There are few more eccentric folks in professional golf than Bubba Watson. So was it really a surprise to see him wearing a blue golf glove during his Ryder Cup press conference on Wednesday?
Watson’s explanation for his unusual choice of attire – seriously who wears a golf glove in a press conference – created its own bit of intrigue. According to Bubba, at team events this week, the American players are challenging one another to do something for the amusement of the group. Watson’s offer the previous evening: “I said I’ve got to wear my glove the whole interviews. So I’m doing it.”
Asked to elaborate, Watson noted: “Got to have something to do. Golf gets boring after awhile. It’s a long year, we’re all tired. … Just being dumb with the team. It’s like there’s a certain guy, I’m not going to say who, had to say certain words in their interviews. Who knows if they said them.”
With Watson being the third of four Americans in the interview room on Wednesday, he had some media members sifting through their notebooks to try to figure out which “words” his predecessors, Webb Simpson and Justin Thomas, might have been put up to saying by their team.
Intrepid reporters then asked Jordan Spieth, the clean-up hitter on the US side meeting with the media, to elaborate on who put Watson up to the glove gag and what were his special interview words. A bewildered Spieth struggled with an answer.
“I don’t even know anything about it,” Spieth said. “He just was in the locker room and said, ‘I think I’m going to wear my glove in media.’ Is there something else?”
Hold on Jordan. We’re the ones asking the questions.
And here goes: Were you given any special words to say to the press?
“I don’t think so. … My agent is not even in Europe, so I’ve got nobody in my ear. I have Zach Johnson in my ear. That’s about it.”
So either Bubba is pulling a fast one on the media (if so, well played) or Spieth is doing a great job of protecting the secret wishes of the team.
