PGA Long Drive Separating Point Getters From The Missers

In the moments I took in the PGA's resurrected Long Drive contest here at Valhalla, it became apparently pretty quickly that this was a great chance for the point getters to have a few minutes of fun.

And for the point missers to shine.

My item at The Loop.

Update on Tuesday, August 5, 2014 at 11:54 AM by Geoff

**Bubba was asked about why he hit iron.

Q.  You chose to hit iron off the 10th tee.  Your thoughts on why you did that and your thoughts about the long drive contest?

BUBBA WATSON:  My thoughts, I want to practice the game of golf.  I want to learn this golf course.  I haven't seen the 10th hole.  I don't see that we should have a competition like that while we're playing a practice round and learning the golf course, trying to win a great championship.  There's no reason to make something up in the middle of the practice round like that.  That's just me.  Like it or not, that's just who I am.  That's just what I think.

I think the Par 3, that's something you're spending time with your family.  The kids are out there.  You're signing autographs, you're have the kid zone, you're signing autographs for kids.  You have the choice to participate or not to participate.  And this is just right there in the middle of your practice round when you're trying to see the course.  Just kind of weird to me.

But I hit my 3‑iron perfect, though, right down the middle.  Longest 3‑iron of the day.  I won that competition, take that.

Q.  (Inaudible.)

BUBBA WATSON:  Yeah, it will be driver every day.  I was just trying to prove a point that nobody cared about.

Q.  There's been a lot of chatter on different avenues about your take on the 10th and the long drive.  Do you find it surprising that you would be accused of taking yourself too seriously?

BUBBA WATSON:  Me?  Yeah, that's surprising.  I am.

I'm here to win a championship.  I'm not here to goof around (laughing).

No, it's just ‑‑ there's a couple things that just rubbed me the wrong way, and so ‑‑

Q.  In what way?

BUBBA WATSON:  I just see it, if it's going to be a contest, make it where you could participate and not participate.  Calling your name on a Tuesday of a practice round, it just seems funny to me, just seems hokey to me, so I just didn't.

Q.  And in a broader sense, do you worry at all or ‑‑

BUBBA WATSON:  I worry all the time.

Q.  Let me rephrase that.  Do you care at all what people think of you?

BUBBA WATSON:  Truthfully, no.  Because the way I'm trying to live my life, read the Bible, follow the Bible; I can't worry about ‑‑ no matter what I do, no matter if I win every single tournament, half the world is going to love me and half the world is going to hate me no matter what.  You can't impress everybody and you can't make everybody happy.  It's hard enough trying to make my wife happy, so I don't need to worry about other people being happy.

I care about what you think, though, because you write big articles (smiling).

Update on Tuesday, August 5, 2014 at 08:43 PM by Geoff

**Oosthuizen charges late from the lane and steals it by two yards from Jason Day who was in the clubhouse at a whopping 338. Nice going Louis and to all the players who went through this painful, horrible exercise of being themselves and hitting driver on a driver hole on Tuesday of a major! And don't ask me who Johan Kok is, I have no idea.

Final Results of the 2014 PGA Championship Long Drive Championship
 
1. Louis Oosthuizen 340 yds.
2. Jason Day 338 yds.
3. Johan Kok 337 yds.
4. Gary Woodland 330 yds.
5. Rickie Fowler 328 yds.
6. Keegan Bradley 326 yds.
7. Danny Willett 322 yds.
8. Adam Scott 320 yds.
9. Sergio Garcia 320 yds.
10. Scott Piercy 320 yds.

Update on Wednesday, August 6, 2014 at 01:51 PM by Geoff

**From Luke Kerr-Dineen, Point Getter Padraig Harrington having fun:

Comments

[Irish Golf Nut]

We have a saying in Irish."Ni bheidh a leithead aris ann.."..we shall not see his likes again. Hallelluah! GUBU..Gross unbelievable Bizarre Unprecedented!

[Anonymous]

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[JRP]

Really - just the most unlikable professional athlete I've been exposed to in a long long time.

Just awful.

Glad people are finally getting to see the real Bubba.

[BT]

Bubba really made himself look stupid with this one. It wasn't enough that he simply not participate. He had to go out of his way to criticize the PGA for even having it. I'm sure the fans loved it. What a huge inconvenience it had to be for the pros to step up and hit a driver there. Had there been no contest they would have... Stepped up and hit a driver there.

