Watson gets back to having fun at Deutsche Bank Championship

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Bubba Watson is chasing his third victory of the 2011 season and the FedExCup lead.

NORTON, Mass. -- When Bubba Watson was growing up, he dreamed of winning golf tournaments, not winning over the media.

He stood over 10-footers on the practice green back home in Bagdad. Fla., and imagined a successful path to the hole meant a Green Jacket was in his future.

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He didn't envision traveling overseas to ply his trade and causing a bit of an international incident when he complained about French fans -- comments for which he later apologized.

The proud son of a Green Beret wanted to represent his country at the Presidents Cup, as he will in November, and the Ryder Cup, as he did last year. At the same time, he was secure enough to let his playful side show, wearing overalls and singing and dancing with the other "Golf Boys" in a video released earlier this year.

All the while, Watson has wanted to be the same old "Bubba from Bagdad" he's always been. The one with the home-spun charm, self-deprecating humor and somewhat surprising insight into what makes him tick.

So when Watson won three times in a span of 20 starts -- not to mention, lost in a playoff at last year's PGA Championship -- he wasn't completely prepared for the spotlight that attended his ascenion into the upper echelon of the game. Call it naïveté, if you want. But the fact is, Watson didn't handle things as well as he would have liked.

And since the third victory, a playoff win in New Orleans in May, the fun-loving, free-wheeling Watson has all but been missing in action. He hasn't finished higher than a tie for 21st in nine starts. At one point earlier this year, he led the FedExCup standings for five weeks, but after missing the cut at last week's Barclays, he dropped to No. 16.

Watson understands what happened and he's ready to make a change. Saturday's round of 7-under 64 that boosted him to the top of the 36-hole leaderboard at the Deutsche Bank Championship was a good indictation that he's learning to manage expectations and get back to doing what he does best.

"You win three times in less than a year, all the people are writing about you in the paper, you've got more fans, you've got a lot more friends, you've got a lot more family, you've got a lot more of everything," Watson said after his round, which left him at 10 under for the tournament. "For me, for being a simple guy like myself, it's not what I had the dream to do. I had the dream to play golf for a living, to win championships. ...

"You never dream about the other stuff that comes with it, how much energy it takes to play good golf every week. And that's the part that hit home with me, and I'm getting used to it."

Watson said there have been times this year that his energy level was so low he actually felt like he might be sick. The man who will candidly tell you he might have attention deficit disorder -- although he's never been tested -- has worked hard on maintaining his focus. At times that has been a drain on the psyche of the self-proclaimed goofball.

"I'm at a different stage of my life, more focused, more mental game, more preparation, all these things, and it just wears on you, and I had to get used to that," Watson said. "As a rookie I had to get used to everything else. So each year, each time you step up in the game, it's a different level, different expectations, different things that go with it.

"... I might go out and shoot 90 tomorrow, but I'm still learning. But it's in a process. Hopefully I'll play golf for a long time and be on TOUR for a long time, so I've got time to learn."

What Watson, who is steadfastly self-taught, has learned is that he plays his best golf when he's having fun like he did on Saturday at TPC Boston. He shrugged off that bogey at the 14th -- that hole "tricks my mind,' Watson said -- and reeled off five birdies in his next eight holes, then capped his round off with an eagle at No. 7 for the second day in a row.

"I don't think the physical game is the problem," Watson said. "When my mind is right, when I'm focused on what I'm doing, when I'm not bad mouthing myself on the golf course, you know, I'm playing pretty good golf.

"I'm just out there freewheeling it, having fun and focused on what I'm doing and not focused on what everybody else is doing. Not worrying about what the papers are going to say, not worried about what people are going to write about me on Twitter, So it's a learning process, and the mental part is my biggest struggle."

To ease that struggle, Waston has decided to turn off the Golf Channel -- although he loves to watch -- and stop reading the newspapers or checking out what people are saying online. One of the PGA TOUR's champion Tweeters, Watson knows he needs to stay true only to himself.

"I'm not going to watch or listen to anybody, because my game is built around fun and I want to just have fun with the game, and I don't like hearing that negative talk," he said.

Watson feels like his mind is in the right spot again, and he was once again relaxed and playful in his post-round news conference. Someone asked him if he wanted to chat about any famous Boston landmarks, alluding to the remarks that caused the furor earlier this year in France.

"There's a fence or something, isn't there, a green one?" Watson said with a grin and adding quickly, "I love the Yankees, sorry. They're all going to hate me anyways."

Don't bet on it. Not while Watson's having fun again -- on and off the course.