Masters 2012: Phil Blows Up. Bubba Cries. Tiger and Rory Tie.

If you say you saw this coming, nobody will believe you.  Not even psychics John Edwards and Sylvia Brown saw it.   What was supposed to be the Tiger and Rory show or the Rory and Phil show wasn’t.  The final round of the Masters was about two guys who weren't even on anyone’s radar screen on Wednesday:  Louis Oosthuizen and Bubba Watson. 

“I’m not ready for fame,” Watson said after two green jacket ceremonies and a lot of tears. “I just want to be me and play golf.”

He said he would still be doing the same things, silly twitter videos, hanging out with his friends at home and being the same person whether he won the tournament or missed the cut.  

After starting the final round with a bogey, Watson birdied the 13^th through the 16^th holes on Sunday to tie Oosthuizen and force a playoff, which he won on the second extra hole.

Oosthuizen had taken the top spot early in the round when he hit one of the luckiest shots in tournament history, a double eagle on the second hole.   

“When something like that happens early in the round, you have to keep your emotions in place,” Oosthuizen said. “At a spot like Augusta that’s very special. That was tough over the next four or five holes.”  

Oosthuizen thought he did well to get into the playoff, but added that on the second playoff hole, number ten, he had the same distance as he had in regulation and used the same club.  “The ball just didn’t go anywhere,” he added.  That ended up costing him the green jacket. 

“The crowd roared forever,” Watson said about Oosthuizen’s hole out at two. “I wasn’t thinking about him was leading at that time. Next hole, I saw he’s leading!” 

In his post round press conference, Watson confessed that he wanted to win 10 tournaments.   He’s now half way to his goal.   While Watson’s approach to golf may be different than other players, it works for him.  

The way he plays is what he and his caddie call "Bubba Golf." 

“I just play the game that I love,” he said. “It’s like Seve ( Ballesteros) played. Phil Mickelson hits a shot, he goes for it.  He goes for broke. That’s what I do. I attack. I don’t like to go to the center of greens.”

Watson was not concerned about the shot into the pine straw on the 10^th hole in the playoff.  First of all, he reminded everyone, he’d been in that general location during regulation play.   But what he said about his ability to hit the sweeping hook was a line he told his caddy several years ago.

“If I have a swing, I have a shot.”  He said he was used to being in the woods.

Then in a somewhat uncharacteristic moment or two, Watson became eloquent.

“This day means so much more than putting on this green jacket but a special time to do this here at this tournament,” he said at the green jacket ceremony outside near the back of the clubhouse.   And later he added, “This is an honor and a special privilege to put this jacket on. I never dreamed about actually winning. As a golfer and fan of the game of golf, it’s a special time.”

What he said he meant about not dreaming about winning was that in his dreams he always missed the putt.  On Easter Sunday in 2012, Watson made all the putts he needed to make.

Mickelson hit a poor shot on the fourth hole that bounced off a railing and scooted into shrubs.  He ended up with a triple bogey, six, which basically cost him the tournament.  Although it might have been possible for Mickelson to come back from such a calamity, it had to unnerve him for a few holes, enough to have made the difference.  

And in the Tiger and Rory competition, they tied.  Both of them finished the tournament at +5, which was not what either of them had in mind at the beginning of the week. That’s why the trophies aren’t handed out until late in the day on Sunday.

Kathy Bissell is a Golf Writer for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or from official interview materials from the USGA, PGA Tour or PGA of America.