PHOENIX OPEN

Bordow: Bubba Watson wants fans to know he loves Phoenix Open

Scott Bordow
azcentral sports
Bubba Watson his his tee shot on the 16th hole during the second round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale on Friday, February 5, 2016.

It’s not easy to do the moonwalk in soft spikes but there was Bubba Watson Friday, trying to walk away from the ill-advised comments he made earlier in the week about the Tournament Players Club of Scottsdale.

If you’ll recall Watson took an innocuous question about the Waste Management Phoenix Open course and turned it into a bonfire. Asked what he liked about the layout, Watson replied, “I don’t like it. I’m not going to PC it. I don’t like it at all. I just mentioned why I’m here. I’ve got three beautiful sponsors that love it here.”

As you might imagine his words didn’t go over well. Watson was booed when he stepped onto the par-3 16th tee Thursday and there were reports Friday of fans heckling him and sometimes using words that one only hears on a golf course after a shank or three-putt.

RELATED: Waste Management Phoenix Open special section | Leaderboard | Friday's photos

It was natural, then, to wonder what Watson might say – or if he’d talk at all – after shooting a 2-under par 69, a round that went south a bit after two bogeys over his final four holes. After a couple of obligatory questions about his round and the wind Watson was asked how the crowd treated him.

The mea culpa flowed.

“The crowd has been good,” he said. “I will have to say, I have to apologize. I used the wrong words. I have nothing against the fans or the tournament. The fans have been great. I love coming here. I’ve lived here every winter for eight years. This is a beautiful place.”

Watson was just getting started.

“The reason I’m here is because of the excitement around this golf tournament,” he continued. “The fans have been great. I used words I shouldn’t have used. I didn’t explain myself well. My wife says that too when I go home. I don’t communicate very well.”

And . . .

“How can you not like the sun? For me, when 500,000 people come out and support the tournament how would you not want to be here? I’ve been here 10 years. The only year I wasn’t here was 2006 when I was a rookie because they didn’t give me a sponsor exemption.

“If you read my transcript from a couple of days ago my heart was in the right place. I just used the wrong words.”

No, what he did was foolishly express his opinion – thus making him a target for 500,000 fans. It’s an opinion he still holds, by the way.

“I’m not a fan of the golf course,” he reiterated Friday. “I’ve said that for 10 years. But I’m here for the excitement. How would you not be here to support the tournament that brings out the most people of any tournament we play in the world?”

Watson’s distaste for the TPC course is odd because he treats it as if it’s a pitch-and-putt in his back yard. He’s shot 36 straight rounds of par or better at the Phoenix Open, 31 of those rounds under par. You’d think he’d be in love with the place.

“It’s kind of like the U.S. Open,” Watson explained. “Sometimes you get the right bounces.”

Mark that down as the first time anyone has ever compared the U.S. Open to the Phoenix Open.

Watson’s criticism eventually will fade from memory. Heck, his birdie on No. 16 Thursday turned the jeers into cheers and he further endeared himself to the fans Friday when he handed out socks.

Yes, socks.

“They booed me and then they cheered me, so it was good,” he said.

Yeah, nothing like freebies to soothe the masses.

“Exactly,” Watson said. “Free stuff. Give me the free stuff I like you too.”

Ah, Bubba. One minute he’s maddening, the next he’s making everyone laugh. It would be wise, however, if he paid heed to an old bromide. It might help keep him out of trouble:

Some things are better left unsaid.

Reach Bordow at scott.bordow@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/sBordow. He can be reached at 602-448-8716.