Community Corner

War Vet Makes Room For Bubba

Masters champ Bubba Watson is staying with Afghan war vet in Lloyd Harbor while playing in PGA event.

Bubba Watson has a Green Jacket, his own YouTube channel with 1.4 million subscribers and a carefree attitude better suited for the Jackass generation than country club gentility.

Watson, the eighth-ranked golfer in the world and reigning Masters champion, has made Huntington his home this week while he competes in The Barclays Tournament at .

What shouldn’t surprise anyone is that Watson, 33, is rooming this week with a former Air Force staff sergeant, thanks to his connection to the group Wounded Warriors. Nick Bradley, from Dallas, was injured by an IED in Afghanistan. Now he’s swapping stories with a sports celebrity.

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“I’m in awe of them,” Watson said Tuesday. “They’re in awe of me, but I’m really just watching them and learning from them about how much they fight for our freedoms not knowing who we are, not knowing anything about us. They’re out there taking bullets and dodging bullets for us to give us freedom to do what we do.”

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But the PGA star is also famous and wealthy, so accommodations are naturally five star – a Lloyd Harbor estate overlooking the Long Island Sound. 

And Watson, known for teeing off on just about anything, anywhere, has been up to his usual tricks. He posted two videos on Twitter showing him knocking golf balls off the back deck and then from inside the Lloyd Harbor home.

Watch Bubba let ‘er rip: Inside the home l On the deck

The homeowners, who are away, asked if Watson could snap a photo as proof he stayed there. After talking it over with Russ Holden, founder of Caddie for a Cure and the man who invited Watson to stay in the home, the golfer came up with a more novel way to capture his time in Lloyd Harbor. 

“I just said, why don’t we just hit balls off the deck into the [water]?” Watson said. “I can do it. [Holden] goes, ‘You don’t have much room.’” 

That didn’t stop Watson. No doubt the crowd at Bethpage Black will be looking for even more trick shots in the days ahead.

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