Gerry Watson Jr. plays golf with the style and sophistication of a Savile Row suit. He is careful and precise, calculating, an actuary with above-average length off the tee.
Gerry Golf is a lovely thing — hit fairway, hit green, make a putt here and there and move on before trouble has time to find you. It is the class of golf currently ruling the Masters and has lifted the 7-under-par Gerry Watson Jr. to a handsome lead at halftime.
The world has lined up behind him entering the weekend.
At 4 under, three back, is an Australian, but not the one you suspect. Low Aussie is John Senden. But defending champion Adam Scott rallied nicely from a front-side 39 on Friday, salvaging a 72 for the day and a position just one shot south of Senden.
Then comes a Dane — Thomas Bjorn, four back. Then a Swede — Jonas Blixt, also at 3 under. Then 54-year-old Fred Couples, 2 under, so cool he must be from Iceland.
You more likely know the leader by his nickname Bubba, the down-home nom-de-municipal-course he brought with him from Bagdad, Fla., when he won the 2012 Masters.
How they loved Bubba Watson here then, the fans serenading the former Georgia Bulldog’s playoff victory with some much-appreciated barking.
But now they have someone playing more like a Gerry Jr., a guy who might more appropriately be recognized with the standard polite golf clap. Because Gerry tries to shut out things. “The roars are good. But if you watched me through the last two holes, I kept my head down just so I don’t get pumped up, just to stay focused on what I’m doing and committed to what I’m doing,” he said.
Bubba won two years ago with a daring, dynamic, bending shot out of the trees in his sudden-death playoff with Louis Oosthuizen.
Gerry Jr. brought to this year’s tournament a game plan designed to eliminate just those kinds of desperate rescues. If he has his way, he’ll never hear the crunch of pine needles beneath his golf shoes again. He wasn’t quite so accurate as Thursday, when he hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation, but was plenty good enough to go on a birdie binge on holes 12-16.
“Five on the spin (British for ‘in a row’), did he, on the back?” Justin Rose wondered. “That’s what this course can do for you, and he took advantage of any possible opportunity there. He is that great a golfer. I think he’s only made two bogeys in 36 holes (both on Friday) and that’s hard to do around here.”
This was Bubba in 2012: “I attack. I always attack. I don’t like to go to the center of the greens. I want to hit the incredible shot. Who doesn’t? That’s why we play the game of golf, to pull off the amazing shot.”
This is Gerry Jr. today: “It’s not a science. If you’re hitting greens, obviously you’re not going to be in the trees that many times.
“I missed two greens yesterday, missed a few more today with the conditions a little tougher, but my tee shots are pretty good.”
Bubba is the National Enquirer. Gerry Jr. is the Wall Street Journal.
Bubba is Red Bull. Gerry Jr. herbal tea.
Bubba owns the Dukes of Hazzard car (he really does). Gerry Jr. must be a hybrid guy.
Call him whatever you will, but Watson is the steady standard in these parts right now. He was the last man in the field to suffer a bogey or worse — on his 27th hole of the tournament. He then made the turn and turned it on.
At the par-3 12th he hit it to three feet. A routine two-putt birdie on No. 13. Canned a 40-footer for birdie on 14. Chipped to four feet from back-right of the green on the par-5 15th to three feet. Then almost aced the par-3 16th, the ball just trickling past the hole, prompting Watson to chew on the shaft of his iron in mock frustration.
Beware, the man with all the shots who seems to have an understanding with his putter. He needed only 26 putts Friday, seventh-best in the field. “After nine years of missing them all, I’m starting to make a few now,” he joked.
Meanwhile, first-round leader Bill Haas entered Amen Corner (Nos. 11-12-13) and was never seen again. He went 4 over on that three-hole stretch on his way to a 78. He took the express from first place to a tie for 26th.
At least he’ll have the opportunity to come back for the weekend.
Most notably not making the cut in a tournament already without Tiger Woods was the game’s other big personality, Phil Mickelson. He shot 73 on Friday, 149 for the two rounds, missing the cut by a skinny stroke. He’ll miss only his second weekend in 22 Masters appearances (the other one in 1997).
Other still-competitive former Masters champions to miss the cut: Charl Schwartzel (149) and Zach Johnson (150).
For the survivors, the prospect of chasing Watson gets a little more complicated so long as he serves his inner Gerry Jr.
But they know enough to concede nothing when the weekend arrives, and the heat melts even the best of intentions. “I still think if you’re playing, you got a chance,” Scott said.
It does bear mention that Bubba Watson has had a 36-hole lead eight times in his professional life. He won once.
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