012 Masters Tournament, Watson was focusing inward and sharing that reflection through a scripture Tweet:
"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14) #Godisgood"
6 Apr bubba watson @bubbawatson
Then the night before he won the Masters, he prioritized his life to his Twitter followers:
"Thanks everyone for the support! 3 reasons tomorrow will be#awesome, 1. Jesus has risen 2. See my new baby boy & my wife 3. Masters Sunday" 7 Apr bubba watson @bubbawatson
Directly after he won, he had little to say of his own victory, but instead Tweeted out a simple:
"Happy Easter everyone! #JesusHasRisen" 18h bubba watson @bubbawatson
His golf/faith marriage has benefitted more than his fans, however. Watson is involved with a number of charities, including his own, called Bubba & Friends Drive to a Million, which he hopes will raise $1 million for cancer research. He can also be seen in a down-right laughable music video for Farmers Insurance and Ben Crane Golf charities, making people chuckle for a great cause.
"One of the privileges of being on the PGA Tour is that I have the opportunity to raise awareness and help a wide variety of charities. I've always felt the need to give back and now I have the chance to in a big way," says Watson on his personal webpage. "Helping these charities and more importantly, the families involved, can be more rewarding than winning a golf tournament."
When asked by Tom Lehman how his faith has impacted his take on life, Watson summed it all up, saying, "My tombstone isn't going to say how many wins or losses I've had - hopefully it will talk about me as a person."
I believe it will too. It will probably say he's a really decent and courageous person, but probably someone will think to mention the golf thing too, seeing as how he's gotten pretty good at making that work to benefit the world as well.
Rebecca Case
Rebecca has been writing about and promoting golf since her college days where she was the media contact for the Northern Arizona University golf team. She then worked with a golf marketing and public relations firm, promoting golf courses, architects and events across the US, primarily in the Southwest. Rebecca has now turned her sights on providing golf news and course reviews to golfers across America by managing the editorial content of Par Stars.
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