Bubba

Watson

Watson put himself in contention last week at Southern Hills Country Club but will have some time off now to rest up and recover. He shared the news via social media, “Recent knee issues turned out to be a torn meniscus so I’ll be out for 4-6 weeks. Hope to be back soon!” Watson has cracked the FedExCup Playoffs in every season since its 2007 inception but that run may come to an end as he currently sits at 146th in the FEC standings.

Watson has just one top 25 in eight stroke-play events this season. That looked to be changing last week when he found himself solo fourth thru 36 holes and T7 with one round to play at the PGA Championship. The big-hitting lefty faded with a Sunday 75 to settle for a T30 finish. Watson has been rumored to be joining the LIV Golf league but also shared his summer schedule on social media which only included PGA TOUR events. Whether he’s joining the league or not, his decline in baseline performance makes him an easy name to avoid right now in most fantasy formats.

The 43-year-old has posted rounds of 72, week-low 63 and now 73, today’s lap mired by a birdie-less 4-over home half. Tomorrow, out of the fifth-to-last pairing with Webb Simpson, he’ll be looking to match John Mahaffey from the 1978 PGA at Oakmont CC, who erased a 7-shot, final-round deficit with a 5-under 66 and then prevailed in a 3-man playoff over Jerry Pate and Tom Watson. The Georgia alum, who lost -0.397 strokes tee-to-green in R3 but still ranks No. 1 in that category (10.216), also lost -0.084 with the flat stick, the majority of that due to three misses from inside of seven feet at 16 (3-putt bogey), 17 (missed birdie), and 18 (3-putt bogey). His most recent of 12 TOUR victories is the 2018 Travelers 79 starts ago, where he came from six back (T6) with 7-under 63 to win by three. See link below to post-round comments.

The 43-year-old, who becomes the 17th player (18th time overall) to record a 63 in this championship, owns just five top 10s in 55 overall majors but two of those are Masters’ wins, most recently in 2014 as the 36-hole leader by two (69-68-74-69) and a pre-tourney 25/1 outright. His most recent of 12 overall TOUR victories in 366 events is the 2018 Travelers 79 starts ago (28/1 outright), where he was T8 (three back) at the midpoint before going on to a 3-shot victory (70-63-67-63). The Georgia alum’s nine-birdie two-bogey showing today, which matched the course record with two others, was one shy of a career low, but easily his best in 50 rounds at the PGA, previously 68 (x5), his best in any major, brushing aside 67 (x5), and moves him into the penultimate pairing in R3 with past champ Justin Thomas. On 13 (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, he posted 2.361 SG: Off-the-Tee, 4.144 SG: Approach, 2.476 SG: Around, 0.621 SG: Putting and 9.603 SG: Total, and at the midpoint, ranks T1 in total birdies (11) and No. 1 SG: Tee-to-Green (10.613), 8.982 of that today. See link below to post-round comments.

Watson, who won this event in a playoff in 2011, has played in all five Zurich’s as a team event and bags a third top 10, second straight after T8 last year with Scottie Scheffler. For Varner III, he’s also recorded a top 10 (T8) when played as an individual event, the 2016 edition which was reduced to 54 holes, and has also played the team event five times but this was his first time making the weekend. The tandem, in their inaugural as teammates, signed for rounds of 62-71-64-68, with today’s lap featuring five birdies versus one bogey, highlighted by a 24'5" birdie-4 at hole 2 (by Varner). Watson bags his first top 10 of the season in seven events, while Varner bags his third top 10 in 14 events, second consecutive after a T3 at last week’s RBC Heritage as the 54-hole leader by one.

To say this team didn’t have their best stuff today would be an understatement. Sure, the task was tougher as they moved from four-ball to foursomes, but HV3 and Bubba gave themselves just two scoring chances from inside of 10 feet today. The highlight of their round was a 28'5" eagle bomb at the par-5 second, poured home by Watson. After an opening 62, this team will be happy to forget about today as they turn their attention back toward four-ball on Saturday.

Watson is a past winner of the event, claiming the 2011 playing in sudden death over Webb Simpson, and is making his fifth consecutive appearance in the team format. Last year he was with debutant and then-World No. 21 Scottie Scheffler for a T8, while his best is T5 with J.B. Holmes in 2017, the inaugural under the team format. Varner III debuted a T8 in 2016 by himself, and is also making his fifth visit to the team setting, missing each of his prior four cuts with varying partners, including last year alongside Branden Grace. Today’s error-free lap saw Varner contribute two birdies, while the two-time Masters champion rang up six and got things started with a hole-out eagle-2 at 1 from 88 yards (right rough).

The 43-year-old Watson, who opened with a 1-over 73 on Thursday, was 2-over on the day heading to 18 and admitted he was thinking about the cut as he yanked his tee-shot into the trees, leaving himself 171 to the hole off the pine straw. “I was, like, ‘I’m going to hit wedge as hard as I can,’” he told media afterward. “Then it went to (2 feet), so it worked out.” His birdie at 18 was his fourth of the day, helping combat three bogeys – all on the back – and a double bogey at No. 11, en route to his second straight 73. He stands at 2-over 146 and looks good to make his 13th cut in 14 starts (cut is projected to be 4 over). On Friday, Watson hit 11 of 18 greens and 11-of-14 fairways. His only missed cut at the Masters came in 2017, and he was T-5 in 2018 for his only other top-10 finish following wins in 2012 and 2014. On the season, Watson has made three cuts in five starts with a best finish of T-14 at the WM Phoenix Open. He finished T-26 at the WGC-Match Play in his most recent start ahead of Augusta.

Simpson was in complete control of this match all day as he led after 13 holes and found himself with a 1UP lead thru 16 holes played. Watson drained a 35'11" birdie putt at the par-3 17th and Simpson opened the door at the last with a bogey. “It was a struggle all day. Yesterday I didn’t make any putts. Today I didn’t really make any putts.” After two days of action, Abraham Ancer leads the Group 15 pack with 1.5 points while Watson and Simpson sit at 1 point apiece. Ancer is the only one that controls his own destiny tomorrow but Wason and Simpson are still in it, if the chips fall their way. Watson will do battle with 44-seed Brian Harman tomorrow and is looking to get a little revenge, “I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s Brian Harman tomorrow, and last year he beat me with eight birdies in a row, so hopefully I can switch it on him and do it myself.”