Bubba Watson Out Until British Open, But What Of Webb Simpson?

While golf fans won’t see reigning Masters champ Bubba Watson again until next month’s British Open, U.S. Open winner Webb Simpson hinted Sunday night that his decision to skip the next major at England’s Royal Lytham St. Anne was not necessarily a foregone conclusion.

“I'm going to take next week off and go play Greenbrier [Classic at The Old White TPC in West Virginia from July 5-July 8], and then it's going to be a little tricky,” Simpson told reporters after posting a final-round 1-over 71 to get to 6-under and a T29 at last week’s Travelers Championship. “I'm probably not going to the British Open, but as far as anything else, I'm not sure yet.”

Since winning the U.S. Open little more than a week ago, Simpson has said he would miss the Brits’ national championship to be with his wife when she gives birth to the couple’s second child. His comments Sunday seemed to indicate he had not totally ruled out going for his second consecutive major starting July 19.

Watson, in the meantime, put two consecutive missed cuts behind him with a solid T2 at the Travelers, and will will take another vacation until the Open Championship. The 33-year-old fan favorite, who won his first tour tilt in 2010 at TPC River Highlands, shared second place with Charley Hoffman at 13-under when Marc Leishman claimed his inaugural win on tour Sunday.

The Floridian southpaw said he would reappear at the British Open after helping his wife Angie finalize the adoption of their son Caleb and settle into their new home in Orlando.

“I got a lot of stuff to do at the new house. Buying a new house, got a lot of adoption stuff to do, got a lot of paperwork to go through with that,” Watson said. “So I've got time off, got three weeks off now to hopefully get all that stuff done.”

As he prepared to miss the next three tour contests, Watson said he was pleased with the state of his game and enjoyed his brief return (he’s played in four events since his Masters win in early April) to competitive golf.

“It’s good to get back and get under the gun and get under the pressure and get back to where I was starting at the beginning of the year,” Watson said about firing consecutive 65s on Saturday and Sunday. “I'm starting to get back to just playing golf again and practicing and getting used to my situation.”