There is an age-old axiom in golf that a player is not to blame anyone or anything but himself for a poor shot.
That was apparently lost on Bubba Watson, the 17th-ranked player in the world and 2012 Masters champion, when he verbally undressed his caddie in front of CBS TV cameras on the 16th hole in Sunday’s final round of the Travelers Championship at TPC at River Highlands.
It was there where Watson — not his caddie, Ted Scott — lost the golf tournament, threw it away really, with a triple-bogey 6 on the par-3 over water. He ended up finishing fourth, four shots behind winner Ken Duke.
Watson had the tournament in his hands with a one-shot lead when he got to the 16th tee. First, while the ball was in the air, Watson barked about a wind gust sabotaging him. Then he proceeded to wear out Scott with some blame-game jawing picked up by the CBS microphones.
“Water, it’s in the water,’’ Watson snapped. “That club. Yes, the water.”
Watson was clearly blaming Scott for talking him into hitting 9-iron instead of 8-iron.
Then, after taking the drop about 125 yards from the hole, Watson blew the shot over the green into the rough and snapped to Scott, “So you’re telling me that’s the right yardage?”
After the triple, Watson, who won the 2010 Travelers, picked up his own golf bag — further showing up Scott in a way to suggest he’d be better off without him at all, muttering, “There’s just no reason for me to show up.’’
The reality obviously lost on Watson is this: Despite his immense raw talent, without the guiding help of Scott, Watson would not be the player he is and surely would not be a Masters champion.
When veteran PGA Tour caddie Ron Levin, currently on Erik Compton’s bag and having caddied for David Duval, Anthony Kim and Todd Hamilton — when he won the 2004 British Open — heard about the Watson-Scott exchange, it did not surprise him.
“Bubba is one of those guys that rationalizes everything that happens to him isn’t his fault,’’ Levin told The Post yesterday. “Some guys always have to make excuses for poor shots. For some reason it makes it right for them in their mind, justifies the reason the shot was not executed properly.
“With some players, like Bubba, it’s always, ‘The wind came up’ or ‘Someone moved.’ There are a million things, ways for them to rationalize it. Bubba probably knows it was a bad swing, but he rationalized it by tricking himself into thinking that it wasn’t, that he was given the wrong yardage or the wrong club.’’
Perhaps most remarkable about Watson’s immature public outburst is how insulting it was to Scott’s immense value to his success.
“Ted is a very calming influence on Bubba,’’ Levin said.
Players usually fire caddies, but in the case of this relationship, it was Scott who once threatened to walk away from Watson if he did not calm himself down and behave like a professional. Watson did just that, Scott stayed with him and they have prospered as a team.
It was three years ago at the Travelers Championship that Watson, after his first career win, said these words through tears: “When I first got out here, my problem was, ‘Why can’t I win? Why can’t I do this?’ My caddie stayed with me for four years even though I kept being mad and [upset] on the golf course.”
On Sunday, Scott took the arrow, telling PGATour.com, “I convinced him to hit the wrong club. I 100 percent take responsibility for it. It’s totally my fault. I got in the way of the painter on that one.”
Good for Scott for taking the high road. Shame on Watson for taking the low road.