Bubba Watson Opens Up On Mental Health And Weight Loss Struggles

The two-time Masters champion struck a chord with his comments on Friday at the US Open

Bubba Watson Opens Up On Mental Health And Weight Loss Struggles

Mental health in sports is on the agenda right now after tennis star Naomi Osaki withdrew from the French Open and just this week Matthew Wolff returned to golf after taking time off to care for himself.

Mental health issues most likely affect most people, and one of those in recent years has been Bubba Watson.

Bubba opened up to the media after his second round at the US Open, where he revealed the effect of his weight loss and said he has spoken to Wolff this week with the young American making his return to the Tour.

“I was just sharing my own issues and struggles. Not that he wanted to hear it. He didn’t ask for my advice,” Bubba said of his 20-minute chat with Wolff.

“I love him. I love his family. I love his team. I love GG [Wolff’s coach George Gankas].

“So I was just talking to them and just shared that I’ve wasted money, I’ve saved money, I’ve bought businesses, sold businesses, I’ve lost 20, 30 pounds because of struggles.

“I said, I’ve done everything you’re thinking about, I’ve done it all. So I said, so if you ever want advice, just call me, and so that’s what I said.

“I was going to text him a few weeks ago, but I wanted to talk to him in person. That’s what I did. Obviously, he hasn’t called me. He did pretty good yesterday. He had eight birdies.

“No, I was just trying to give him my two cents. He didn’t ask for it, but I gave it to him anyway.

“Again, it’s probably more helpful to me than him just because I can hear it again in my own head, me saying it out loud, and I played pretty calm out there the last couple days. So I guess it did work out for me.”

Bubba said his low point was around 2015 when he began to lose weight, where he ultimately dropped 20-30 pounds.

“Losing all that weight was definitely my lowest point, and the things that we don’t talk about a lot is the people around us. They’re going through it too. Even though they don’t show it, they know I’m going through something,” the two-time Masters champion said.

“So my wife’s having to deal with my low point, but, yeah, I don’t know where the high is, but I’m definitely not at my lowest. So we’re heading in the right direction.

“Gosh, I can kind of pinpoint, probably started at ’15 at some point.

“But last time I checked my weight was in ’17. 162 was the last time I checked my weight. It could have been the end of ’16, could have been early ’17. I can’t put a pinpoint on it.

“I know for a fact it’s definitely started in ’15. It doesn’t happen overnight. Good play doesn’t happen overnight. Bad play doesn’t happen overnight. It’s all these things.

“So my low point happened probably — somewhere in ’15, I know for a fact it did when I look back at it.”

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