Bubba Watson

Gerry Lester "Bubba" Watson, Jr. (born November 5, 1978) is an American professional golfer who won the 2012 Masters Tournament. Watson is one of the few left-handed golfers on tour. The longest driver on the PGA Tour, in 2007 he had an average drive of 315.2 yards (288.2 m) and is one of the few players who can hit a ball over 350 yards (320 m), capable of generating a ball speed up to 194 mph (312 km/h)]. Watson won the 2012 Masters Tournament after defeating Louis Oosthuizen in a sudden death playoff. The win elevated Watson to a career high number four in the Official World Golf Ranking.


Watson was runner-up to Martin Kaymer at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, after losing a playoff that was initially also going to include Dustin Johnson before he was given a two stroke penalty. Watson led the playoff after the first hole, but hit his 2nd shot in the water hazard at the last hole. Kaymer eventually defeated him by one stroke on the third and final hole. Watson had his own clothing line called Bubba Golf at the former Steve & Barry's. He was invited on The Ellen DeGeneres Show after he sent her a video of a golf trick shot he completed for her birthday.
On January 30, 2011, Watson won his second PGA Tour event, the Farmers Insurance Open, beating Phil Mickelson by one stroke. Watson picked up his second win of the 2011 season and third career PGA Tour title on May 1 when he defeated Webb Simpson at the second playoff hole at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. On the first playoff hole, both players made birdies with Watson holing a 12 footer to take them into a second playoff hole. At the second playoff hole Watson made a birdie again to win the tournament, whereas the best Simpson could manage was a par.
In July 2011, Watson provoked controversy by criticizing the Alstom Open de France, in which he was playing under a sponsor's exemption; he indicated after his first round that he would not be playing any further events on the European Tour, and complained after his second round about security and organization at the tournament.
Watson took part in the Long Drive Contest for charity at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions alongside Dustin Johnson and Robert Garrigus. He finished in second place, with a longest drive of 370 yards behind a drive of over 400 yards by Jamie Sadlowski.


2012 Masters win
Watson's first major championship win came in the 2012 Masters Tournament. Watson began the final round six-under-par, three strokes off the lead. He shot a 68 (four-under-par) to reach ten-under-par and enter a sudden-death playoff with Louis Oosthuizen. In the playoff, both Oosthuizen and Watson made par on the 18th hole. On the next hole, the 10th hole, both golfers drove their tee shots towards the woods to the right of the hole. Oosthuizen's shot landed in the rough 220 yards away, while Watson's ball landed deep in the woods on pine straw 164 yards away from the pin and without a clear shot to the green. Watson was able execute a miraculous recovery shot by putting 40 yards of hook on his 52 degree Gap Wedge and landing the ball about ten feet from the hole. Oosthuizen would go on to make bogey; Watson then trickled his birdie putt to within a foot. He took his time on the very short par putt and made it for the emotional victory. The win took him to a career-high world ranking of four.

Watson was nicknamed for former professional football player Bubba Smith. Watson is married to Angela P. "Angie" Watson, née Ball, a 6'4" (1.93m) Canadian whom he met at Georgia while he was on the golf team and she was playing basketball. In 2009, she was diagnosed with an enlarged pituitary gland which accounts for her height.
On their first date, Angie told Bubba that she would be unable to conceive a child. Various family issues, including the illness and death of Watson's father in 2010, kept them from attempting to adopt until the winter of 2011–12. On March 26, 2012, one week after an adoption of an infant girl fell through at the last moment, Watson and his wife adopted a one-month old baby boy named Caleb.
Watson's father, Gerry Lester Watson, Sr., died on October 15, 2010 of throat cancer. Watson's mother is Molly Marie Watson and he has a sister Melinda Watson Conner