The 2014 season was one of the best stretch of starts for Bubba Watson. The then-PGA Tour player won the Northern Trust Open early in the year and his second green jacket in April. But the winning streak didn’t stop there. At the WGC HSBC Champions, Watson was trending again. As he was closer to another victory, it was getting emotional for him. The LIV Golf pro was a recent guest at the Fairway to Heaven podcast, and he revealed his emotions were overflowing because of his second child, Dakota Watson.

Watson recalled that he was playing with Rickie Fowler in China, but his wife, Angie Watson, was in America, witnessing the birth of the daughter. The 3-time major winner explained that before adopting Caleb Watson in 2012, the two of them decided they would next adopt an opposite. That means, if it was a girl, so they would adopt a boy and vice versa. That year, Watson’s career was in its best spot. He was working off the course to adopt and find families with all the hectic paperwork.

So, when he teed up at the HSBC Champions and entered in a playoff against Tim Clark, all of this was in the back of his mind. As he drained the winning putt, there, Watson broke down on the Sheshan International Golf Club. He said that nobody in the world knew that Dakota was being born in California. While everyone thought Watson was crying because of his victory, he explained that he was thinking about his daughter. He remembered calling her wife at 3 a.m. PST from China and telling her, “Nobody in the world knows why I am crying right now, except us.”

Watson was overcome with emotions because he was grateful for the great things that had happened in the 2014 season. And not just the victories that he took home in that year, but having another child was the best highlight. Instead of focusing on his victories, the LIV Golf pro regarded them as souvenirs because, in 2012 and 2014, he also had Caleb and Dakota Johnson and they were the reminders. He loves his children with every inch, but the journey was not at all easy.

Bubba Watson shares the arduous journey of adoption

Angie Watson had told her husband on their second about the long medical condition that would not allow her to become a mother but that did not reduce the love between them and they were happy. But when they decided to have children, Bubba Watson wanted to adopt in America and help his own. But it was becoming a bit difficult. In an interview with Megan Kelly, Watson had revealed some of it.

During the adoption process of Caleb Watson, the 2-time major winner shared that 3 bio mothers had rejected the couple. He recounted, “Wanting a child, wanting to be a parent, wanting to be a dad is one thing, but then when your wife is crying, ‘Why not me? Why not me? Why can’t I have my own child? Why can I not be a parent to this child?’ And now another child, and then another child… So we got three turndowns, three rejections, so that’s hard.” 

Although it was a hard journey to be on, especially for Angie Watson, and it took a toll on their relationship. Watson, however, was grateful that they stood by each other at that time. After many lows when they played high game, the two were satisfied with it. And with their two children with them, the couple clarified that they had never thought those were not their children and that they were adopted.

Now, nearly a decade later, Watson’s family is complete, and despite the challenges, he is thankful that they went through everything and overcame it all.