The final tournament of the PGA Tour's cashed-up event starts Thursday in Atlanta, Georgia, with Watson one of five players - along with FedEx Cup leader Chris Kirk, Billy Horschel, Rory McIlroy and Hunter Mahan - who hold their own destiny.
If any of the quintet lift the silverware on Sunday, they will take home a US$10million bonus, while a tied for fourth or better finish for Watson will give him a chance - pending other results at East Lake Golf Club - of winning the FedEx Cup.
Despite admitting conditions are not suited to his big-hitting game, Watson said he was embracing the challenge of trying to top his fifth-place finish in 2012.
"The grass, the fairways are not good [for me] and I catch a lot of flyers the ball doesn't stop out of the grass for me, so for me it's a very difficult golf course, but I love it," Watson said, of the East Lake course.
"We're trying to challenge ourselves and this is what we have to do if we want to improve on the FedEx Cup, or win a golf tournament. So last time I played here, I finished fifth.
"So I'm looking forward to the challenges and trying to improve on that ranking."
Watson said he was not punching numbers into a calculator, to figure out the worst finish he could still secure the FedEx Cup with.
"Truthfully, I don't know about the other guys, but I don't look at FedExCup, I'm looking at a golf tournament. We're trying to win," he said.
"Obviously I'm in the situation now where if I win it takes care of itself. Come in second, there's a few other things that have to happen. Coming in third, I don't even know if I have a chance if I come in third. But I think second I have a chance if everybody finishes a lot worse.
"So the key is here we're just at a golf tournament and let the other stuff play out on Sunday afternoon."
Watson was in rare form at his press conference on Tuesday, chatting about packing underwear for the Ryder Cup starting later in September, and recalling the time he fired up Webb Simpson at the President's Cup.
The most serious Watson did get, though, was when he said it would be unlikely he would repeat his antics from the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah, which saw him insist the crowd cheer and clap as he teed off.
The two-time Masters champion said that was a one-off effort, but cheekily, refused to rule out doing it again at Gleneagles, when the team event begins on September 26.
"No, I will not be doing that. [I did it] just because it was on our home soil. That was my little way of trying to grow the game of golf," he said.
"I loved it when [Ian] Poulter did it [copied Watson]. He talked about it and I talked about how nervous it is after you do that.
"It was just the one time thing. I think it was fun. No, I would never do that. I would not do that especially on foreign soil where they might be against that.
"And so I wasn't thinking about doing that, but you never know. When I get over there, I might get excited and do it anyway."