Bubba Watson is well placed to speak on issues both on the LIV Golf and PGA Tour side of things and he’s now dabbling into the world of announcing as well.
Watson was on hand at The Showdown last December to make some calls and he won praise for his efforts. Along with players like Kevin Kisner and Smylie Kaufman, Watson looks like being among a cluster of former players looking to move into the analyst role.
Of course, Watson is still very much an active player as well and now on the LIV tour, his schedule allows for those extra dates to do commentary.
For many, the whole idea of LIV Golf is to bring a new slant to the game and speaking about comparisons with the PGA Tour and LIV, Watson has highlighted something he feels the TOUR has always missed.
Bubba Watson shares what the PGA Tour is missing as a product
Watson has been speaking in a wide ranging interview for Golf.com and got onto this delve into the commentary world.
And according to Watson, he’s trying to bring the positivity he feels the PGA Tour lacks.
“Truthfully what it is is that I am having fun right now. My wife is letting me have fun, my kids are enjoying it. They are letting me have fun. My options are always open,” Watson admitted.
“If you say I am a golfer then you are limiting who Bubba is. So for me the one thing I think we miss on the Tour is positivity, on the PGA Tour – when I was on the PGA Tour I think we missed positivity. So when you hit a shot or Scottie hits a shot or Rory hits a shot or Bryson or Brooks, I want to bring positivity to it or bring a light to their light.
“I feel like I have the wit or the intelligence to do that in a positive way and call the shots. Am I any good at it? No. I am just telling you what I think. I don’t re-watch a replay, I don’t know what anybody says about me or what Twitter world says about me. But that is my goal. To be there for that. They didn’t pay me to show up at the Showdown, they paid for my hotel room. I just want to see that world. I want to see and learn it.”
Adding further depth to why he feels LIV has been good for him, Watson looked back on his last knee surgery as a prime example.
“LIV let me do five events when I had knee surgery, when I first signed up with LIV. They let me do five events as I was rehabbing. I enjoyed it, I saw a different world of golf because you see the 2000 people behind the scenes that nobody sees on TV who are making the magic. You don’t know that, you are just playing a golf tournament. You don’t think about all the other stuff that happens, so I saw that for the first time and it’s an eye opener for me.
“I enjoyed it. I don’t like the guy who has to take notes and sit for five hours in front of a screen with a jacket on. I wouldn’t want to be in the booth, I would rather be out on the course.”
Golfers who stepped into the commentary booth
As in most sports, one of the natural progressions is moving into the boot as either an analyst of lead commentator.
As mentioned, Smylie Kaufman and Kevin Kisner have done so, while in the UK, the likes of Dame Laura Davies, Nick Faldo and Andrew Coltart are regulars in the box.
However, more big names have dabbled, with the biggest being the likes of Peter Alliss and Johnny Miller.
In more recent times, Trevor Immelman has had a go, while we’re seeing more and more current players – like Justin Thomas and Tiger Woods for example – step into the booth while a tournament is happening to offer unique insight.
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