Bubba Watson Did Well, but Let's Keep Things in Perspective

Yes, Bubba Watson has a cool name, hits the ball a country mile, has never had a swing coach, often starts his shots into par threes directly over the heads of spectators and has the personality of a big kid who has just been let lose in FAO Schwarz with a $1.4 million check in his hand.

Bubba winning the Masters with a form of golf that is now commonly referred to as “Bubba Golf” was incredibly exciting, there’s no question about that.

I mean who would have ever thought that a man who goes by the name of Bubba and hasn’t taken a golf lesson in his life would be posing for pictures in a green jacket last Sunday evening?  

But does a single win have to immediately unleash a river of hype?

Bubba played well last week, particularly during the latter stages of the final round, and won a major.

That’s all that happened last Sunday.  

Golf’s “next big thing?”

Doubtful.

A favorite to win the 2012 U.S. Open?

Well, if he did he’d join Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington as the only players since 1994 to win back-to-back majors, which is again, highly doubtful.

Is Bubba the new “modern” golfer?

Once again, doubtful. He’s 33 years old and has won only four PGA Tour events. His win at last week’s Masters was just his third top-10 in 17 major championship appearances.

Bubba may contend at more majors, heck, he may even win another…but golf’s “next big thing?”

Come on folks, are we really that desperate for a “next big thing?”  

Bubba’s exciting and fun to watch, but the odds of Bubba becoming the game’s next big thing are about as good as the odds of Americans obtaining affordable healthcare sometime in the next 20 years.  

It simply ain’t gonna happen.

And the funny thing about it is after this week’s RBC Heritage, we’ll probably have a new “next big thing.”

A month ago Rory McIlory was all the rage. He had moved to number one in the World Golf Rankings and everyone was SURE that he would either win or contend at the Masters.

A week later it was Justin Rose. 2012 would surely be Rose’s breakout year and he’d be a top contender heading into Augusta.

A week after that it was Luke Donald.  Donald had just regained his number one ranking from McIlory and was now the favorite heading into Augusta.

The following week it was Tiger Woods. The man was “back” and would surely win the 2012 Masters.

Then Hunter Mahan become the first two-time winner on tour this year at the Shell Houston Open, so, of course, he too was said to be having a “breakout year” and would certainly be a favorite heading into the Masters.

Then, as if hyping up one player per week were not enough, we attempted to create a “rivalry” between Woods and McIlory that would equal or even surpass the rivalries of Nicklaus vs. Palmer, Nicklaus vs. Watson, Hogan vs. Snead, etc.

Despite all of the hype surrounding the likes of McIlory, Rose, Woods, Donald, Mahan, etc. heading into the 2012 Masters, Watson and Louis Oosthuizen were the last men standing at Augusta National, and Watson managed secured his first Masters title by hooking a wedge 40 yards out of the pine straw.  

So much for Tiger vs. Rory.

So much for Donald capturing his first major.

So much for Mahan’s breakout week.

So much for Rose’s breakout year.

Bubba played well last week at Augusta.

But let’s take Bubba’s win for what it was, a talented golfer getting hot at the right time and winning a big tournament, nothing more and nothing less.

And whoever wins this week will have won the RBC Heritage, not the U.S. Open, not the Open Championship and not the PGA Championship.

We all love hype, but sometimes we also need to keep things in perspective.  

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