Bubba On His Peer Pressures: "I need to improve as a man."

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An ESPN.com survey noted that Bubba is not the most popular player on the tour and may need some non-PGA Tour assistance if he were to be walking down a dark alley.

Bubba was asked about this during his Tuesday Masters press conference. Very well handled by the two-time champion despite the best efforts of the ByTheMinuteGolf's senior Augusta Correspondent to get him to crack:

Q.  I was reading this morning about how you had written a check for the school and all that which is great publicity.  Did you see the survey on ESPN yesterday?

BUBBA WATSON:  No, I didn't.  I take that back, I heard about it because I did an interview ‑‑ I'm playing in China next week, so I did an interview for the China tournament and they asked me about it.

Q.  What do you think about when you read about that stuff?  On a scale of 1 to 10, how much does it irritate you, that kind of publicity?

BUBBA WATSON:  Here is the way I take it.  I take it as I need to improve as a man.  I take it with pride.  I need to get better.  And I think over my career, since my rookie season to now, I've gotten better.  But obviously there's more room for me to improve as a man.  And so hopefully next year or the year after, it improves.  It's a challenge.  It's great.  I'm glad that it came out and it's going to help me improve.

So if it's a bad thing and people don't like me, then I've got to improve and prove them wrong.

Q.  Do you get any sense of this in the locker room at all?

BUBBA WATSON:  No.  I had the same question asked to me, so I answered that question.  I put my name on there to, because I'm not going to call out anybody, there's nobody I dislike on Tour.  I dislike them if they beat me, but I don't dislike them as a person.  So I put my own name down there.  So one of those names were me; I wrote it down myself.

Q.  If you were being beaten up ‑‑
BUBBA WATSON:  Obviously, I've never been in a fight in my life, so if I was in a fight, it was my fault.  I caused somebody to get angry.  So yeah, I wouldn't help myself either.

Q.  Does this stuff irritate you at all?
BUBBA WATSON:  No, it helps me improve.  So I don't know which way I would go with that, but it helps me improve as a person.

I've had some mess‑ups on Tour, and I think I've improved in those areas and I'm trying to get better.  That's all I can do.  I'm glad people that call me out when they do; that's the only way I can get better.  If I don't know about it, then I can't improve.

Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN.com defends Bubba post-parking lot revelation. Sort of.

Can he be a bit of a hick, a goof? Do you sometimes wonder if his visor is impeding blood flow to his brain? Yes ... and yes.

But I've seen him talk about the joys of being a father and watched as his tears of pride unashamedly flowed. I've seen him at North Berwick Golf Course in Scotland, where he had a smile as wide as the fairways as he played a goof-around 18 holes with his buddies. I've heard him gush with excitement as he explained why the third round of the 2008 U.S. Open was the most fun he has ever had watching a tournament on TV (he had bet his wife that Tiger Woods would eagle the par-5 13th hole at Torrey Pines, birdie the par-4 17th and eagle the par-5 18th to move into first place -- and Woods did exactly that).

And yes, I've seen and heard Watson do dumb things, but he almost always publicly acknowledges his dumbness. It's as much a Bubba tradition as his pink driver.

A Good Friday For Tiger To Make A Masters Decision

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It's one of those stars-aligning types of Friday news dumps, with Good Friday meaning many are not in front of computers or scanning Twitter. And a perfect time for Tiger Woods to issue his long-awaited 2015 Masters decision.

Waiting until the weekend to announce his intentions means overshadowing Sunday's Drive, Chip and Putt or the two significant professional events being played in Houston and Rancho Mirage.

The decision sounds like a fairly uncomplicated one if the wedge theatrics are still happening. And as Jim McCabe reports for Golfweek.com, they did during Tiger's Tuesday practice round at Augusta National.

Playing with two members, Woods did make five birdies, but there had to be plenty of lowlights because the source said Woods shot 2-over 74 and that he did hit several indifferent chips, including one that went through the green and into a bunker.

Tiger Getting $16.5 Million For Two China Design Projects?

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That's what Josh Sens at golf.com says.

The funniest part? The developer, Pacific Links International, confirms and even produces a boilerplate quote from Woods. And Tiger's spokesman Glenn Greenspan? No comment.

Asked about the Beijing project, Tiger spokesman Glenn Greenspan said that Woods had nothing to announce at the moment.

But in a statement provided to Golf.com by Pacific Links, Woods is quoted as saying, “We strongly believe this course will stand the test of time and be one of the most prestigious courses in China, and even Asia.”

Pacific Links executives did not respond to questions about the financial terms of the deal.

It's still illegal to build a "golf course" in China where construction has been in full stop mode according to Dan Washburn (and others who, so maybe Team Tiger is just trying to avoid being seen as breaking the law?