Bubba Golf Plus Bubba Gump Shrimp Equals an All Time Classic

We learned a valuable less in Augusta, Ga.  Golf is not archery.

Golf is a game of angles, obstacles, and last week it was reduced to a pink driver and a 53-degree hook shot that spun the game on its axis.  

There was a movie in the mid 1990s that sent the world stammering for words.  The movie was Forest Gump.  And, it reminded us that the 'ordinary man' is sometimes extraordinary.  Bubba Watson has the world of golf in an identity crisis in the same way that movie made us consider the capabilities of the common man.

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"Bubba: Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp,coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it."

-Forest Gump

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During Masters weekend, golf became the fruit of the land.  And, Bubba bombed it, banana-ed it.....He managed to make pine straw birdies, tap-in birdies, oak bark birdies and bunker birdies.  Bubba was buttoned up like the Good Humor man on a weekend ride.  And, his final approach shot turned an ordinary guy into an extraordinary golfer.

Tom Hanks may have played Forest Gump, but Bubba Watson played Bubba Golf.  The results of the movie and the Masters have had a similar impact on America's consciousness.  Neither may recover in time for the U.S. Open.  Hank Haney's book the Big Miss is on page two largely because swing coaches, video analysis and teaching aides took a back seat to this champions path.  Dr. Bob Rotella's thesis with "keeping in the present," might be a thing of the past.  Not since John Daly's "grip it and rip it" chapter at Crooked Stick have we seen a more play by feel player and a more likeable champion.  And, while that major may not be the same script, it had a similar ending.  It's also one that the sporting world can embrace.

It's like the Patriots taking a skinny quarterback in the sixth round.  It's the New York Knicks giving a vagabond point guard a chance.  But, those are individuals in team sports.  This is an individual who does not enjoy practice.  He wields a pink driver.  He subscribes to the things his late father taught him.   Lessons and principles that he clung to like the simple tenets of Forest Gump.

Sometimes the best stories are the one you don't expect.  And, sometimes range balls are range balls, and, sometimes they are like a box of chocolates. But, while golf is not archery, they do share one similarity.  Targets.  And, one will surely be on the back of one Bubba Watson at the U.S. Open.