France on “ugly American tourist” alert
France was on “ugly American tourist” watch last week when Bubba Watson visited the country.
It took me by surprise to see bubba Watson’s name in the field for the Alstom Open de France and I figured he was getting to Europe early in the lead up to the British Open in a few weeks. It turns out he was there on a sponsors invitation and is now safely back home in the US after missing the cut and carrying on like a pork chop.
There is a myth that American golfers don’t travel. And when they do, they ‘travel like a bag of prawns on a hot day’. Bubba Watson has added a little more weight to the myth, after his antics in France.
“I just wanted to come to France, and just to experience a different culture, different lifestyle, different golf, different atmosphere”, Watson said before the week.
But Watson wasn’t liking the “different”.
“I think this might be the only time I play in Europe. I miss my home”, Watson tweeted after he’d declined interviews, photos and blamed poor security for his bad golf.
There were also reports he declined to share a courtesy car with another player, and then did his best to piss off locals describing the Eiffel Tower as “that big tower” and the Arc de Triomphe as “this arch I drove round in a circle”.
After missing the cut, he was asked if he may return some of his appearance fee. He told reporters he wasn’t paid anything and only playing because of his sponsors. Others have speculated he was paid $200,000 by sponsors.
He has copped huge criticism for his petulant behaviour, including the always vocal Christina Kim on Twitter. But the highlight for me came the way of Stuart Appleby.
Watson is due to play the Scandanavian Open after the British Open but Swedish Golf Online is not so such he’ll be in the field now.
Bubba Watson is due to be back in Australia later in the year and as Stuart Appleby mentioned, our security and phone rules are much more like the European Tour.
But Australia is a little more like America than Europe so he should like the place. Should we get a couple of Hooters restaurants set up just in case?
At least Bubba did say this stuff. I don’t like it when people lie to the media and don’t say what’s on their mind.
Hopefully he continues with his plans to travel the world. More US players need to do it.
Correct Jordan, maybe there might be more US Golfers in the top 10 if they got off their fat butts and wallets and got a passport and used it!
Travelling to other countries and moving amid a different culture is something that is not easy to do for many people hence they never travel. PGA tour golfers are well looked after and have became used to the service and crowds in the US. Europe is a very different place. Bubba made a few faux pas and will learn from this and bounce back I am sure.
Kevin,
World ranking points on the European Tour are huge nowadays and I agree with your point. It reminds me of Norman’s idea of a World Tour that promoted Finchem to create the so called WGC events that oddly enough are played the US.