Bubba's star-spangled show

Bubba Watson is passionate about playing for the United States of America. Photo Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ieDavis Love might insist that the Ryder Cup is not a war but Masters champion Bubba Watson - son of a green beret - couldn’t resist.

“Well, it’s the United States flag,” he said when asked about his tears at the captain’s dinner on Tuesay and what’s motivating him this week.  “You know, the military, the military that wears our flag everywhere they go, they give us freedom to play golf, to play the Ryder Cup.

“So for me, I haven’t been in the military yet, unless there’s a draft I’m probably not going to be in the military.  So for me it’s the one chance I get to represent our country and hopefully represent our country well.  

“So the passion just comes from that; all the people that pull for me, cheer for me; even if people that don’t like me in the U.S., now they cheer for me in this one event.

“So looking forward to it, and that’s the passion.  It’s just the people that I’ve never met that keep fighting for our freedom; anytime you can represent them and hopefully hit some good shots for them.”

Famous for his own brand of ‘army golf’ - left, right, left, on the green - Watson tried hard not to stray from the straight and narrow in the media centra as the last of the 24 players to speak to the press.

Yet he insisted that understands the passion that fuels Ian Poulter who was criticised for saying that the wants to “kill” the players he calls friends for the other 51 weeks of the year.

Watson agrees that there’s nothing wrong with a bit of passion and he will be making no apologies for getting as animated as he did in Wales two years ago, when Jeff Overton holed out from the fairway in Sunday’s foursomes for the famous “boom baby” eagle.

“When it comes to a sport, whatever the sport is, you get emotional,” he said. “Sometimes you get really excited, and I don’t think it’s over the top, unless you go in their face, I guess.  

“Everybody makes fun of what me and Jeff Overton did in Wales. But our team was losing.  I think every part of our team was losing.  The other groups were losing….

“So it was just about trying to pump people up.  It wasn’t trying to show off.  We were losing every match; it wasn’t about showing the other team up.  

“It was just about trying to get everyone excited about the U.S.  Obviously it didn’t work, because we lost.  But that was my attempt to try to help.”

Dubbed ‘Blubba’ Watson for his propensity to shed a tear at the first opportunity, Watson knows he’ll have the waterworks going this week as he recalls his late father, who last saw him play during the 2010 Ryder Cup.

“I’m probably going to cry at some point this week because I just cry every week it seems like,” he confessed. “So there’s going to be good shots I’m going to cry about, there’s going to be bad shots I cry about, and hopefully I do everything in a respectful way.  

“No player out here from either team is trying to disrespect anybody, it’s just for the love of that little trophy that we want to win and we want to win for our countries.”