Watson a fan of Ellen, Twitter, connecting with fans

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Jan. 24, 2010
By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM Site Producer

Bubba Watson: PGA TOUR professional, devout Christian, huge driver of the golf ball, even bigger Ellen DeGeneres fan.

At last check, DeGeneres had over 4 million followers on Twitter. One of them is Watson, who recently posted a video of himself singing 'Happy Birthday' to her on his own Twitter account (click here to see the video).

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"I've always liked her show and think she's funny, just hilarious," Watson said from the Bob Hope Classic, where Thursday's second round was washed out.

Watson has gone so far as to tweet that he would like to be on her show, too, though he says he hasn't heard back from DeGeneres. Still, he persists, tweeting earlier this week, "Hey @theellenshow I don't know how but one day I am going to be on your show!"

"I got the idea through following her on Twitter and just started doing it," Watson said. "It's been fun, doing videos and having fun with it. I don't care if people make fun of me."

Watson has always been a little off the beaten path. He learned the game by hitting plastic golf balls around his yard as a 6-year-old in the Florida panhandle in the small town of Bagdad. Watson has never had a swing coach, trainer, sport psychologist or even a lesson. He plays with a pink shaft in his driver, which he uses to routinely rank at or near the top of the TOUR in driving distance. He also suffers from attention deficit disorder, which has led to some misunderstanding him at times.

Perhaps that's why Watson enjoys Twitter, something he only recently created an account for at the suggestion of his agent.

"He kept telling me social media is the new wave, so I looked it up," Watson said. "I made an account and it started being fun. I've been a Christian my whole life and it's a chance for me to put that out there for people, and to make dumb videos of friends and stuff."

Watson has just over 7,000 followers and joins a growing list of TOUR players on the social-networking site. "When you're at a tournament, it's hard to talk to people," Watson said. "That's work for me. [Twitter] is so much easier."

One follower of Watson's told him that Ian Poulter was on Twitter and that he regularly tweeted about playing the video game "Call of Duty" on his Xbox. The next thing Watson knew, he and Poulter were having regular online battles. For Watson, it's just another way to connect.

Watson said he also makes it a habit to answer every single tweet he gets -- now he just hopes DeGeneres answers his.

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