Top 10 shots in the history of The Masters
By Luke Norris
4. Bubba Watson, 10th hole (2nd playoff hole) (2012)
As promised, we’re back at the 2012 Masters. With an always-strong field, there really could be no favorite as there had been 13 winners in the past 13 major championships and seven consecutive first-time major winners heading into this tournament. With the success of left-handers at Augusta in the past decade, namely Phil Mickelson’s three wins and Mike Weir’s 2003 triumph, Bubba Watson had just as good of a chance as anyone to win and he pulled off some magic to do so.
Much like his playing partner for the day, Louis Oosthuizen, Watson just lurked around the top of the leaderboard for the first three days. He trailed by two after the first day and one after the second day but had dropped to three back heading into the final round. Things weren’t looking up much when he bogeyed the first hole. He fought back with a birdie at the next with a birdie on the par-5 but he also had to watch Oosthuizen drop a double-eagle to get to 10-under, four shots clear of him at the time.
However, Watson kept grinding as Oosthuizen couldn’t capitalize on the miracle. Bubba made birdie at the fifth to close the gap to two, which would be the same disadvantage he faced after a bogey at the par-3 12th. But Bubba wasn’t going down without a fight and reeled off birdies at 13, 14, 15 and 16 to get to 10-under, which tied him for the lead. Both he and Oosthuizen would finish at 10-under and entered a playoff.
Both would par the first playoff hole, played on the 18th, and would move to the 10th to continue. Both would hit awful drives but Bubba was in much worse shape after a bad hook into the trees on the right. This is where being left-handed became an advantage as no right-handed player could have pulled off the shot that Watson did. Approximately 140 yards away from the hole, Bubba hit essentially a 90-degree, 45-yard hook through a chute that not only got close to the green but magically got on the green and settled 15 feet from the hole. Absolutely incredible. Oosthuizen couldn’t get up and down for par just off the green and Watson two-putted to victory, claiming the first of his two Masters titles.