33-year old Bubba Watson, arguably golf’s most promising new star, hit an extraordinary curved shot yesterday that led him to the coveted green jacket above Louis Oosthuizen. Oosthuizen started the game with a double eagle–only the 4th in Masters history–and ended at 10 under par 278.
“Bubba just hit an unbelievable shot there on 10. I didn’t play badly. Bubba earned it,” Oosthuizen said.
The two men played a close game up until the 10th green, where Watson was forced to hook a curveball from a thicket of trees so dense Oosthuizen couldn’t even see him. It went 155 yards and required only two putts to win the championship.
“I had no idea where he was,” Oosthuizen said. “Where I stood from, when the ball came out, it looked like a curveball. Unbelievable shot. That shot he hit definitely won him the tournament.”
Watson was joined on the green by his wife and mother, who congratulated him as his emotions ran over after a day filled with stress.
“I’ve never had a dream go this far, so I can’t really say it’s a dream come true,” Watson said as he was presented with the green jacket.
Watson, who is heavily involved in fundraising for cancer research, played with a pink driver yesterday to show his support of the charity and says the win–which moves him up to number 4 in the world of golf and the top ranking American–won’t mean a reprieve from the real world this week. No doubt he’ll be grounded by a brand new family life, as he and his wife just adopted a one-month old son.