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‘Was a Struggle’: Bubba Watson Hurdled With ADHD Struggles Was Traversing on Thin Ice Before Recovery

Published 04/06/2024, 5:00 AM EDT

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USA Today via Reuters

Bubba Watson has been recognized for his jolly personality these days. At LIV Golf, he has become a brother to Matthew Wolff, who could not gel with his former team captain Brooks Koepka but now has found a better camaraderie with Watson. The 45-year-old has become a supporting captain and an entertaining golfer, and it can be assessed as his second nature.

However, what if you were told that it was not always the case for the 45-year-old? There was a time when Watson’s every step around the golf course was disparaged. While taking criticism from the golf world, his game was getting worse by the passing day, and this affected Watson’s mental health badly. Recently, the 2-time major winner revealed how it used to dictate his personality and how he came out of it to become a better person.

Bubba Watson shares how a bad day on course spikes his ADHD 

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Bubba Watson has won twelve times on the PGA Tour and triumphed in two Masters titles in his career. He has experienced how success tastes, but things have not always been sunshine and rainbows for Watson. Recently, in an interview with Today’s Golf, the 2-time major champion talked about his continued battle with his anxiety, which at one point was the reason for his dropping weight and lack of sleep.

Now, he shed more light on the subject and how golf affects it for the worse. He explained how ADHD and anxiety travel onto the course as well. Watson said, “You want to be perfect. I put worth on my golf, so if I shoot 80, I’m a bad person. If I shoot 65, I’m a great person.” Detailing his mental health issue, the 12-time PGA Tour winner said that these things would mess with his head.

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More so, as the chatter in the golf world would then say, “Bubba can’t do this or can’t do that.” For many years, Watson shared that he focused more on the bad that was written than the good. He described how he internalized it, saying, “I let that build and I would let my golf dictate who I was as a person. It was a struggle for years.”

USA Today via Reuters

However, it hasn’t been easy opening up about his flaws, but Watson isn’t ashamed of it. He proudly said, “I’ve done it, and I’m probably going to do it again at some point.” It has been an uphill journey for the 45-year-old to surpass his anxiety and manage his ADHD so that it doesn’t control his life. However, things don’t always turn out as planned and he went on to share the support he received from his family and friends.

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Bubba Watson thanks people supporting him through his mental health struggle

The struggle with ADHD and anxiety is some of what is under the control of Bubba Watson now. However, he revealed that at times, he may go back to the rabbit hole of doubting himself. Watson expressed, “You have relapses where you feel bad about yourself.” But through the relapses, he finds help from his loved ones.

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The Bagdad native, thanking his fate, said, “I’m lucky having a beautiful wife next to me and a team around me that can catch me and talk to me about things.” With their support, Watson gets back on the greens to play the best golf he can, despite whatever might be the result. At the age of 45, he is still learning to pass through his mental health struggle, and with a better plan, Watson will be heading into the 88th Masters to win it for the third time.

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Written by:

Khambe Huda Imran

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Huda Khambe is a Golf Writer for EssentiallySports. Growing up watching Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam bag one major after the other, Huda Khambe set herself on a path to becoming a sports writer early on. With a year of prior experience in writing, Huda now brings the greens to life with her unique insights on her favorite storylines, such as Jack Nicklaus's record rivalry with Tiger Woods and its impact on both stars.
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