Bubba Watson in 2011: 'I care' about Augusta National excluding women

[Are_grits_groceries]

At his post-victory press conference on Sunday evening, Bubba Watson was asked about winning the 2012 Masters and being a new father, but not about Augusta National's all-male membership. However, Golf Magazine asked Watson about Augusta National's membership policy in its 2011 Masters survey. The survey is anonymous, but Watson wanted his response on the record:

Does it bother you that the club's membership excludes women?

"Yeah, I care, and you can quote me on it." —Bubba Watson

Watson's fellow Tour pros weren't as concerned. Ninety percent of the 40 Tour players surveyed said that they were not bothered that women can't be members at Augusta National.
http://blogs.golf.com/presstent/2012/04/bubba-watson-in-2011-i-care-about-augusta-excluding-women.html

I loves me some Bubba!
He has the cojones to put his name on the statement and stand behind it. No waffling.
Augusta wants their cake and eat it too. They want to reap huge benefits from The Masters while denying women membership. Either close completely and give up the tournament or let women in.

[exboyfil]

1. What if he protests next year by refusing to play

or by refusing to hand out the next green jacket. Words are one thing, actions are something else.

How about wearing something that says to let women into the club? He could join with the CEO of IBM (who was denied honorary membership) to convey the message.

[Are_grits_groceries]

4. Bubba does and says what he thinks is right.

He won't conform to your or my notion of what should be done. In that one statement, he took a stand that most other golfers don't care about or they won't say so.

With that answer, he has already done a lot more than most.

[banned from Kos]

2. Bubba is a deserving winner and stand-up guy no doubt.

FWIW he is also a very devout evangelical. The three pros who walked the playoff in the gallery are his faith brothers (Crane, Fowler, and Baddely). The ones he hugged after winning.

I doubt he stirs anything up at Augusta given this info. But you never know.

[dionysus]

3. can't believe phil ricocheted that off the bleachers.. but it's good to see Bubba win.

[banned from Kos]

5. Phil is a great guy but he has three green jackets

Golf fosters integrity. You police yourself.

In all my years I remember almost no disputes in the game. Once one PGA player accused another of using the wrong groove width - which borders on the absurd since you need a micrometer to determine what grooves are too wide.

[Are_grits_groceries]

13. Phil is a wonder.

I like him, but I wonder about the shots he takes at times. High risk. High reward. High drama.

[dionysus]

14. if he played safe golf.. i guess he wouldn't be the same Phil then, right?

he may have more titles, but it'd be less fun to watch.

do you play?

[Are_grits_groceries]

16. I have played at it.

I spent a summer with a friend near a par 3 course. And I have I spent a lot of time on putting greens.
Then when I moved to MD, my cousins used to go to the last few holes at Congressional and play them.
I know a little. I know enough to know I would make Tiger Woods look like a saint if I really played.

BTW my cat named Scat loves golf. She will sit at the end of the bed engrossed in what is going on. I thought it was because of the moving ball or flags on the pins. However, I once changed the channel when only the commentators were on screen. She gave me a death look so I changed it back. I leave it on the Golf Channel if I am not gone long.

Apropos of nohing, I never thought Tiger Woods could drive for s***.

Phil makes the game interesting, and so does Bubba. I also like Boo Weekley.

[dionysus]

22. Boooooo! he's lost his game, but seems to be getting it back finally.

Last edited Tue Apr 10, 2012, 05:49 PM - Edit history (1)

i made it out for the first time this year last weekend.. surprised myself and shot an 80. which is great considering that i only break 80 once or twice a season!

think of how rough i have it; i was a david duval fan! since he's fallen off of the face of the golfing earth Phil's my main man now!

i could never stand tiger's tantrums or the whoel golf press kissing his ass. the latter isn't so much his fault.. the former is. when he played here he was dropping f bombs in front of little kids.. not cool...

[Are_grits_groceries]

23. David Duval is a mystery!

He was at the top, and then boom! He was gone.
I follow several golfers from Clemson, my alma mater.
Jonathan Byrd, Lucas Glover, Kyle Stanley to name a few. Clemson has a very good golf program.

BTW Boo and Bubba were on the same HS golf team. What a hoot.

[dionysus]

24. from what i've read, first he broke up with a long time fiance, then he broke his wrists

snowboarding, then he developed vertigo. after that he never got his game back. poor fella. when i follwed him and davis love and couples during a practice round at the pga championship in 03, he was not a happy camper!

