Bubba Watson, the ‘Other Lefty,' Wins Third Travelers Championship

Southpaw-swinging Bubba Watson came roaring back from six strokes
behind—the second time he's done so at the Travelers Championship.

By Bob Phillips
Photos by Bill Harper

CROMWELL—Bubba Watson came from six strokes back to earn his third Travelers Championship on Sunday. The 6-3 left-hand-swinging Bagdad, Fla., native shot a 7-under 63, which resulted in a three-stroke victory. With the win—Watson’s third on the PGA TOUR this year—he joined the Connecticut pantheon, advancing past Arnold Palmer, Paul Azinger, fellow lefty Phil Michelson, Peter Jacobsen and Stewart Clink, with whom he had been tied with two titles entering this year’s tourney, and one behind Billy Casper, who hold the all-time record with four wins in Hartford.

Third-round leader Paul Casey, Stewart Cink, Beau Hossler and J.B. Holmes tied for second. Casey shot a 72, Cink 62, Hossler 66 and Holmes 67 on Sunday.

Bubba, whose birth name is Gerry Lester Watson Jr., shot a solid 33 on the front nine, but then totally smoked the back nine with five birdies. He tied Casey at 16-under when he birdied the 15th hole. He remained in a tie until the 18thh, when he blasted one 366 yards off the tee. He then pitched one inside three feet from the hole, and taking the lead—and the championship—with a one-and-done putt.

“Hitting some of those shots, especially the shot on 18, downwind, it was very difficult,” Watson told the press after the tournament. “But some [I pulled] off, and that's what we all try to do on Sundays—pull off the amazing shot.”

Watson’s finished the tournament at 17-under par, 263.

"I feel like this is my home course," Watson continued. "As soon as they put the schedule up, I sign up for this. I want to come back here.”

Casey led by four shots after three rounds, then birdied his first hole on Sunday. But he gave that back quickly on the fifth, and then fell off the cliff with back-to-back bogeys on 16 and 17.

Stewart Clink was one of four players passed by Watson and tied for second.

"There was a lot of fight in there," said Casey, who has finished in the Top 20 in eight of his last nine tournaments. "But, I fought my golf swing all day as you can see coming down the last couple of holes."

With the win, Watson earned $1.26 million and a 500 FexEx Cup points, moving him into third place in the standings.

“I would just like to say thank you to Travelers,” said Watson after the tournament to the event’s name sponsor. “Thank you so much for what you all do and what you all created here. You create an atmosphere that players want to be here, families want to be here

This was the 67th year for the tournament, which has had many incarnations in Connecticut—perhaps most famously as the Greater Hartford Open (GHO). Watson now trails Casper—an all-time great in the game—by just one Travelers. What made this win so special was not so much that Watson game back from six strokes down, but it was the second time he came from that far back to win, having also done it in 2010. That was his first-ever win on the PGA TOUR, and required a sudden-death playoff with Corey Pavin and Scott Verplank, won by Watson on the second extra hole.

“I did not want to say lie, so you have to trick yourself into believing it, right?” he admitted. “You always have to tell yourself and believe it. So when I started making some putts, I chipped in on 10. I made a putt on 12. I made a nice one on 13.”

Watson had to overcome a six-stroke deficit and impending thunderstorms.

But then the weather signs went up, and the threat of momentum being stolen from the champ.

“That means a storm is coming, the wind’s going to pick up, the weather’s going to change, and it’s going to make it tougher. So when I fist-pumped on 15, that's when I thought I had a shot at it, because I knew the weather.”

Prior to 15, Watson had it a rough spot for three holes.

“But they had more holes, so that's where I really started believing,” he continued. “That's why I fist pumped there, because I knew with the weather signs up, it was fixing to get difficult or it could get difficult.

—with staff reports