WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Bubba Watson found himself in a four-shot hole on opening day of the Greenbrier Classic and surmised it was merely a matter of timing.
As in, his afternoon tee time meant bad timing.
Watson finished the day at 2-under and tied for 31st, trailing a leaderboard stacked with golfers who teed off Thursday morning, before the greens hardened and the winds began swirling.
“When you look at it, being a couple shots under par isn’t bad. There’s not too many guys that played in the afternoon that are high on the leaderboard,” said Watson, who started around 1 p.m.
He anticipates the script flipping Friday, when he’s scheduled for a 7:50 a.m. tee time. “Hopefully the afternoon wave can feel what we felt.”
After going 1-over on the front nine, Watson closed strong by finding four birdies on the back side.
“There’s not a single shot I would want to re-do,” he said. “It was just a guessing game with the wind, but my shots were missing right or left.”
Watson debuted his new pink Ping driver, one he claimed he “snuck out of the factory” two months ago. After belting a long drive of 336 yards Thursday and averaging more than 319, he pronounced: “That thing’s sweet.”
