As he prepares for the defence of his Masters title, Bubba Watson says he is determined not to become yet another one-major wonder.
Watson during a practice round at Augusta on Monday
The American won his first major title in spectacular fashion last year, beating Louis Oosthuizen on the second play-off hole courtesy of a miraculous escape from the trees that went down as one of golf's greatest shots.
But Watson doesn't want to end up being regarded as a flash in the pan, and admitted he sought out other recent major winners to get some advice on his career.
"I sought out Graeme McDowell, (Rory) McIlroy, asked Tiger (Woods), asked some big-name players that have won (like) Charl Schwartzel. I asked, how do you deal with it, because the first three months to the first six months, your sponsors, media, you get more attention.
"You've got more fans and so you get away from the game of golf. Golf is the last thing on anybody's mind but you still have to keep executing.
"In Campbell's situation...that's what I tried to not do. I tried to get out of that situation fast, and it helped me too that I had my child; we had adopted our son Caleb so I spent a few months with him. I missed a couple of tournaments that I normally play in and I got to relax, reset, refocus.
"I missed my first two cuts after my long layoff, but then I finished second again right after that.
"You have to do that because you don't want to be known for the one tournament. You want to go out there and compete.
"I want to play for many more years and so I got lucky because we adopted our child at the same time, so I got to focus on family, I got to focus on other things other than golf, and then it helped me reset. Then I was itching to go back out there and play and compete.
"My manager Jens Beck has been in this business for a while and I would say he gave me the best advice.
"His advice was golf first. So we've cancelled a lot of media requests, we've cancelled a lot of things to make golf first. I was Bubba Watson the golfer first before I won, so we have to keep it simple and remember that golf (comes) first.
"So we told our sponsors, 'Look, I know you want to do things and do this, but you don't like Bubba if Bubba isn't playing good, so golf is first."
golf365.com