19th Hole
Bubba Watson reveals his very strange pre-Masters Champions dinner routine

The build up to the 2023 Masters has begun.
- Related: Golf legend sounds off on ‘nutbag’ Phil Mickelson, ‘comical’ Cam Smith and ‘clown’ Sergio Garcia
In three weeks time. the great and the good of the golfing world will converge at Augusta National for the traditional first major of the year. And 2023 has added spice.
The famous 13th hole – Azalea – has been lengthened in an attempt to narrow the drive, and therefore the eagle opportunity, whilst there are even changes to the infamous par-3 course, the traditional pre-event jamboree with players bringing along wives and children to take control of the bag.
There is also the small matter of Augusta National permitting current LIV players into the event, stating that, “Each April, the Masters assembles the world’s leading golfers to compete for the Green Jacket and a place in history.” With the likes of Dustin Johnson and Cam Smith now allowed to play, this is the first time in 2023 that we will see a competition between the true world’s best.
The media will hype it, and the famous Masters dinner will also be the focus of attention, being a collection of defending champions that include players with diametrically opposing views on the PGA and LIV tours.
One of the jumpers to LIV was two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson.
He will be one of a few past champions to turn up at Augusta for the Masters Champions Dinner this year and, whilst the journos will be looking for something more interesting to write, he sees no bother. Furthermore, he’s looking forward to the dinner itself and meeting up with ex-caddy Ted Scott, on the bag for both major wins and now, ironically, helping Scottie Scheffler defend his green jacket.
At the press conference for this week’s LIV Golf Tuscon, Bubba told reporters that:
“I think it’s going to be great. I still talk to guys on the PGA TOUR. I still talk to people that work on staff at the PGA TOUR. It’s been amazing communicating with them.”
Contradicting popular thought, he continued, “I still reach out on their birthdays, reach out at Christmas. We still talk. I still watch and pull for my guys. So I can’t wait to get there because when you’re wearing the green jacket at the dinner, everything goes out the window. You know how blessed you are to be in that room and how thankful you are to be in that room. I’ve already talked to guys, and we can’t wait to hang out because I haven’t seen Ted Scott in a while.
Despite the Champions Dinner menus having golf fans salivating every year, Bubba then admitted a bizarre pre-dinner routine, that involves him eating multiple burritos before the meal.
I’ll give you a secret, normally I eat before, eat a couple burritos before I go to the dinner because I don’t know what they’re going to have. But when I saw his menu, definitely want the dessert and I definitely want a couple sliders. So yeah, I can’t wait. It’ll be fun.”
Bubba definitely marches to the beat of his own drum, but this year he won’t be missing out on Scotties’ delights.
Served in Honor of Mr. Scottie Scheffler. #themasters pic.twitter.com/AbpHBJ4MgN
— The Masters (@TheMasters) March 15, 2023
More from the 19th Hole
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
19th Hole
How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
19th Hole
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.