Bubba Watson has apologised formally to French Open organisers for his terrible behaviour during the French Open in Versailles.
Watson went on ‘Twitter’ to first apologise but he has also emailed French Open Director, Giles Jourdan apologising.
Bubba Watson featured heavily in pre-event French Open publicity but gave little back but bad press. (Photo - www.golfbytourmiss.com)
The 32-year old American purposely went out of his way to be difficult from the time of arrival at the 2018 Ryder Cup host venue to the time he left with a pair of 74s, and a room full of European Tour caddies showed their collective dislikeness giving Bubba plenty of raspberries.
“If I offended anyone I apologize,” said Watson.
“It definitely wasn’t my intention. I played bad, not the fans or the tournaments fault, I hit the shots.
“Besides playing bad I had a great time, enjoyed seeing Paris & Versailles.
“I am home for a week, then British Open, Scandinavian Masters, Denmark and Schuco Open. Looking forward to it!”
Jourdan would not comment on the nature of the email from Watson but one would assume it was in a similar vein.
The surly attitude of the World No. 12 ranked Watson was in stark contrast to the Americans who have travelled to Europe this year including Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and more recently, Dustin Johnson.
Even Tiger Woods, who was criticised heavily for spitting on a green in Dubai, was courteous throughout the week agreeing to media requests and also delighting hundreds of children with a golf clinic.
Woods also went out of his way to meet three members of the Kabul Golf Club who were guests of the event.
Unfortunately, Watson did his fun-loving image much harm.
Even his fellow PGA Tour colleagues have slammed his behaviour with Aussie Stuart Appleby delivering Watson a right royal serve on ‘Twitter’.
“I’m not perfect all the time, but it’s not acceptable to come to another tour and show a lack of respect.
“It needs to be a learning experience that he can look back on and realise how good we have it on the US Tour.
“Appreciation is the key. We are pretty strict on camera/phones on US Tour. Rest of world is pretty lax, it’s just one of those things.
“In OZ (Australia) phone/cams are the norm.”
Appleby cited Mickelson’s recent trend in travelling to play more around the world including the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship earlier this year as well as the Barclay’s Singapore Open and HSBC Champions event he won in back-to-back in 2008 and 2009.
“A player that always displays an understanding of the game is Phil M,” said Appleby.
“He’s a left hander so we know they can do it It’s just a maturity thing.”
Let’s hope that before Watson travels to Stockholm he brushes up a bit on the history of the Swedish capital, and exhibits a better behaviour than that witnessed here in France.
