Bubba Watson Wins Hero World Challenge Convincingly

To say the backstory behind Bubba Watson’s appearance at this year’s Hero World Challenge is strange would be an understatement. A few months ago, Watson was turning down his invite to the yearly exhibition event in the Bahamas. Fast forward to Sunday, and Bubba is winning that very event convincingly.

Here is a little bit of the backstory:

Watson turned down his invitation because he didn’t have a passport for his newly adopted daughter, Dakota. Then, PGA champion Jason Day backed out to stay home with his newborn daughter and Watson’s wife was able to expedite all the right documents for the family to come over to the Bahamas.

The result was a win, a $1 million check for his troubles, and a number four ranking in the world.

“I guess I’ve got to thank Jason Day for backing out. I have to thank the U.S. government and passport office for getting Dakota a passport so we could be here,” Watson said. “For us, it’s a good ride, a fun ride.”

Watson birdied four of his first seven holes on Sunday to pull away and from there it was smooth sailing as he was never really challenged on his way to a three shot lead over Patrick Reed.

When you peel back the layers, it becomes more and more of a story where everything fell into place perfectly for the Watson’s.

Bubba already had this week’s Thailand Open on the calendar. He already had a two week trip recently where he was away from his family and didn’t want to do it again. That resulted in him declining his invitation. He left the door open though, asking the tournament to let him know if anyone pulled out. So when they called telling him that Day backed out due to the berth of his daughter, his wife Angie sprung into action. She spent eight hours in an Arizona office trying to get everything squared away to secure the passport and as a result they made the trip to Albany.

The win was Bubba’s ninth. He once said that if he ever got to 10 wins he would call it a career. While he is getting close to that number, he’s certainly not ready to retire yet, even going so far as to say that the 10 wins all have to come in the U.S.

“Ten U.S. victories,” he explained. “I don’t count this as a PGA Tour victory. It counts as a victory. It’s very big for my career personally, but I don’t see it as 10.”

Watson also went on to leave the door open for him to retire sooner than 10 wins, but one very big thing has to happen first.

“If I ever become No. 1 in the world, I’m walking away. I’m going to walk away on top,” he smiled. “But let’s be honest, nobody here’s voting on that, right? Everybody thinks I’m not going to do that.”

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About Dan Hauser

As an avid golfer and sports enthusiast, Dan has had a passion for sports starting at a very young age. Dan’s other passion has always been writing. Since the time he could write, he has always enjoyed sharing information with people and telling stories through writing. In middle school he combined his two loves by joining the school newspaper in the sports department.

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