AUGUSTA, Ga. — Bubba Watson is handling August National this week a lot better than he handled defending his Masters championship a year ago.
If it is possible to be hung over without having been drunk, Watson was hung over at last year’s Masters as the defending champion. The spoils and responsibilities that were a by-product of his 2012 Masters victory were too much for him to handle as he defended his green jacket by finishing in a tie for 50th in 2013.
Through the first two rounds of the 78th Masters this week, though, Watson has looked like a different player than he was a year ago.
The way in which he effortlessly maneuvered his way around the treachery Augusta National presents — particularly in Friday’s blustery wind conditions — resulted in Watson taking a three-shot lead into the weekend at 7-under par.
A day after he was the only player in the field to play a bogey-free round (69), Watson shot 4-under 68 on Friday to take that three-shot lead over Australian John Senden (4-under). He is four shots clear of defending-champion Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Thomas Bjorn and Jonas Blixt, all of whom are 3-under.
Watson said he finds this year “easier’’ than last year as the defending champion.
“I was in awe when I was a champion,’’ he said. “The Champions Dinner [held annually on the Tuesday night of tournament week] was not about me. I could enjoy Champions Dinner this time and listen to some of the stories. This year I got to be just a bystander, one of the guys.
“The media attention is on the defending champion. You’re asked all these questions: ‘Can you defend? How are you going to play? How are you going to do this? You have to give up the green jacket. You have to give it back to them.’ So there’s a lot of things going on. I didn’t know how to handle it the best way, and so I didn’t play my best golf last year.’’
Watson said he was “still celebrating my green jacket’’ last year.
“If you had one, you would celebrate it for a year or two,’’ he joked to a reporter.
“I’d never been drunk before, but [I had] a hangover from the green jacket,’’ he said.
A year later, having played 36 holes with just two bogeys, Watson looked as if he were playing a different golf course than the rest of the field.
“This place was built for him. I don’t see him backing up,’’ Kevin Stadler said.
“You look at Bubba’s play and it definitely sets a standard in your head,’’ Justin Rose said. “If someone comes out and plays an amazing week, that’s hard to beat. To make only two bogeys in 36 holes is hard to do around here. If you are a Masters champion, you have so much more belief and confidence in yourself to do it again.
“If you had to script it, you would rather it be somebody else [other] than a major or a Masters champion up there, so that’s definitely going to be a big help for him on the weekend.’’
That confidence and belief was not with Watson a year ago, when he seemed to be intimidated by his status as Masters champion.
His only real hiccup in the second round this week was missing a par putt from inside six feet on the 18th.
With Watson still out on the course, when someone asked Matt Kuchar if he thought anyone would “run away’’ with the tournament, Kuchar said: “Bubba Watson certainly has the potential around here. He could start giving himself a little distance.’’
And so he did.
Watson carded five consecutive birdies on the back nine — Nos. 12 through 16. That charge gave him a four-shot lead at the time at 8-under — four clear of the pack at the time.
“He’s dominating the course with his length and just leaving it in the right spots,’’ said Luke Donald, who played the first two rounds with Watson. “He’s hardly missed a shot the last couple days. When he’s controlling his ball as well as he is right now, it’s going to be tough to catch him if he keeps playing like that.’’