This week’s QBE Shootout is as “silly season” as it gets. Teams made up of two pros compete over four rounds at Tiburón Golf Club at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Fla. for a $3.4 million purse.
The teams play rounds of two-man scramble, modified alternate shot and four-ball (best ball) for the right to take home nearly $425,000 each.
Friday’s scramble showed corporate outing goers just how badly they’d get beaten by a team of Tour pros. Despite only having two players for each shot, there were three sub-60 scores on the par-72 layout, with the “worst” score being a 9-under par 63. Not too shabby. With all 12 teams within four strokes of one another, the tournament will definitely get some competitive juices flowing down the stretch.
On Day One, the team of Bubba Watson and Harold Varner shot a respectable score of 10-under par 62, but the biggest highlight came post-round when mid-interview, Watson’s phone rang.
The No. 4-ranked player in the world was vacationing in the Bahamas with his family following a T12 finish at the Hero World Classic. JT may or may not have had a little liquid courage flowing, but his FaceTime call definitely spiced up what was already a better-than-most post-round interview.
Unfortunately for entertained viewers, Watson’s agent, Jens Beck, either by coincidence or client preservation, called Bubba mid-conversation, knocking JT back to the Bahamas and ending Bubba and Varner’s interview.
