Third-wheel syndrome? Not if your name's Bubba

SAN FRANCISCO - Bubba Watson may be a Masters champion now, but personality-wise, there's no mistaking that he's still a Bubba.

As one of the PGA Tour's longest hitters -- and one not always knowing where his long hits are going -- Watson would seem out of his element at the U.S. Open, particularly at the Olympic Club with its tight fairways, sloped greens and deep rough.

Green jacket or no, he doesn't necessarily disagree.

"Do I like it?" Watson said of the course earlier this week. "I'll tell you in a few days. I don't want to come out here and shoot 80. As of right now, I don't like it. There's an 80 lurking. After four days of golf, if there's not an 80, then I like it all right."

And that was just a warmup statement.

"I hope I don't hit too many people," he said a few minutes later. "I hope they forgive me if I do."

Whether he likes Olympic or not, Watson has become one of the most high-profile players in golf with his Masters victory, and if that wasn't obvious enough, it was underscored when the USGA matched him up in the same group with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson the first two days.

Here to win

Don't get the wrong impression. A lot of Watson's self-deprecating humor is just that. Deep down, beyond the Southern twang and the glib one-liners, he's a prideful, serious golfer.

And yes, even though he is 99th on the tour in driving accuracy (he's No. 1 in driving distance at 314.5 yards), he does believe he can win the Open.

"I believe I can the way I hit it," he said. "Obviously, everybody is going to have trouble hitting fairways and out of the rough. But I think with my length, with my so-called strength, I can hit irons out of the rough that people can't hit as far. If I can just putt ... it comes down to putting and chipping. Anytime in the U.S. Open, it's always short game."

This is Watson's sixth U.S. Open and his résumé is mixed: He has missed a pair of cuts, barely made the cut last year with a tie for 63rd at Congressional, but also finished fifth in 2007 at Oakmont, historically one of the Open's toughest layouts. He also tied for 18th at Bethpage Black in 2009, another beast.

"I always thought I was a complete player," Watson said. "The media sometimes thinks I'm the monkey that hits the ball a long ways. I have to keep doing things my way, and it comes to Bubba golf, I guess. But I always thought I could play."

He knows he'll have to dial it back a bit off the tee at Olympic, even though he took a decent try at reaching the 670-yard par-5 16th on Tuesday.

"I hit driver-driver and still had 60 yards to the front," he said. "And I hit two perfect shots."

Part-timer since the Masters

Watson's biggest challenge this week could be shaking off the rust. He's played only six competitive rounds since his Masters victory in early April. He finished tied for 18th at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans in late April and then missed the cut two weeks ago at the Memorial.

"Winning a Masters is great," he said. "But being a father is the best part. And being a better husband is a good part, too. It's been life- changing. Golf has been like the last thing. It's been a tough road getting back to golf, trying to get back to focusing on golf. Now after missing a cut a couple of weeks ago, I got mad enough and started practicing."

And while he joked about being the third wheel in the Woods-Mickelson grouping, it doesn't faze him.

"Obviously, it's going to be a little different -- no intimidation, though," he said. "I've played with those guys before, know them, they're good friends. Obviously, you have to step up your game. Everything is heightened a little bit."

And if things go badly this week?