[Are_grits_groceries]

6. He already stirred things up with that answer.

The good ol' boys who run The Masters can't be happy that he will speak out. I'm sure that there was talk among them whether we got wind of it or not.

I know he is an evangelical, but he doesn't have it in your face 24/7 like Tebow.

[banned from Kos]

8. I noticed Bubba will be on Morning Joe this week

Do you think Mika will ask about this?

If she does will you post it for others here (I will miss it)?

[Are_grits_groceries]

11. I don't watch Morning Joke.

Mika makes my teeth hurt most of the time. If I find an article on it, I'll post it. i'm not going out of my way to find out what she says.
Why will you miss an article? Even if you don't watch, you can look too.

[titaniumsalute]

7. I've been torn for years about this

Augusta doesn't allow women into their membership. It seems wrong in every way. Yet both my mother and my wife have simply said "Who gives a shit?" Both have said the old farts that run the place don't want women around...so they wouldn't want to be there anyway. There's a million other clubs, associations, etc. that welcome women.

I would never join (not that I would have the money anyway) because I don't agree with their stance. But I wouldn't really wan tto see the government make them open the doors to women either.

[Are_grits_groceries]

10. As I said,

Augusta wants it both ways. They want that major golf tournament and all it brings, but they don't want to be an open club.
They get major bucks because of this. They won't allow half of the population to be members. My opinion is open your club or forget the tournament and keep it closed all the time. This won't happen without corporate pressure.
They are getting an undeserved pass.

[titaniumsalute]

17. This is the kind of argument I have with people who complain players make too much money

Then don't support it. Don't go to Augusta. Don't watch it on TV. Don't watch it online.

If people are really up in arms about Augusta National's behavior then they won't pay the small fortunes to attend the Masters event. However, when I watched Sunday, I saw tens of thousands of women there watching the event. If they didn't go, Augusta couldn't afford the TV time on CBS.

It does frost my ass these old southern farts (rich farts) behave this way. But overall people support the event so it doesn't end up mattering.

[Whiskeytide]

19. The membership at Augusta ...

... is pretty well heeled. They don't really need corporate sponsors or gate receipts to fund the tournament - they've done without the sponsors in the past. I suspect they make a pretty penny on licensed merchandising, and that would probably be the only way to hurt them financially - stop buying masters caps and coffee mugs, etc... But still I don't think that would matter much to them. They are true examples of people rich enough to simply not give a shit. I heard a story about a member who complained about the configuration of a particular hole or tee box - something like that - and the board agreed with him. They made the alterations, and then sent the member a bill for the work in the neighborhood of $180,000. He paid it, and they all chuckle about it now. Probably an urban legend, but still, it illustrates the point.

I love golf. The Masters is one of the best tournaments in the world, on probably the best maintained course in the world. I think they should open the membership to women, but I'll confess that I still watch it - and will probably continue to watch it - even though I disagree with that position. Call me weak, but I love the game, and the masters is the game at it highest level. But at least I won't buy caps and coffee mugs.

Edited for spelling

[ieoeja]

12. I don't care what Augusta does. But I do care what the PGA does.

It is insane that in this day and age the PGA endorses gender discrimination in this fashion.

[banned from Kos]

15. The Masters is in no way, shape, form part of the PGA

The PGA runs their own tournament Masters week.

The Masters makes their own rules, TV contract, invitations, etc.

[Oilwellian]

18. That is not correct

The PGA regards the Masters tournament as the first of their 4 majors played each year. The players who compete in the Masters are PGA members, minus the 6 amateurs invited to play each year. As you can see in the PGA schedule, there is only one Masters tournament each year.

The PGA TOUR has released its 2012 schedule, which features 45 official money tournaments, the same number and configuration as 2011.

http://www.pgatour.com/r/schedule/

[banned from Kos]

20. The British Open is on that PGA schedule too.

And The Masters and British Open are absent from PGA supervision.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Golfers%27_Association_of_America

If fact, the US Open is not operated by the PGA - it is run by the USGA. The only one of the four majors the PGA has any purview over is the PGA Championship.

[ieoeja]

21. The bottom line is: Augusta shouldn't be on that list. n/t

[Oilwellian]

25. The bottom line is...

the PGA is very much intertwined with the Masters. PGA players compete in it. There would be no Masters tournament without the PGA players. I'm not talking about who has control over the tournaments. I'm referring to who plays in them.

[MarianJack]

9. I guess I have a new favorite golfer!

PEACE!