Golf:New Masters champion Bubba Watson may confess to be a man of few words, but the few he uttered in the Butler Cabin after receiving his green jacket last night seemed just perfect.
“I never got this far in my dreams,” was how the 33-year-olf from Bagdad, Florida summed up his epic play-off win over former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen.
And he got there playing a shot that few, if any, would have dreamed on as he snap-hooked a wedge from deep in the woods to the right of the 10th hole on to the green before two-putting to win his first Major after Oosthuizen failed to get up and down .
He becomes only the third left-hander to win the Masters after Phil Mickelson and Canadian Mike Weir and moves up to fourth place in the world rankings from 16th.
Watson described his thoughts after ending up deep in the pine straw on the second play-off hole.
“I got in these trees, hit a crazy shot that I saw in my head and somehow I'm here talking to you with a green jacket on.
“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, so I just hooked it up there and somehow it nestled close to the hole.”
A self-taught golfer who learned the game by hitting waffle balls around his house, Watson became the eighth consecutive first-time winner of a Major and the 11th in the last 12 championships played.
Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion who had earlier spectacularly grabbed a two-shot lead with a stunning albatross two at the par-five second, paid tribute to Watson.
“We had a great day,” Oosthuizen told reporters. “It’s fine, he had an unbelievable shot there. I played well ... but great stuff from him and he deserves it.”
The duo had finished the regulation 72 holes on 10-under-par 278, Oosthuizen carding a three-under 69 and Watson drawing level with a sizzling run of four birdies from the 13th on the way to a 68.
Oosthuizen sparked some of the loudest roars ever heard at Augusta with his remarkable albatross at the second, where he holed out from 253 yards with a
four iron.
The gap-toothed South African watched as his ball pitched just short of the green before bouncing and then rolling some 50 yards and curving left to right before dropping into the cup.
Oosthuizen thrust both arms skywards before high-fiving his caddie, having recorded the first albatross, or double-eagle, at the second hole and only the fourth ever at the Masters
Although Oosthuizen bogeyed the fourth and the 10th for his lead to be cut to one, he regained control with birdies at the 13th and 15th and several clutch par putts before being caught by the charging Watson.
