Bubba Watson on Being a Major Champion and Looking for a 3rd Green Jacket

"The first time you win any tournament, but win the Masters, I don't know if you've ever won it, but first time you ever win it, it's very difficult to handle," Bubba Watson admitted. "You go back, you're defending champ, media is all over you."

And that's just for starters. Apparently, the winner is supposed to already know the tournament traditions without the assistance of a guidebook.

"They don't give you any clue what goes on at Champions Dinner," he explained about the afterparty in 2012. "You just show up."

Watson said he finally asked the locker-room attendant.

Eventually someone gave him a "rough" estimate.

"I'm like, 'What do you mean, roughly?' I just show up?" he recalled. "So you think it's going to be more structured, but it's not."

While Watson may have a little different personality than most professional golfers, even he did not want to insult the Augusta National membership by doing the wrong thing or being late.

"I didn't know how to handle it, didn't know how to deal with it, didn't know what to expect," he said. "In 2013, I was in awe of it still."

Not that the tournament has lost any luster in his view. He's still enthralled by the tournament and what it means to the game of golf.

But when 2014 rolled around and he wasn't the defending champ, that took the pressure off him. Watson had been through the rest of the protocol so he was prepared.  

"I knew the time to show up, I knew the time to go to the dinner, I knew what to do at the dinner," he added. "I flew under the radar."

His comfort level at the club rose to the point where it was possible for him to win again in 2014. Now he's ready for all the responsibilities that come with the title of defending champ.

"I already know how to deal with it, what to do, what not to do," he explained. "I've got my routine now of how to practice and what I need to practice and how to go about it."

It doesn't change the excitement of the tournament for him, but he does have the advantage of knowing what's coming during the week.

"I'm still going to be nervous," he confessed. "It's the Masters."

Last time around, he knew what his Champions Dinner menu would be. This time, he also has it planned but is keeping it top secret. He said he was not going to reveal it ahead of time.

"I'm not going to tell anybody until Wednesday morning when they find out, unless Nick Faldo tweets it again right after he leaves the dinner," Watson joked.

As for his own chances to win his third Masters, he said," It's a tough field to get into, and everybody has a chance to win."

Maybe not quite everyone. Many past champions over the age of 45 probably do not have a legitimate chance, but the younger players all do.

"We've all earned our right to be at the Masters, and we can all play at a high level at any given moment," he said. "The only thing you can predict [is], if you're not in the field, you can't win."

Watson has described himself as a nervous golfer, one who still struggles with focus, but Masters week remains attention-getting for him.  

"I'm still going to be excited because I'm defending champ," he said. "But yeah, I know how to deal with it a little bit more. Doesn't mean I'm going to play good. Just means I know how to get through the Champions Dinner now."

More importantly, Watson has continued his self-improvement program because he now has two young children who are very important to him. By putting the focus on them, he has become a better golfer.

"I want my kids to see me as their role model. My dad was my role model," he said.

That has caused Watson to look at how he behaves, what he says, what he does and the attitude he projects. With the adoption of the Watson's second child, he realized he wanted to be a much-better version of himself. He knows that soon his children are going to be old enough to see his behavior on the golf course, and he does not want to behave badly or teach them the wrong things.

"I needed to change how I act, how I appear on TV, I guess you could say," he added. "And so for me, by doing that, by calming down, by changing my focus, taking my focus away from golf but putting my focus on my family, my wife, my kids, what the most important things are in my life, my golf has gotten better."

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