How Bubba Watson met his wife (and it includes the wife of Georgia football coach Kirby Smart)

Without Mary Beth Smart, Bubba Watson and his wife Angie might not have become a couple, he explained in his 2021 autobiography “Up & Down: Victories and Struggles in the Course of Life.”

Mary Beth, wife of Georgia football coach Kirby Smart, gave Angie the push she needed to give Bubba a chance.

While Watson readied to tee off by himself on the first hole at UGA’s golf course one day in the early 2000s, then Angie Ball and Mary Beth Lycett pulled up to the 10th hole that runs parallel to the first.

Watson strolled over and asked if Ball cared to play a round sometime in the future. “She offered a not-so-enthusiastic yes and I turned to walk away, feeling pretty proud,” Watson says in the book. “Mary Beth yelled for me to come back. She noted that I hadn’t even asked for Angie’s phone number, so she scribbled it on a corner of a golf scorecard and handed it to me. A few days later, we agreed to go back and play.”

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Although the details don’t stick out as vividly to Smart because “it didn’t shape my life, obviously, like it did theirs,” she chuckled when asked if she remembers that day the same.

“He came over and was flirting with her, in particular, and as we rode off she just mentioned that he’s cute and blah blah blah,” Smart recalled. “I was like, well, you could go back and talk to him. I think she was just super quiet. I think that’s how it happened. We just kind of ran into him on purpose but on accident kind of thing.”

Mary Beth realized in the moment that her shy friend needed a nudge.

“I think she was just frozen and didn’t speak and I wanted to encourage her because it was pretty clear to me his intentions,” Smart said. “I was just ribbing her by saying, ‘You should just speak.’ I don’t really know that I had anything to do with it other than just being an encouragement.”

The golf course encounter was the second time the two had spoken after playful banter at UGA’s Ramsey Center recreation basketball courts a few weeks earlier.

Angie was crashing on Mary Beth’s couch for the summer as she rehabbed a knee injury suffered while playing for the WNBA’s Charlotte Sting. Mary Beth didn’t play golf, so she told her new roommate that she’d ride in the cart while Ball, three years her senior, played.

Bubba and Angie were soon playing golf together and dating regularly before marrying in 2004.

Two decades later, Bubba has two Masters, 12 PGA Tour wins and earned more than $55 million on the PGA Tour before joining the LIV Golf League last season. The Watsons have adopted two children, son Caleb and daughter Dakota.

His most famous moment came on the 10th hole at the 2012 Masters when he hooked a shot out of the trees and onto the green to set up a playoff win over Louis Oosthuizen.

Georgia football has won back-to-back national titles and Kirby Smart, at $10.25 million per year, is the third highest-paid college football coach behind Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney.

Mary Beth and Angie text regularly, specifically to compare life events between Caleb and Andrew, the Smarts’ oldest son.

About once a football season, the Watsons come to Athens for a football game and their families get together.

The memories of that day on the golf course are faint for Mary Beth, but she’s amused when reflecting on where she and Angie are today.

“We’ve definitely both married very successful men, which is awesome,” said Mary Beth. “I think she’s a great support to him in a lot of ways, and that’s what I try to do for Kirby is just to be a good support and good wife and mom. I see that she definitely takes that role seriously in her marriage. In that way, it’s great to have friends who are like-minded and encouraging to make me better. She’s been a great friend for a long time. I’m grateful to her and happy for her family and their success.”

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