Nicklaus lauds Bubba's shot

Golfing legend Jack Nicklaus reckons the recovery shot Bubba Watson hit to win the Masters was one of the best ever.

Watson found himself in deep trouble in the pines next to the 10th fairway on the second play-off hole against Louis Oosthuizen, but his hooked wedge shot seemed to turn at an almost 90-degree angle to land safely on the green.

From there, it was a simple two putts after Oosthuizen bogeyed to win his first major championship.

Nicklaus struggles to even imagine how hard the shot must have been.

"I'd never been where he was," he cracked.

But he lauded the creativity and skill involved to pull off a shot like that under the kind of pressure Watson was no doubt under.

"When you're playing a hook it usually takes off," Nicklaus said. "But that ball danced like it had a lot of backspin on it. I saw that ball hit the green and I said, 'Wow.' That was something. Not only did he play the shot, but he played the shot and ended up with control at the end of the shot - which I thought was the amazing part. That will go down as one of the great shots ever played in the game."

Shots like that you never forget, added Nicklaus, who had quite a few of them himself in his long and illustrious career.

"I can still feel it, it feels the same," he said. "You can still feel the shot, the way it came off your hands, 30 or 40 years later. I still have that same feeling. I haven't matched it lately. I do know that feeling, though. And it's kind of fun to know what it feels like in golf."