After Bubba Watson finished the final round at the Transitions Championship, he ran into a PGA Tour media official in the locker room. “I need your help,” said Bubba. “I want to do my part. I want to give you a check for $50,000.” Of course, the generous gesture is a donation to help the relief effort for the victims of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Bubba asked who to make it out to and then went to ask Angie, his wife, to get the checkbook from their car. A few minutes later, Bubba walked in the media room and handed the media official a check (I actually have a picture of the check — which I thought would be cool to post — but the big, bad Tour police says they’ll bash my head if I do).
The Watsons are among a handful or so of players (at least that the Tour is aware of), pledging their support of the relief effort.
On Wednesday Ryuji Imada put a handwritten note in every player’s locker, saying he was planning to donate $1,000 for every birdie at the Transitions and encouraged his fellow competitors to join him.
The following day, K.J. Choi pledged $100,000 to the American Red Cross.
Several other players joined Imada in donating per birdie. Brandt Snedeker pledged $500 per birdie, who has 15 with four holes to play, and his sponsor Bridgestone will also make a contribution.
Bobby Gates also said he’d donate $250 per birdie and he finished the tournament with 12.
Other players who have inquired about making contributions include Joe Durant, Mark Wilson, Vijay Singh and David Duval — they plan on donating via the PGA Tour Charities website.
(AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
March 20th, 2011 on 7:51 pm
I hope Harrington starts to donate $1,000 per birdie to restart the Irish economy; we really need that $2,000 per week.
March 20th, 2011 on 8:36 pm
So does this mean you take back your snarky comment from last weeks Confidential?
March 21st, 2011 on 12:09 am
I’ll co-sign jb’s comment above.
March 21st, 2011 on 12:20 am
No, I don’t take back my “snarky” comment. He wins points with his incredible generosity, but it’s actually interesting what he was complaining about before he made the donation. That was off the record, though, so I’ll leave it at that.
March 21st, 2011 on 6:37 am
Great to see these guys doing their part. Hopefully a lot more tour players will jump on board now.
March 21st, 2011 on 10:19 am
it’s too bad that imada didn’t make any birdies before getting cut.
March 21st, 2011 on 11:20 am
Interesting that Bubba was complaining about anything. Seems like the most care-free guy in the world. Never heard any media member say a negative thing about him.
I’ll remove my cosign from above. Perhaps it wasn’t snarky so much as it was difficult to understand without details.
March 21st, 2011 on 11:33 am
I’ve heard a couple of things, indicating that off camera Bubba can be difficult. Shrug. EVERYONE has their good points/bad points, good side, bad side etc. How much of each side gets reported often has to do with their relationship with the media, how famous they are, and for what (and how good their publicist is).
March 21st, 2011 on 7:08 pm
Speaking of generous people, let’s not forget Mr. Sheen. He’s charging a minimum of $500 a ticket for his Stream of Unconscious tour. He is giving $1 for every ticket bought to the Japanese relief efforts. That’s 100 pennies. That’s 20 nickels. Anyway you cut it, he’s stepping up big time.