Bubba Watson: Some things you need to know about Masters champion - Los Angeles Times
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Bubba Watson: Some things you need to know about Masters champion

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Bubba Watson, who won the Masters tournament on Sunday in a playoff against Louis Oosthuizen, is a unique golfer, and not because he strikes the ball left-handed.

Unlike most PGA Tour players, Watson doesn’t have a cavalcade of coaches. He taught himself how to play the game by hitting Wiffle balls around his home in Bagdad, Fla., as a youth.

Despite his willowy frame -- he’s 6-foot-3 and 180 pounds but doesn’t look it -- he’s one of the biggest hitters on tour.

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Here are some other interesting facts about Bubba Watson, whose first name is Gerry:

  • He uses a pink shaft for his driver.
  • He attended Milton High in Florida a few years after fellow PGA Tour pros Heath Slocum and Boo Weekley.
  • His wife, Angie, is 6-4 and played basketball at the University of Georgia as well as professionally in Europe and the WNBA.
  • His father, also Gerry, was in the Army’s special forces during the Vietnam War. Watson’s charities include the Birdies for the Brave program. Watson’s father passed away in 2010.
  • He struck a deal with his wife that when he won his first PGA event, he would get to buy a 1969 Dodge Charger, like the one made famous in the TV show “Dukes of Hazzard.”

And if all that isn’t enough, Watson and his wife are the proud parents of a recently adopted child, Caleb.

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Bubba Watson: Some things you need to know about Masters champion

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