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TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

June 27, 2015

Bubba Watson

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

MARK STEVENS: Like to welcome Bubba Watson. Thank you for taking the time to come talk to us. Little rougher conditions today it looked like. Kind of talk about the round and how it maybe differed from the first couple days and we'll take some questions.

BUBBA WATSON: The first day was perfect scoring conditions. That's why there were so many low scores. Yesterday a little tougher because of the wind. Today when we played it was just a little bit of rain. Just enough to affect the ball a little bit. Some holes it affected the speed of the greens. Today I just couldn't get my clubs right. I thought one would bounce and it didn't bounce. I thought one would not bounce and it bounced. So I just didn't have enough close birdie putts, so I just didn't make enough birdies around this golf course.

Q. That save from under the tree, could you just talk about how you went about that shot? You had to play it kind of way back in your stance.
BUBBA WATSON: Which under a tree?

Q. The par 6.
BUBBA WATSON: Oh, six, yeah. If you watch me, I hit it back in my stance on a lot of chip shots. The only thing difficult about that was the rough around the ball. It really wasn't a tough shot. The tree wasn't affecting any of my club or anything. It was just playing it out of the rough. Just bumped it into the hill and let it trickle down to the hole. Got lucky from the fairway. I tried to play it over that direction and keep it out of the bunker. We got lucky it wasn't under the tree where I could play that shot.

Q. Are you disappointed with the round? What is your mindset?
BUBBA WATSON: Have you ever shot a 68 before?

Q. No (laughing).
BUBBA WATSON: Would you be happy with it?

Q. Of course.
BUBBA WATSON: Okay, so I'm happy with it too. No, I mean, like I said I wish I could have had more chances at birdies, more ten footers. The last hole I hit a low shot, a club that I took one more club on the last hole trying to hit a lower shot to keep it to skip back there on 18, and it backed up. So just one of those things where today some of my shots did the opposite of what I thought they would do, so it made longer birdie putts and just didn't make any. I hit the lip there. I hit a couple lips. I just didn't get it close enough to make enough birdies. So, no, I'm not mad at it, I just wish I was leading.

Q. Can you talk about that 15th hole, that tee shot hit the tree and what you were thinking after that and your mindset going into it?
BUBBA WATSON: It's a tough hole for me because of the distance. I put a new 3-wood in. I've been using this 3-wood last week and this week. So I'm still trying to get used to it. Trying to cut it off the trees there to play it away from the water, obviously, and to have an easy chip or fly on the green if I hit it right. I just didn't cut it, so I knew where it was going. I've been up there before, so I'm used to the trees. So it hit the tree and everybody roared, so I didn't know where it went. I had to ask the camera guy, and he said it was in the bunker. So I knew the bunker shot was going to be difficult. Had a downslope bunker shot. Brian was just in front with a lot easier shot. So for me I was trying to hit the center of the green, and it came out clean with a 52Â° gap wedge. Then I had an easier bunker shot the other way because it was on the flat. Obviously, after you hit in that second bunker you somehow get a ten-footer for par and make your par. I happened to hit it three feet with a little break, so I made the putt. But, obviously, all I'm trying to do is make sure I stay in the game and make my pars. So far that little three-putt that I miss read it today on what was that, 12? Only two bogeys this week, so I'm trending in the right direction. Got to make some more birdies though.

Q. Can you walk us through the approach on 12 and then the bounce back birdie on 13?
BUBBA WATSON: What was 12? The approach. So, again, same thing I said earlier. Had 93 hole. The wind was what we thought it was, it was slightly downwind. Had 87 yards to the top hump where I landed it. That's where I was trying to land it, and it was going to skip. The first day the pin was in the back, landed short and skipped over the green. I happened to make it from over the green, so I was thinking the same thing. Is it going to skip? Today it landed and backed up 15 feet to the left. So it's something I just wasn't expecting. I was expecting it to go forward and having a 15-footer for birdie. It didn't do that, and my putt broke a lot more than I thought, but it was still an uphill putt from six feet. Hit a great putt, but it decided it didn't want to break in the hole. Then the next hole was a very tough driving hole for me, but it was a little bit of rain, so I knew the ball was going to go slow. The wind was coming from left to right. So I tried to cut it against it so it would slow the ball down so it wouldn't go in that bunker. It was a perfect 7-wood. I think it had 22, 26-hole, so by that time the wind decided it was coming back into us. So I hit a high cut 7-wood that landed perfect and then two-putted.

Q. You played with Brian Harman. He was very complimentary of you about your game and the kind of player you are. Can you talk about his game today?
BUBBA WATSON: Yeah, he's a solid player. You know, it sounds funny saying this, but he's like a little Bulldog. He went to Georgia too so it worked out. You know, he just keeps grinding. I mean, he hits it pretty far for his size, great putter, great short game, hard worker. I can name 50 guys on TOUR that are like that. They play their game, they do their -- they go to their strategy and don't worry about what the other guy is doing. He's really good at that. He's really consistent. It's very rare to see him blow up and have a bad day. And he's still learning. He's still young to come into professional golf. He got out of school in '09, he said, so he's still learning his game and how to play these golf courses.

Q. Tomorrow the conditions could be the same, maybe a little worse. When everything starts to get wet, does the game become unpredictable and the reaction to the ball and everything?
BUBBA WATSON: Yeah, for sure. It depends on I don't know what the TOUR'S going to do, if they're going to play the ball up on the fairways. You could get mud balls if it rains a lot and starts drying out. Playing the ball out of the rough, the rough gets thicker because it's wet. The greens could get softer. So there are a lot of things that could happen in a short period of time. It changes everything. Changes how you hit shots. Ball's going to start backing up. Couple of mine backed up today, so it changes everything how you play the game.

Q. You talked in the past about your Christian values and so forth. I'm just wondering if you had any sponsor reaction to the Supreme Court decision yesterday?
BUBBA WATSON: Yeah, if you know the Bible, the Bible says that you still listen to the government, and the government made their decision. So, yeah, I stand by it, and that's what our government chose to do and that's what we have to go with.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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