[IMAGE: Jason Butler]
Bubba Watson is near the top of a leaderboard for the first time in a while. Helping him sit in third place after three rounds of the Asian Tour’s Indonesian Masters was an ace on the 11th hole at Royale Jakarta Golf Club that he collected on his way to shooting 65.
“It was a perfect pitching wedge,” Watson said. He’s at 14-under-par total, seven shots behind leader Richard T. Lee. Ahmad Baig is in second place, one ahead of Watson.
Better yet, a needy family will receive a new home. Actually, three homes will be built.
Habitat Humanity Indonesia will donate one house this week for each ace. Watson’s ace counts as one, then he announced after the round that he would personally donate another home. In the group after Watson, Phachara Khongwatmai aced the same 154-yard, 11th hole.
Watch the aces from Bubba Watson and Phachara Khongwatmai here:
“The game of golf has helped tremendously around the world through all the charities that golf has brought to the table, so to be a part of that, it’s very special,” Watson said. “It’s an honour. There’ll be a couple families that will be helped out.”
Watson, 45, has not played well this season on the LIV Golf circuit, finishing 53rd in the league’s individual standings. His best finish of the year was a 15th-place tie at the season’s second event. His last victory came in 2018 at the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship.
Watson’s LIV positioning, even though he’s the captain of his Range Goats team, means that he’s in what the league calls the relegation zone, meaning he is in jeopardy of getting dropped from the roster. Playing in the Indonesian Masters, which is an International Series event and backed by LIV Golf, is a way of earning good will in an effort to remain in charge of his team.
The leader Lee, a Canadian, opened with a first-round 62 that included seven birdies, two eagles and a bogey. He shot a second-round 67 despite playing his last two holes in three over par and on Saturday, recorded a clean, bogey-free 66 with six birdies.