[ol Harv]

BT, It's just that simple. Well said.

[Jeff Ryan]

"no matter what I do, no matter if I win every single tournament, half the world is going to love me and half the world is going to hate me no matter what. "

Not so sure about the 50-50 split Bubba.

[RM]

If he's ever skipped one ball across the pond on 16 in a Masters practice round...

[Carl Peterson]

Didn't he ask previously if he could not be measured?

[Neil Young & Geraldo]

Played against Bubba in college (and can verify that he flew my drive with his 3 iron) and always had a sweet spot for him because of that.

But I just can't take it anymore. This guy is the pits. He has worms for brains.

Can we kick him off tour already????

[Thebigdad]

To use a line from an Eric Erdman song. " Some people you can't help but love, some others you just can't help". We now know for certain into which category Bubba resides. What a pinhead.

[Jeff Ryan]

http://www.augusta.com/masters/story/news/bubba-watson-saw-little-action-georgia-golfer

Interesting article on Bubba and his senior year Georgia where he didn't play and didn't like it.

[CRB]

Where in the Bible does it say, "Thou shalt act like an A-Hole"? Where ever that is, Bubba seems to be stuck on that chapter.

His parents must be proud. Wish they would have taught him some class.

[Easingwold]

Didn't like Bubba after his endless complaining at the French Open a few years ago after he won his first Green Jacket. Like it or not, he is a 2 time major champion and should accept all that goes with it, good, which far outwieghs the bad. He knew the score when he decided to be a golf pro.
I notice he always has his top button done op on his shirt when he plays, be interesting to see if he had it undone, would his head drop down through it when he starts whining on TV about his terrible life on tour.

[bs]

Somebody should have asked him what he thought that Jesus would have done on the 10th tee.

[PABoy]

Not believing the ADD bull anymore, his focus on hating this was increadible.

[Jesus]

Bubba. Shut up and hit your driver.

[CRB]

Louis Oosthuizen won with a 340 shot. Not sure if I spelled his last name correctly though.

[digsouth]

Actions speak louder than words, and Bubba's loud mouth and actions speak volumes toward exosing the hypocracy in his life, and his self worth vs the reality of it all.

Too bad. I used to like the guy, but he has become another broken record in interviews, and a hypocrite in his espousing Christianity, while his actions can be very unchristian like.

[Smitty]

Nicklaus, 1963: 341 yards, MacGregor persimmon driver, 11-degrees loft, Titleist wound Balata ball;
Oosthuizen, 2014: 340 yards, Ping Anser driver, 9 1/2-degrees loft, Titleist Pro V1x.

[CRB]

"Somebody should have asked him what he thought that Jesus would have done on the 10th tee."

I would imagine he would have split the fairway with a tight 2 yard Draw about 350.

Funny little fact about this PGA Long Drive Contest: I believe Nicklaus won it last time many years ago with the same exact distance as Louis O. won with yesterday, 340 yds......Technology Be Damned!!!

[CRB]

Smitty you beat me to it.

[lmgtfy]

Hey Geoff,

Let me google that for you.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=johan+kok+pga

[Beagle]

I've always found it ironic that whenever someone says only God can judge me (which is more or less what Bubba's saying here) they're usually referring to something that they probably actually wouldn't want God judging them for...like being a d*ck.

[GTJ]

Johan Kok, as the name suggests, is Afrikaans. So South Africa gets 1st and 3rd. Klap hom!

[Smitty]

@CRB --

Sorry, guy. Actually, the distance for Jack was 341 yards, 17 inches. Now, the temperature was over 100 degrees that week, and the fairways were probably as hard as a parking lot, but he still had to hit the ball . . .

As for me, I have hit over 300-yard drives here in Dallas on some of the muni courses in the summer here. When the ball bounces the first time hitting the fairway, you can see it leap 10-15 feet up in the air!

[Ho Chi Chi Vinh Mink]

Sad thing is Ted Bishop said in his morning press conference...'makes you rethink the recent conversations about technology and golf...

Im going to start honing my footgolf skills and buy me a big plastic putter for the 15 inch cups