Former Georgia Bulldogs Golfer Bubba Watson Claims First PGA Tour Triumph

Despite my good faith efforts to wrap up the 2009-'10 academic year for Georgia athletics, I missed rather a significant one, as was called to my attention on Facebook and in the comments. I regret the oversight, and I now undertake to rectify the inadvertent omission; viz.:

Gerry "Bubba" Watson, who played for the Bulldogs' 2000 SEC championship golf team, carded his first PGA tour victory on the second playoff hole of the 2010 Travelers Championship, outlasting Scott Verplank for the emotional win. The teary-eyed Watson celebrated Sunday's triumph with his wife Angie, a former Georgia basketball player.

The left-handed Watson was down by six strokes before making his comeback and claiming the win with a three-foot putt. After five runner-up finishes on the pro golf tour, Watson expressed how much the victory meant to him during a trying time in which his father is undergoing treatment for cancer. The tournament championship earned Watson a bit more public notoriety than he his used to enjoying, as he received public accolades from Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin (who was eliminated on the first hole of the Travelers playoff) and from comedian and talk show host George Lopez.

The Red and Black may be struggling in team sports involving current collegians, but former Georgia student-athletes are acquitting themselves quite well lately in individual professional efforts.

Go 'Dawgs!