Monday, July 4, 2011

American golfer Bubba Watson

American golfer Bubba Watson missed the cut Friday at the French Open, suggesting fan behavior and poor security contributed to his disappointing performance. Watson shot a 3-over 74 in the second round for a 6-over 148 total on the Albatross course. "It's not a normal tournament," Watson said. "There's cameras, there's phones, there's everything. There's no security. I don't know which holes to walk through. There's no ropes." Watson has won two titles this year but rarely plays in Europe. He was apparently affected by the permissive culture in France that allows spectators to snap photos and record videos during play. "I'm not used to that," Watson said. "I'm not saying it's bad. It's just something I'm not used to, I'm not comfortable with. It's very strange to me. Just very uncomfortable." He complained that the rules were not respected by the fans. "Every tee says 'no phones, no video cameras' and on every tee there's hundreds," Watson said. Tournament director David Probyn was disappointed for Watson but hopes that he will come back, saying the player would be welcome. "It's a shame Bubba has felt that way," Probyn said. "I'm absolutely sure that other players have been put off by it ... but I haven't had any other complaint this week." Probyn disagreed with Watson's comments on security issues. However, he acknowledged the culture on the European Tour was different from its American counterpart.

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