Watts turned professional in 1988. During the 1990s, he played mainly on the
Japan Golf Tour, having gained his card via the
Asia Golf Circuit, where he topped the Order of Merit in 1993. During his six seasons on the Japan Golf Tour from 1993 to 1998 he had 12 tournament victories and 12 runner-up finishes, amassing 63 top-10s in 124 events. When he left the tour he was the second all-time foreign money leader (593 million yen) to
David Ishii. Only foreign players to have won more events were Ishii and
Graham Marsh when Watts left for the PGA Tour in late 1998. His biggest victories in Japan were the 1994
Bridgestone Open where he defeated then World Number 1
Nick Price on the final day and the 1998
Casio World Open where then World Number 1
Tiger Woods was making his Japan Golf Tour debut. His first professional win was at the 1993
Hong Kong Open. However, he is best known for his performance at
The Open Championship at
Royal Birkdale in 1998, where he lost in the playoff to
Mark O'Meara. He had a two stroke lead entering the final round and shot 70. On the 72nd hole Watts faced a bunker shot where his right leg was out of the bunker and he nearly holed it from 45 feet. After making the 1 foot par putt on the final hole Watts failed to make two short birdie putts on the first two playoff holes and ended up losing by two shots in the four hole playoff. This performance helped earn Watts a
PGA Tour card and by the end of the year he reached the top 20 of the
Official World Golf Ranking. In a successful 1999 season on the PGA Tour he finished 57th on the money list, including 26th in scoring average. He was one of a handful of players to make the cut in all four major championships and the Players Championship but his career was ended soon afterwards due to injuries. Following a number of poor seasons, Watts has played little competitive golf since 2005 while rehabilitating from hip, knee, foot, and back injuries. ==Amateur wins==