Haaaay!! How ‘bout that Bubba boy from Bagdad?

He done won him a Green Jacket at the Masters on Easter Sunday. Hallelujah!!

Bubba beat up on Tiger, Phil, Rory and some dude from South Africa, wherever that is.

Bubba Watson isn’t cut from your normal PGA Tour golfer’s cloth.

Most pro athletes that make millions of dollars want to go out and buy Bentleys. Bubba? His prize ride is the General Lee 01. That was the souped-up hotrod used in the old television series, Dukes of Hazard.

Bubba spanks it off the tee with a Pink Ping driver. It may be pink all over, but it ain’t no sissy stick. He can hit it from Augusta National to downtown Bagdad with the wind behind him.

Bagdad is a dot on the map just off I-10 in North Florida. You could say it is a suburb of Milton. Bubba went to Milton High, as did fellow PGA Tour golfers, Heath Slocum and Boo Weekley. Another Milton High grad is former Titans defensive back Cortland Finnegan.

Bubba stands 6-foot-3. His wife is an inch taller. They just adopted an infant boy, Caleb, who is one lucky little tyke.

After Bubba beat South African Louis Oosthuizen on the second hole of sudden death, he hugged his mother . He cried like a baby and that’s OK. When you win a tournament that has meant so much to you since you taught yourself to play the game, my boys and me will allow you some man tears.

Bubba admitted during the Green Jacket ceremony to using the word, patrons, for the very first time. It’s what the folks at Augusta National call fans.

Bubba hugged everyone he could find. Some of the players in his weekly Bible study group stayed around to support Bubba in the playoff. Most players can’t wait to get out of there after their final round, but these guys were there for the group hug – Ben Crane, Rickie Fowler and Aaron Baddeley.

That speaks volumes about Bubba.

Bubba and Tiger share some things other than nicknames. Bubba bombs his driver almost 400 yards when he tags it, just like Tiger used to do when he wasn’t worried about changing caddies, swing coaches and mistresses.

Tiger’s father was a Green Beret Special Forces officer in Vietnam. So was Bubba’s father, Gerry. They are both dead now, but both were significant figures in their boys’ lives.

Earl started teaching Tiger how to play golf almost before he could walk. Bubba’s father showed his son how to grip the club and how to swing. Bubba took it from there and to this day, has never had a swing coach. He doesn’t have a sports psychologist. I doubt there are many of them in the Bagdad phone book.

Bubba plays Bubba golf. It’s wild as a drunken monkey at times. But when it all comes together, it’s magic.

Like the approach shot from the woods right of the 10^th fairway where he sprayed his drive. Bubba had a better chance of finding Easter eggs in those woods than his golf ball.

But there it was, sitting up in the pine straw. Bubba couldn’t see the flag. There was a tree blocking his path that he had to keep his shot under. He also had to put a hook spin on it and hope for the best.

Bubba’s a “go for it’’ player. It paid off Sunday, changing his life forever.

Contact Sports Columnist Joe Biddle at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .