Keegan Bradley: Mr Clutch

Down by four strokes with three holes to play, Keegan Bradley dug deep. After tripling number 15 by bumping and running his chip into the water, Bradley came back and birdied 16 and sank a beautiful 35 foot birdie putt on 17 to get to eight under. He two putted from 45 feet on 18 to finish at minus 8 and waited for Jason Dufner to come in. Dufner got it to -11 after birdies on 12 and 13 and a par on 14. He was leading by four when he stepped to the 260 yard par-3 15th. He hit his ball in the water, but chipped up from the drop area and sank a 12 footer for bogey to drop to -10. Meanwhile, Bradley had birdied 16 to move to -7. Then Dufner his a nice drive on 16, but pushed his second shot in the trap. He two putted for another bogey, then bogeyed 17 on a three-putt from 30 feet. He parred 18 to force a playoff, but had lost momentum.
On the 16th in the three extra hole playoff, Dufner hit a beautiful second shot to six feet, but Bradley followed that with a shot to four feet. Dufner, nervous over the putt, pulled it and had to settle for par. Bradley sank his. On 17 Duffner, bogeyed it once again and Bradley parred. Bradley was up two shots going into 18 and had a 179 yard shot to the green after a clutch tee ball. He hit his shot right over the water about 18 feet from the hole. Dufner, a little farther up, hit his approach about 20 feet away and sank his birdie putt and had to hope that Bradley was going to three putt. But Bradley putted it about a foot past the hole and tapped in for the victory and the $1.445 million dollar paycheck along with the coveted Wanamaker Trophy. The 25-year old had earned it and the 34-year old former Auburn player, who still lives in Auburn, endured the pain but handled it like a pro.

Bradley already had won at the Byron Nelson and looked extremely confident in the playoff. Dufner fought hard, but just didn’t have enough at the end. Bradley moved up to number four on the Fed Ex rankings. He has played in 24 tournaments this year. Only four other golfers have played in more tournaments. The 25-year old looks like a rising superstar. Dufner moved up to 25 on the Fed Ex rankings.

Bradley is a passionate guy and that emotion carried him throughout the tournament. At the same time, he showed a lot of self control and perseverance after tripling 15. It was an epic performance for this emerging player. He’s arrived. There are just so many good young players now that it’s anybody’s guess who’s going to win week to week. Had Adam Scott, Luke Donald and David Toms as three of my favorites. Toms finished tied for fourth at -5, Scott seventh at -4 and Donald tied for eighth at -3.

I thought the venue was awesome. It was hot but that’s what you expect in Atlanta in August. It wasn’t as hot as it could’ve been and the golfers didn’t seem to be affected by it. The whole course was in pristine condition and the greens were awesome. Those bermuda greens held up well throughout the tournament. I love bent grass greens around here, but those bermuda greens were nice and seem to flourish in this kind of weather as opposed to the bent greens which get stressed in this temperature. Still, in the fall, the bent greens will be immaculate here. They’re hanging in there pretty well now. Little cooler last week which helped.

Great tournament, great drama, classic finish. Well played by Bradley and a great effort by Dufner. Feel bad for the guy. Last four holes, as expected, were the difference in winning and losing for the former Auburn player. It was a PGA without the big names in real contention on Sunday, but some of the new guys provided great theater for the 93rd edition of the year’s final major. Bradley was the first American to win a major since Phil’s 2010 Masters’ victory. That’s six majors. Greame McDowell at the ’10 U.S.. Louie Louie Oosthuizen at the ’10 British, Martin Kaymer at the ‘1o PGA, Charl Schwartzel at the ’11 Masters, Rory at the ’11 U.S. and Darren Clarke at the ’11 British. Good to see an American back on top. Maybe a good sign for the President’s Cup Nov. 17-20 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia in which the U.S. golfers take on all non European world golfers.

Next up is the Wyndham Championships in Greensboro North Carolina this week. There is a good field going. Then the Fed Ex playoffs start. The top 100 golfers will compete in the Barclays at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, New Jersey, just outside NYC on Aug. 25-28. The top 125 players in the Fed Ex rankings qualify for the Barclays. The top 100 then go on to the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston on Sept, 2-5. The top 70 qualifiers out of the Deutsche Bank go on to play at the BMW Championships in Chicago, Sept. 15-18. The top 30 then qualify for the Tour Championship at East Lake, just outside Atlanta on Sept. 22-25. The winner is determined from those four tourneys along with the season’s points. The winner gets 10 million. Pretty exciting stuff.