JOHNS CREEK, Georgia—Keegan Bradley should have been finished, all of his grinding through four hot, hard days having been wrapped in a triple-bogey six and deposited in a place where Professional Golfers’ Association Championships go to die late Sunday afternoon. In his case, that place would have been the pond on the treacherous par-3 15th hole on Atlanta Athletic Club’s Highlands Course.
When you’re 25 years old, a rookie on the PGA Tour and playing in your first major championship, you don’t find yourself five shots behind with three holes to play and then, 90 minutes later, hugging the silver Wanamaker trophy when the playoff victory over Jason Dufner was complete.
But that’s the way it happened on Sunday for Bradley, who was there when the stone-faced Dufner couldn’t nurse his lead home, losing a championship he led by four with four holes remaining.
It was equal parts comeback and collapse, an unexpected culmination between two unlikely players with one career PGA Tour victory between them—Bradley’s win at the HP Byron Nelson Championship in May.
It was a triumph of perseverance for Bradley, the nephew of Ladies Professional Golf Association Hall of Famer Pat Bradley. Not only did he become the first player to win a major championship using a belly putter, Bradley did it in an almost impossibly difficult way. He shook off the triple bogey, birdied the 16th and 17th holes to force Dufner to finish strong and then saw the championship come to him, making him the 13th- consecutive first-time major winner.
“The course was so tough that no lead is safe. I just kept trying to tell myself that,” Bradley said after winning the three-hole playoff by one stroke over Dufner.
“I’m very proud of the way I played. It’s the best golf I’ve ever played.”
When Bradley reached the 15th hole on Sunday afternoon, he trailed Dufner by two strokes. Robert Karlsson had surged but three late bogeys would leave him tied for fourth. Anders Hansen stayed on the periphery of contention most of the day but never seemed a big part of the story, though he finished just a shot behind Bradley and Dufner, who tied at eight-under-par 272.
Dufner had shown no sign of wobbling. He went stoically about his business, hair pushing out from below his cap and going through his exaggerated series of waggles before each full swing. He kept hitting fairways and greens and when he birdied the 13th hole, Dufner was 11-under par, two clear of Bradley and hearing Auburn fans (he’s an alum) shouting “War Eagle” after every swing.
Throughout the week, the four closing holes at the Highlands Course had controlled the storyline like a third-world dictator. No one, not Mickelson nor Woods nor Donald, was exempted. Sunday was no different.
Bradley seemed a cruel victim when he missed the green on the wicked, downhill 15th, guarded by water right, bunkers left and demons all around. What he felt had been a good shot nestled down in the thick Georgia grass and from there, he rolled his next shot across the green into the pond. By the time he got the ball in the hole, Bradley had made a hash of things with a triple bogey.
Among the lessons he’s learned since befriending Phil Mickelson this year is patience. Bradley’s goal was to underreact to whatever happened on Sunday.
“I remember walking off that green going, ‘the last four holes are so tough, someone could have a five-shot lead and it not matter,’” Bradley said.
Funny what goes through a player’s mind sometimes.
Bradley piped his best drive of the week at 16 to set up a birdie there. Then he holed a 40-foot birdie putt at the watery 17th and his emotions spilled out.
“I underreacted at 15. I overreacted there,” Bradley said.
Then Dufner helped.
When he hit his tee shot into the water at 15, it was the first crack that showed. Dufner salvaged a bogey but they kept coming, another at 16 then again at 17, forcing him to make a par at the dangerous 18th just to get into a playoff.
In the playoff, Dufner missed a six-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole, fell behind by a shot and couldn’t get even again.
“I knew what was at stake,” Dufner, 34, said. “I was confident with my game but just didn’t execute a couple of shots coming in.
“Maybe looking back, 10, 15 years from now, I’ll feel disappointment that I let this one get away if I never get another chance. But I’ve got a feeling that I’m going to have some chances to win majors and some other golf tournaments.”
In Photo: Keegan Bradley moves from outside the top 100 to No. 29 in the world and ends the longest American drought in the majors at six tournaments. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution/MCT)
