Bubba Watson

Replacing Pro-Ams

Bubba Watson has made a PGA Tour career out of improvising, his creative shotmaking having won him 12 tour titles. It was natural, then, for the two-time Masters champ to think differently when seeing a void shortly after the tour’s return to golf from the three-month COVID-19 hiatus. With health/safety concerns forcing tournaments to go on without fans and Wednesday pro-ams being too risky, Watson pitched tour commissioner Jay Monahan and other officials the idea of an exhibition match among tour pros as an alternative to raise charity dollars. At the Rocket Mortgage Classic in July, Watson teamed with Harold Varner III in a friendly-but-spirited competition against Jason Day and Wesley Bryan. “It was a dream come true that they let me do it,” Watson said, helping bring in more than $1 million for the tournament’s digital-divide initiative (kicking in $25,000 himself). The televised nine-hole match was a hit, causing other tour events to adopt the model for their pre-tournament schedules—and raising millions more for their local charities.—Ryan Herrington