Inside Bubba's insane six-hole stretch at LIV Golf UK 

During the final round of LIV Golf UK by JCB, it looked as if Joaquin Niemann was going to run away with the tournament. The Torque GC captain eventually captured his fifth victory of the season, but Bubba Watson made things interesting and provided one of the most exciting six-hole stretches in LIV Golf history.

The RangeGoats GC captain and two-time Masters champion stood on the ninth tee at 8 under, trailing Niemann by six shots. The past few years have been a grind for Watson. He had knee surgery in 2022, followed by a grueling recovery. The injury coupled with the inevitability of Father Time had limited him to just one top-10 finish across the 2023 and 2024 LIV Golf seasons combined: a T8 at LIV Golf Tulsa in 2023. Yet, the 2025 version of Watson was revitalized, armed with three top-14 finishes already this season and up to the challenge of giving Niemann a run for his money.

Watson hit a dart inside 4 feet on the 151-yard par-3 9th and drained the birdie putt with his mallet putter, which is new to him this season. The birdie moved him to 9 under.

The 632-yard par-5 10th is where Watson’s signature creativity took center stage. After a 283-yard drive, he pulled his pink Ping G430 LST driver again for his second shot, a driver-off-the-deck. The ball was struck brilliantly and traveled 320 yards, rolling up onto the putting surface, inside 5 feet from the cup.

“You know, it’s almost like you black out, right? You’re so focused on what you’re doing,” Watson said after his round. “You’re not really thinking about catching [Niemann]. You’re thinking about these other guys making birdies and trying to stay up there and get second place.” He sank the eagle putt to get to 11 under, and Niemann’s lead shrank to four.

The 399-yard par-4 11th, a tight dogleg right, played to Watson's strengths. He shaped a high looping fade off the tee that traveled 268 yards, taking on the danger of the hole’s right side in exchange for a 98-yard approach shot into the green. His aggressive drive paid off, giving him the chance to spin a wedge back to 2-1 /2 feet. He tapped in the birdie putt, pushing him to 12 under. On the short, 324-yard par-4 12th, he laid up 215 yards with an iron, leaving him 106 yards to the pin. He put the wedge shot inside 7 feet and sunk yet another birdie putt.

The 639-yard par-5 13th saw Watson double down on his bold driver-off-the-deck decision. He started the hole with a 296-yard drive. This time, the approach shot from 288 yards flew onto the green and remarkably stopped on a dime, leaving an eagle putt from 20 feet, 5 inches. The ball tracked perfectly and fell into the cup, igniting one of the biggest roars JCB had seen all week. At 15 under, he was now only two shots back.

“When that stretch happens, you’re just kind of unconscious, right?” he reflected. “You’re hitting shots – like I hit this beautiful driver off the deck. Can’t see where it goes, but must have hit the downslope to roll up onto the green to four feet, five feet… And then eagle on 13, right? No, it was one of those moments, hour-long stretch, that was unbelievable. I couldn’t draw it up that good.”

As he walked to the par-3 14th, the voice at the raucous party hole boomed over the microphone, proclaiming Bubba was on a “historic run.”

Niemann, later reflecting on his competitor’s charge, said, “I mean, I birdied five or six holes in a row before. Not with these eagles, not under this kind of pressure, this kind of golf course. Walking to 14 when he says the next group is coming and says he’s on a historic run, I didn’t – you don’t think about it until you hear it. You hear it and he’s like, you know, birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie, eagle, and then I birdied that hole, right? So it was just like, yeah, just crazy, like chaos.”

Watson's tee shot on 14 landed 20 feet from the pin, and he nailed the tricky downhill putt for birdie, pushing him to 16 under. “Throwing in the eagles with two drivers off the deck was pretty special, pretty spectacular,” Niemann added. “Birdieing those many holes in a row is one thing. Doing it with a couple eagles in there was pretty crazy.”

In six holes, Watson had gone 8-under with four birdies and two eagles.

Watson’ historic run would come to an end of the par-4 15th. His approach found a greenside bunker, and his recovery left a tough par putt that lipped out, resulting in a bogey that dropped him to 15-under.

Watson would par his remaining three holes, finishing at 15 under for solo second, three shots behind Niemann’s winning 18 under. “If he stumbles somehow, but you don’t see it because he’s playing so good,” Watson said of Niemann’s lead. Instead, Watson had to be satisfied with his first podium result in 37 regular-season starts on LIV Golf. “A good place to finish,” he said

As Watson walked off the 18th green, the crowd gave him a well-deserved standing ovation. His six-hole stretch had stolen the show. “Then you walk away and you’re like holy— I looked at the leaderboard and I saw I was 4 under going into 13. I was like, I thought I was over par a second ago. Oh, my gosh. So, you don’t realize what’s going on,” Watson recalled, still visibly stunned by the insane birdie and eagle run.

Although he didn’t catch Niemann, he’d turned back the clock, proving at his best he can still go toe-to-toe with LIV Golf’s elite, in-their-prime talent. The JCB crowd and golf world walked away knowing they’d witnessed something incredible: a chaotic, spectacular hour-long stretch that gave Watson his best finish on LIV Golf, redefining his already impressive 2025 season.