Fantasy conquers Augusta: southpaw Bubba Watson wins Masters Champion number 76 and at the age of 34 he wears the green jacket, symbol of the exclusive Georgia Club. Bubba is the longest but also the most unpredictable player on the tour, with an inexplicable and unstable swing, but with enormous power and an artist's approach. After all, golf isn't perfection, perhaps it isn't even a sport, it's certainly a game in which the player who puts the ball in the hole more than the others wins, with the technique he prefers. And so Bubba Watson prevailed on the par 4 of the second play-off hole, the 10, over the South African Louis Oosthuizen, thanks to luck, but also the ability to spin the ball and lead it onto the green from the woods and pine needles. Watson is also one of the most whimsical players on the tour, with his polo shirt always tied up to his neck, his fuchsia drive (for charity) and some imperceptible tics in his eyes full of good humor.
In his hierarchy of values, God comes first, followed by his wife Angela and now by his little son, adopted at the end of March. He's the only one, or at least one of the few professionals on the tour who doesn't have a coach, on the contrary, he thanks "there are so many coaches around, so that I can win". The facts finally proved him right. The Masters catapults him among the greats, in spite of those who would have wanted to correct the incorrigible and so on the 74th hole, after pocketing a very short putt to win, keeping the enthusiasm of the public at bay, Bubba explodes into tears that he struggles to brake even in the living room where Carl Schwartzel, outgoing champion, symbolically puts the green jacket of the Club members on his shoulders (a jacket that will return in a year, to stay in Augsburg with the champion's name sewn on it).
Bubba's story is a good one, a fairy tale with a happy ending that should teach something to professionals and amateurs who are constantly looking for the ideal swing in a discipline that is particular by nature, because the ball is round and rolls where it wants, because everyone has their own physique and what matters, at least that's what the masters once said, is that the club face arrives square on impact with the ball.
Bubba's win should be sobering too Tiger Woods, who always seems to be looking for a lost swing. Woods played really badly in Augusta and we can even understand that at one point he kicked the iron "out of frustration", as he later justified. A few weeks ago in Florida he seemed to have found the right feeling again, apart from an incredible out of bounds. But at the Masters the balls in the woods, in the water, off the line were wasted. For 72 holes he tried to correct his natural swing, to cut the ball from left to right, perhaps to lower himself a little less and protect his left knee more, however the result was bad and the de profundis on the champion was broken down. Tiger is missing, like the flowering of the azaleas, let's hope it's just a matter of waiting a little longer, there are still many tournaments ahead, three majors and the Ryder cup.
Honor instead to the merit of Oosthuizen (27 years old, already winner of a British Open) who gave very strong emotions on the fourth day, starting with an albatross on hole 2, a fantastic four iron that went into the hole at par 5, a shot that is seen once every millennium and which catapulted him to the top of the standings. Oosthuizen deserved to win the Masters as much as Bubba, because he potted at crucial moments in the game. He let one opportunity slip by: the tee shot on the second playoff hole. Bubba drove into the woods and Louis got the 3 wood out, but hit him hard and wrong, fell short, and couldn't make it to the green with second.
Special mention also for Phil Mickelson, the American nice guy who, at 41, looked solidly on course to win his fourth Masters. For Mickelson the light went out on par three of hole 4. The first shot, to his great misfortune, hit the railing of the grandstand and ended up in the bushes of the nearby wood. Here Phil lost his mind and instead of returning to the tee and settling for a bogey, he tried to hit the ball with the iron upside down and twice risked a penalty because the ball went very close to his legs. Fourth in bunker, out and putt: 6 total. After that he recovered but stopped in third place at -8, tied with Peter Hanson, Matt Kuchar, Lee Westwood. The latter is the only one of the favorites to have proved himself, unfortunately the English champion still lacks the necessary solidity on short putts. In Augusta he made at least two embarrassing mistakes that would have been enough to take him to the playoffs.
Good performance by Francesco Molinari, who carried on the Italian dream on the first day scoring a splendid -3, but then failed to replicate in the following days finishing with +2, nineteenth. A good tournament anyway, while the same cannot be said for Edoardo, who finished at +11 in fifty-seventh position.
Disappointment also for Rory McIlory, which topped the leaderboard on day two, but then dropped to +5, like Tiger in 4th place. Bad tournament also for world number one Luke Donald, practically ignored by US television cameras, throughout the race (although he played -3 in the last round): total +XNUMX, thirty-second.
Over the course of four days, fans from 200 countries connected to the TV also dreamed of Fred Couples, 53, who led the second day with -5, who closed the tournament at -2, in twelfth position and finally Sergio Garcia, the Spaniard on whom so many expectations had gathered at the beginning, but who has never known the joy of a victory over a major: good performance the first two days, declining the last 2 (the third played with McIloroy and after both making as much mistakes they could, they hugged at the first birdie): overall -2, twelfth.
For those who want to see Bubba Watson also sing, as well as play, the rap video played with the Golf Boys, "Oh Oh Oh", with Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan, Ben Crane stands out on Youtube.
