At Memorial, Bubba Watson finally in heat of competition again
DUBLIN, Ohio — Bubba Watson hasn’t been in a shootout in a long time.
He’ll be in one on Sunday.
Watson, who doesn’t have a top-10 finish in nine stroke-play events this year and has fallen to No. 34 in the world, lit up the back nine at Muirfield Village Golf Club to climb up the leaderboard Saturday in the Memorial and now has a shot at winning for the first time in nearly 19 months.
With an inward 30 on another sunny day at Jack Nicklaus’ annual gathering of many of the game’s best players, Watson signed for a 4-under-par 68 and moved to 9 under through 54 holes.
On a crowded leaderboard, Watson trails leader Daniel Summerhays (68) by four shots. Matt Kuchar (67) is three behind the leader. Joining Watson at 9 under are Justin Thomas (69) and Jason Dufner, who started the day with a 5-shot lead but shot 77. Rickie Fowler (72) is 8 under. At 7 under is the trio of Jordan Spieth (71), Kevin Kisner (70) and Kevin Streelman (67).
“I feel good. It's always good to have a shot,” said Watson, the two-time Masters champion whose last of nine PGA Tour titles came in the 2016 Northern Trust Open. “It will be fun. It's going to be fun around here. It's a tough golf course, as we know. It will be a battle.”
Watson ended his day with a bow on the 18th after sinking a 12-foot putt for birdie. The bow, however, was not done with joy. Watson was responding to a heckler, who was later removed from the golf course. The heckler was yelling some derogatory things at Watson the last 50 yards of the 18th hole and then yelled, “I hope you miss it,” as Watson was standing over his putt.
Watson stepped away from his putt, his caddie, Ted Scott, alerted the police, and then Watson made the putt.
“Obviously not a Bubba Watson fan. I'm taking a guess, he wasn't drinking water like I was all day,” Watson said. “I don't mind a heckler, but when kids are around, you try to be quiet about it if you're going to use the wrong language. It doesn't matter if I had three-putted, I just wanted to get him out of here because I don't think that's right.”
Nothing much has gone right for Watson for some time. At various times in his drought, his putting has let him down, his iron play has been erratic and his favorite weapon, the pink driver, has been giving him the blues.
“He’s been playing well. Golf is a game of momentum and we’ve had good momentum and negative momentum,” Scott said. “This is a tough place to keep momentum going for a long time. There is disaster lurking on every hole. But Bubba is playing well and he’s got a shot.”
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After a ho-hum front nine where he was 2 over and trailing by 10, he birdied the 10th, eagled the 11th after hitting a 6-iron from 207 yards to four feet, added birdies at the 13th, 14th and the 18th and bogeyed the 16th.
“I don't like that hole very much. I'm not sure anybody likes that hole very much except Jack because he laughs every time you make a bogey or double or triple,” Watson said.
But the last-hole birdie lifted his spirits and he’s in the heat of competition again. Which he loves. He hasn’t lost confidence in his game during his long lull. He knew good play was coming. And it came in bunches on Saturday.
“Every week we're trying to get in the hunt and have a chance,” Watson said. “Even after the front nine I wasn’t stressed because we knew a couple under or even par, you're not out of it because this golf course is so demanding.
“ … The U.S. Open is right around the corner and they could hold the U.S. Open here right now. So we just have to stay patient and have some fun.”