Watson plays down wonder shot

Last updated: 28th February 2013

It might have been the shot that led to his maiden major title, but Bubba Watson admitted he'd prefer to not try and repeat the lob that was instrumental in him winning the Masters last year.

Watson and South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen were involved in their second play-off hole - Augusta's 10th - for the Masters title when he hooked his tee shot onto the pine straw. He then hit it through a gap in the trees and found the green.

"Hopefully I hit the fairway from now on so I don't need to practice that shot anymore," he said of the high hook which rolled to within 10 feet of the hole.

The 34-year-old Watson added that it might not have been the most difficult shot he hit that week, as he recalled a shot on 17th in the final round which he played from the trampled down ground by the gallery.

"Obviously the playoff shot was the most important and the most exciting, but the other ones were difficult, just nobody cared what Bubba Watson was doing those other days or other shots," he said.

He seemed happy to have the play-off shot's legend grow however.

"I want that to live," he said.

"That might be my only legacy of winning the Masters, so I want that shot to live, and I want it to grow, and hopefully 20 years from now it's even tougher and there was bigger trees and was a tougher situation."

Like most first-time major winners, he was slightly overawed by the media and fan interest that naturally follows from winning one of golf's most prestigious events, and even sought help from the world's two top players - Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.

"I asked, how do you deal with it, because the first three months to the first six months, your sponsors, media, you get more attention. You've got more fans, and so you get away from the game of golf. Golf is the last thing on anybody's mind. But you still have to keep executing."

He added that it was his manager Jens Beck, who gave him the best advice: Just focus on the golf.

"I was Bubba Watson the golfer first before I won, so we have to keep it simple and remember that golf's first," Watson said.

"So we told our sponsors, look, I know you want to do things and do this, but you don't like Bubba if Bubba isn't playing good, so golf is first, and that's the one thing we always told ourselves.

"I got to focus on other things other than golf, and then it helped me reset, and then I was itching to go back out there and play and compete."