Bradley's now on your radar screen after winning Nelson
By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM Managing Editor
IRVING, Texas -- He's the nephew of LPGA legend and World Golf Hall of Famer Pat Bradley. But while that gave Keegan Bradley a bit of name recognition and perhaps a leg-up in the golf gene pool, that doesn't mean you know much about him.
After all, he grew up in Vermont, not exactly considered a golf factory for PGA TOUR pros. He went to school at St. John's. Raise your hand if you knew St. John's even had a golf program. He won nine tournaments in his college days, but even he admits he "didn't get much credit."
A TOUR rookie this year, he had produced a couple of top-10 finishes but couldn't match the accomplishments of Jhonattan Vegas, Brendan Steele and Charl Schwartzel, rookies who had already won on TOUR this year.
This week at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, he calmly went about his business, staying close to the lead but never close enough to gain the spotlight.
Finally on Sunday, he played in front of a huge gallery. Of course, they were all there to see his playing partner, the celebrated 17-year-old Dallas amateur Jordan Spieth who was hoping to make history. "A smaller version of playing with Tiger or Phil," he said.
Welcome to Keegan Bradley's world.
"Going under the radar," he said, "is kinda my thing."
That "thing" is about to change.
By beating Ryan Palmer in the first hole of Sunday's playoff to win the HP Byron Nelson -- on a weekend in which the field had entered survival mode thanks to 35-mph wind gusts that produced brutal scoring conditions -- Bradley should finally get the attention he deserves.
He now has a two-year TOUR exemption. He moves to 20th on the FedExCup points list and should count on making the Playoffs. He'll get invites to the big tournaments, and he'll get to start the 2012 season in Hawaii. He's looking forward to finally playing in some majors; he's never done that before.
No doubt, he'll have plenty to chat about with Aunt Pat and the rest of the Bradley clan. The text messages of encouragement were replaced by congratulations on Sunday. "I'm sure she was by the TV going crazy," Keegan said.
The look of disbelief was still evident on Bradley's face an hour after his win. It all happened so fast. As Spieth was suffering through the pain of a 7-over 77, Bradley was fashioning one of the few sub-par rounds of the day, a 2-over 68 in which he incredibly suffered just one bogey -- none on the back nine, the place where most players wilted.
He posted his number (3 under) early, then had to sweat out the final groups. As he waited for Palmer, the 54-hole leader who was now one shot behind, to play the 18th, Bradley was told only one birdie had been recorded there all day. As soon as he heard that, he knew Palmer would be the second.
"I was really, really nervous," Bradley recalled, "and then when he made the birdie, I calmed way down. ... As soon as I heard the roar of him making that birdie, I felt my heartbeat slow down."
Even in the playoff, Bradley couldn't get away from being the "other guy" when it came to local rooting interest. Palmer, after all, is a native Texan and a Texas A&M graduate who currently resides in Colleyville, just a few miles down the highway from the TPC Four Seasons Resort.
And he had the crowd revved up after that birdie on the 72nd hole. Having hit the fairway with his tee shot (just 35 percent of all drives found the fairway at 18 on Sunday), Palmer punched a pitching wedge to six feet, then rolled in the downhill putt. He punched the air as the crowd roared.
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The memory of those three shots will stay with Palmer for awhile, even in the face of disappointment in losing the playoff.
"I can't think of how proud I am just to suck it up and then pull those three shots off," Palmer said. "It's going to be huge down the road."
Bradley then started the playoff by launching his drive into the gallery down the right side, his ball ending up on the other side of the cart path. Palmer, hitting next, would have a huge advantage if he could find the fairway at 18 again.
His caddie James Edmondson has been deciding the strategy for Palmer off the tee all week. For the first three rounds, he had Palmer using a 5-wood off the tee. But in the final round, he handed Palmer the driver, and it worked. Now he handed Palmer the driver again.
Palmer didn't think twice about whether he should have dialed it down after seeing Bradley's ball in an awkward spot.
"We were confident and comfortable with what I was doing," Palmer said. " ... It was the play I was feeling and obviously he wanted it for sure."
But his tee shot missed the fairway and landed just in front of a tree. Like Bradley, he would be forced to punch out. Ultimately, the tournament rested on which player could hit the better second shot.
After marshals moved a concessions cart and created a path down the right side of the line of trees, Bradley took out his 6-iron. He hit a low hook that flew under the branches, then curved back to his left toward the green, eventually ending up on the collar just in front of the bank down to the water hazard.
"Two inches to the left, it goes in the water," Bradley said, "so it was a good break, but also a good shot."
Actually, it was a great shot ... and it looked even better after Palmer's approach sailed left and into the water. While Palmer had to get up-and-down just for bogey, Bradley was able to two-putt from 54-1/2 feet for the win.
As a result, he no longer flies under the radar. And his caddie, Steve "Pepsi" Hale, no longer drives whatever he used to drive; the winning caddie this week gets a new Cadillac Escalade.
Hale has only been working with Bradley for seven weeks, but he convinced his man to play in Irving this week. Bradley initially was planning to play last week at Colonial and take this week off. Instead, he took his caddie's advice.
"I don't know what he knew," Bradley said, "but he was right."
Evidently, he knew Keegan Bradley's golf game. And now you will too. No more flying under the radar for Pat's nephew.
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