LIV GOLF VIRGINIA

June 7, 2025

Bubba Watson

Robert Trent Jones Golf Club

RangeGoats GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the media center, Bubba Watson. Shot a 6-under 65, currently tied for second. Bubba, this is your best position after 36 holes in LIV Golf and the second time you'll be in the final group going into Sunday. Give us some thoughts about the chances of posting that first LIV Golf victory tomorrow.

BUBBA WATSON: Yeah, I mean, it's always good to be close to the lead, have a chance on the last day. Looking forward to it. Looking forward to the challenge of this golf course. This golf course is challenging enough. You hit your driver good, you hit your irons in the right spots, you have a chance to play this golf course.

I've kind of -- when I've missed my driver I've hit it in the right spots, so hopefully tomorrow I hit the driver a little better, hit the irons just as good and hopefully make a few putts and just battle as much as I can. I would love to lift a trophy one of these days at LIV, but the other guys want to do that same thing.

Q. We've got you up there, we've got Kaymer up there, G-Mac up there, Phil is in the mix. Is there something about this course that demands experience that the veteran guys can really exploit?

BUBBA WATSON: That's a great question. I just think this golf course, it's easy to see the fairway lines. The high rough, the contrast of colors makes it easier for us to see where we need to miss it, where we need to hit it. You have to miss it on the right side, so I guess veteran players just know to miss it on certain sides, make it a little bit easier to try to up-and-down. Phil can get up-and-down from anywhere, so I guess his doesn't really count.

It's just a tough golf course and you've got to be willing to grind it out.

They could easily hold a U.S. Open here, so it's that type of golf course where it's really tough and demanding.

Q. Last year you ranked T49 in putting. You came into this week ranked T15, and you've talked about this year how you've found something on the greens. Obviously that's continuing this week.

BUBBA WATSON: Yes, 100 percent. Changed putters. I got a mallet putter. I guess you call it a mallet putter. But it's a Tyne from Ping. But just trying to change it up, trying to figure something out. Ball-striking has always been around the same. The last few years on LIV, it was always putting. If I could just be an average putter, my scores, my events would be so much better.

Then the way that we do it, top 24, there's been so many times I've been 32nd or whatever where just a shot here, a shot there I'd be in the top 24 where I could get points. The game is not bad, it's just the putting. Just got to get the putting better, and so far this year we've worked on it, and we're working on the right things to make it happen.

Q. One of the things I'm really excited about is your resurgence. It's great to see for the game of golf. But I wanted to ask you, you were talking about the change of putters. We all as golfers every once in a while say, wow, what's going on with our putter. Do you think the fact that the modern-day putters, it seems like a lot of people are going to the mallet-style putters as opposed to the past where you had the Pings -- I know this is a Ping putter, as well, but do you think there's something to that face balancing?

BUBBA WATSON: Well, for me, I've always been a lag putter so I don't hit the ball hard enough. Gosh, if I hit the ball a foot harder on all my putts over the course of my career, I'd probably have a few more wins. I leave a lot of putts short.

Going to the mallet just gives me a heavier head, heavier hammer, as we call it. It's getting my balls to the hole and making me make more putts from 15 feet. There is probably something to it. You get comfortable and you watch other guys putt good with it, so you believe in it.

But yeah, the engineers at Ping make it for a reason, and obviously I wish they'd have made it a lot easier in my career, but it's good right now.

Q. You've always like to play early in practice rounds. Tomorrow we're getting a really early start because of the weather. Do you think that plays to an advantage for you?

BUBBA WATSON: No, not at all. I don't think it plays an advantage for anybody. We teed off late today. We've got to make a quick turnaround and I had to stop in the media center, so I'd rather be getting my therapy done right now and getting my food ready. I've got my daughter at the hotel. Me and her watch a movie every night. She's here with me this week. I want to get back there and try to get to sleep real fast.

Q. You bogeyed 10, you go to 11, it's a hole that tripped up a lot of players today. You get it on the green, make a clutch eight-foot putt for the par. How important was that to stabilize as you started the back nine?

BUBBA WATSON: Yeah, for some reason on 9, 10 and 11, those greens, I left them all short. The greens are lightning fast out there, so for me to leave those three short, it didn't make sense.

Obviously I babied it or something, but Patrick Reed on 9 ran it past the hole so I thought mine was going to be a little speedy but I left it way short, made it. Then on 10 I saw Peter Uihlein putt it past so I thought it was going to be speedy again. I left it short.

Then I left it short -- definitely on 11, I thought there's no way to leave it short. I was worried about going in the water.

So yeah, it was just a weird stretch of holes. I thought I hit good putts and they just came up well short. Yeah, obviously anytime you can make a putt or a save like that, it's a big deal.

Q. Just wanted to get your impressions about the enthusiasm on the fans and the crowd and the support here for golf. How did you feel the fans were?

BUBBA WATSON: The fans are great. I think that you go to areas where golf hasn't been in a while, it's going to be a big deal. Then look at the leaderboard, look at the guys. 54 guys here, there's some big names that we want to see, that we love watching in the majors, we love watching in person.

That's what LIV Golf is bringing to the table. You have these guys, there's no cut, they're going to be here the whole weekend. So if you have to work on Friday, you can be here on the weekend. That's what they're doing, and that's what we've been trying to do.

So bringing golf back to this area, obviously, the people are showing up. Hopefully they show up tomorrow if there's that bad weather it looks like.