Watson's 'Ellen' appearance everything he could hope for
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -- Bubba Watson can crank out 300-yard drives with the best of them. He plays on the PGA TOUR, for Pete's sake. Pink-shafted driver and all.
Put him in a chair on the set of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in front of a live studio audience, though, and Watson doesn't mind telling you that he was out of his comfort zone.
"I was very nervous," Watson acknowledged. "Hitting a golf ball is a lot easier than going and doing that."
The affable Floridian took time out from his preparations for the Northern Trust Open to made his talk show debut this week. The show was taped on Tuesday and aired across the nation on Wednesday.
"It was great," said Watson, who watched the show in his hotel room with Aaron Baddeley and his family. "It was a lot of fun. ... I loved every minute of it and I am grateful they let me go on the show."
DeGeneres is one of Watson's favorite entertainers. He playfully mounted a campaign to get on her show by posting videos on his Twitter account. He sang "Happy Birthday" to her in one and did trick shots in several others.
Eventually, the show's producers took notice. One of them called Watson last week to gauge what he'd be like as a guest. Two days later, the producer called back and told Watson they wanted him to appear this week. He was thrilled.
"She's funny and she loves giving to charity," Watson said. "I love giving to charity, too. So it's just one of those connections where I thought me and her would be kind of alike in certain aspects. So I wanted to go on the show, and why not? It's fun. I just made some goofy videos, and it worked."
Watson was the first guest. "So I was either going to ruin the show or make the show halfway decent," he said, smiling. And just as DeGeneres does, Watson made his entrance doing a little dance -- "Oh, is that what you call it?" Rod Pampling teased as he walked into the scorer's trailer on Monday.
DeGeneres showed one of the videos on the program. In it, Watson hit a wedge from inside a house he was renting, sending the ball across the pool and into a red bucket. He was successful on the second try.
"I'm so flattered," DeGeneres told him. "I've been hearing about you. My dad called me. Everybody's been telling me about all these videos you've been making. And you've made a lot of them."
"I did. I'm bored," Watson said, grinning.
DeGeneres asked Watson to talk about Peyton Brousseau, the youngster he met a year ago at the Bob Hope Classic. He signed a ball for the 7-year-old that day and told his parents he would bring a driver for Peyton, a lefty like Watson, this year. Not only did Watson remember, he gave the young boy an entire set of junior Ping clubs.
DeGeneres then told the audience that Watson wanted to help raise money for the Haitian relief effort. So the two went over to the side of the stage where three miniature golf holes awaited. A total of $5,000 was on the line for each ace -- but Watson quickly said that he planned to make the $15,000 donation no matter what happened.
The first hole was a straightaway, and both Watson and DeGeneres found the cup on the first try. They had to hit through a small house on the second -- Watson made his while DeGeneres didn't get past the front door.
The final hole was a sharp dogleg left where the ball had to be fed through a circular loop. Watson came within 2 inches of making that, too, and DeGeneres quickly tapped the ball into the cup, saying "You made it."
"I practiced it during rehearsal," Watson said. "It was man-made, real quick, so it wasn't level. It wasn't like we were putting on these greens out here (at Riviera). It was a little wobbly. But I got the first two to go in somehow and that second one, where you have to go through the house, it was impossible. I don't think I ever made it in rehearsal. The last one was the hardest one and I almost made that one, too."
All in all, Watson spent about three hours at the Burbank studio. After the rehearsal, "We ate some snacks, played some ping-pong behind the stage and then we had the show," he said.
Watson actually didn't meet DeGeneres until he went on stage for the first time. "I hugged her and we sat down," he recalled. "I was excited. I had a lot of stories to tell and a short time to say them."
They were able to talk more during a commercial break, though, and Watson gave DeGeneres a Ping staff bag and a full set of clubs.
"She was very nice, very nice," Watson said. "It wasn't like she was a Hollywood superstar. She was just a genuine person and it was nice to see that. I enjoyed every bit of that. It was nice to be able to say, hey, and I enjoy what you do."
And he took time for one last tweet. "I had great time on @TheEllenShow ! Thanks for everything! It was a dream come true! Ellen you are the BEST!! :-)
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