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TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

June 22, 2018

Bubba Watson

Cromwell, Connecticut

BUBBA WATSON: Little bit less wind, little more confidence on the ball striking, and I made putts. The key is making putts. When you start making putts, that's where you're going to score a decent number.

Q. The eagle on 13, take us through that second shot, because you got it in there nice and tight there.
BUBBA WATSON: Yeah, it was like 232 downwind. So 209 to get over the green and over all the water, so it was just a perfect, solid 5-iron. It did exactly what we wanted it to do. We drew it up that way and somehow we pulled it off and it was an easy tap-in.

Q. Very few players have had more success in this event than Bubba Watson. Going into the weekend now, you've would be this twice, the fans love you here, great 63 in the second round. How are you feeling about Saturday and Sunday?
BUBBA WATSON: I feel good. Yesterday I didn't feel very good after that score. So today, backing it up and making some putts, shooting a good number, obviously I'm not too far out right now. You never know what's going to happen in the afternoon, but I don't think I'm going to be too far back. 36 holes to go, you can always make a push.

Q. That was one of the most fun rounds of golf I've seen in a long time. How did you feel you played?
BUBBA WATSON: Yeah, it was nice. You make a couple putts early, get the round going. I made a little mistake here and there, but all in all it was a great day, and then to finish with a birdie, a finish a strong finish in those last six holes was nice.

Q. All right, No. 2, you've got a TV tower or whatever that is, a cell tower and a tree in the way. Knew you were going to take a drop. Take us through what happened there.
BUBBA WATSON: Well, I looked at it, and I was on the left side -- well, the right side of whatever that tower was. So then I had to drop on the cart path. Then when I dropped on the cart path, I had to go even further to the right. So then the tree is in my way and the down slope. So I said lie is pretty good. As long as we get it over that camera, we're fine. So that's all I was trying to do is hit it as hard as I could and as high as I could.

Q. (Asking about socks).
BUBBA WATSON: No, actually, they do match. That's the way you buy them. The sad thing is, I'll show you mine. We have the same socks on today, so you can see they match, but the logo on the inside on the ankles.

Q. I stand corrected. I apologize.
BUBBA WATSON: Exactly. That's how (Indiscernible) does it. They change it up on everybody.

Q. You've won here multiple times, also Augusta and Riviera. When you go to those courses, how much more of a comfort factor is it for you?
BUBBA WATSON: Well, I mean, we pick our schedule based on what courses we like, what events we like because that course fits us. I really like Hilton Head, but I haven't played Hilton Head in years because of how difficult it is, small greens, and the way I shape the ball it would be -- I wouldn't say luck, but it would be really close to luck if I won that tournament.

So we've seen veterans, we've seen people around throughout the years have their schedule, and because the golf course fits them. So obviously around here I feel pretty comfortable. I can hit some shots around here, and I've made it work throughout some of the years.

Q. What was different from yesterday to today for you?
BUBBA WATSON: Mental focus. I had some -- I was just focused on the wrong things yesterday. I had some mental mistakes yesterday, and then I didn't make some putts. Today I started out hotter. I made a good shot on 11, our second hole, made the putt, making the eagle, making a solid par putt on 12, and then that freed me up a little bit. Gave me some confidence going into the next hole where I made the eagle.

So it was just a combination of better thinking and then making the putts. When you make putts, you can score on any golf course.

Q. It was just awareness, you raised your awareness?
BUBBA WATSON: On the mental?

Q. Yeah.
BUBBA WATSON: Is that what you're asking?

Q. Yeah.
BUBBA WATSON: So, yesterday I was just thinking about some negative stuff instead of focusing on my target and focusing on the shot at hand. I was focusing on -- I was focusing on hitting to the bunker, or focusing on water is over here so hit it over here. Just things like that. Just things that you can't do around the golf course.

You have to focus on the shot at hand and focus on your target, and then if it goes bad after that, at least you tried your best.

Q. How are you able to reset like that?
BUBBA WATSON: Just take it -- I wouldn't say a nap. It felt like a nap because I went to bed late. But wake up early. That's the beauty of golf, right? Even if the tournament ended yesterday, the following tournament, right, I'd be back at it. So it's one of those things where you can always re-do it. When the day's over, the day's over. I don't ever dwell on how bad it was the day before. I just focus on my shot, my first tee shot like I did on 10 today. I was ready to play.

Once I sign the scorecard, the day is over, so I could care less about that round. So today was all about trying to jump back up the leaderboard, so today I did.

Q. When you're playing well and in a moment and you're here, is it the same old feeling or is it different each time?
BUBBA WATSON: No, I mean, you have confidence around the golf course. Kind of like his question. For me, around here, I love it. We were talking about it today, it was crazy today at 9:30 in the morning the crowd around -- what was that? 15. 9:30 in the morning you had that big a crowd, Hartford, Travelers, they put on such a great tournament. When the fans come out like that, the volunteers, gosh, it just gives you energy. Then around a golf course that you've won at, you have some more confidence.

So just add it all up and you always feel like you have a chance around this place, and that's how I feel.

Q. Does it matter when you're in a group like that with major champions and big names? You obviously get the galleries when that happens. But does it help your game when you're playing with guys of that level?
BUBBA WATSON: Yeah, when a guy's playing well, you feel like you could feed off of it or you could learn from something, try something. So that's what you try to do is take some of their energy, use some of their energy when they're playing well. Yesterday those guys were playing great, and I couldn't do anything with it. I was just missing putts and wasn't focused right. Today was the opposite. It was just me that beat them today. We ended up around the same score.

But, yeah, you try to take some of it. When a guy's playing good, you try to see what he's doing, and walk with him and talk with him and try to get some of that to rub off on you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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