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