Golf needs more Keegans, not Tigers

[Moecat]

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/GLF-HERRMANN-COLUMN_5805450/GLF-HERRMANN-COLUMN_5805450/

 

Photo credit: Getty | Keegan Bradley of the US with his nephew Aiden and sister Madison as he receives the Wanamaker trophy after his play-off victory over Jason Dufner of the US in the final round of the 2011 PGA Championship Tournament at Atlanta Athletic Club. (Aug. 14, 2011)

 

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — You hear it all the time, "Golf needs so-and-so " or "Golf needs this" or "golf needs that," as if the sport is going to go out of business if big names don't win all the big tournaments.

 

Nonsense. Golf has been around for a long time. The PGA Championship has been around for 93 years and isn't in any imminent danger. Golf is fine because it attracts the likes of Keegan Bradley.

 

What Bradley did Sunday, winning the PGA despite having been down five strokes with three holes to play and winning a major while using a long putter, was unprecedented in some ways. But it was nothing new to people who know Bradley, especially people on Long Island, N.Y.

 

"The kid is a fighter," said St. John's coach Frank Darby, who recruited a determined teenager from Woodstock, Vermont and watched him grow. "He liked the courses we were playing, he liked what Andrew did, he liked what Joe Saladino did when he was here. And he wanted to go on the PGA Tour."

 

To know Bradley is to believe in the kind of finish he provided at the Atlanta Athletic Club Sunday, making two birdies on the final three holes of regulation after having triple-bogeyed the par-3 15th, then beating Jason Dufner in a three-hole playoff.

 

"When he made that triple bogey, I knew he wasn't out of it," said Dr. Glenn Muraca, a member at Wheatley Hills Golf Club who saw potential in Bradley when he used to practice at the club in East Williston as an undergraduate. One summer Bradley took a nonpaying job in the bag room in exchange for being allowed to hit balls all the time.

 

Bradley impressed Muraca with his manner and his game. "He never went in the bag room again," Muraca said. "Every time I went up there, I took him out to play. I told everyone, 'We've got a guy who's going to be on the PGA Tour.' "

 

Muraca was in Spain Sunday for his annual trip to get better at speaking Spanish. He watched every bit of the PGA, though, and there was no way he was getting to sleep soon after the playoff, even though it was 2 a.m. there. "Unbelievable," Muraca said. "If any golfer deserves it, it's him."

 

Sure, Bradley, 25, is friendly with tour golfers such as Brendan Steele, who started Sunday tied for the lead but shot 77 and finished way out of contention. But Bradley's closest friends are his former teammates at St. John's. He was texting them all weekend, and they were texting each other after seeing the shots he pulled off.

 

"We won a lot of tournaments because of him," said Kevin Velardo, assistant pro at Cherry Valley Club. "He was just that much better than everyone else.

 

"He just has it, whatever that 'it' factor is," Velardo said.

 

The business of golf has been searching for people with an indefinable something, given that Tiger Woods isn't close to the marketable force he used to be. It remains to be seen if Bradley can put a dent in the marketing problem. Who knows if he is a star?

 

It seems that his appeal lies in the fact that he isn't a star. He is an underdog. He is a regular kid, the son of a club pro who gave up on competitive skiing when he was 12 because he was standing in the sleet atop a mountain and said, "This is not as much fun as golf."

 

Bradley isn't embarrassed at having fun at golf, to the point of laughing Sunday when he was trailing and a long putt hit the back of the hole and bounced out.

 

His finished a tournament that began with a labored, brief appearance by Woods, whom golf supposedly desperately needs. Last evening, it seemed that if golf needs anything, it needs more Keegan Bradleys.

[finalist]

I like dominance. Michael Jordan, TW, etc. I dont care who, but I want to see performamce that looks like a once in a lifetime ability with many wins.

[Shambles]

That article was so off the mark.

 

Every player who has ever dominated Golf did so because of his consistent performance on the course. Keegan has brought attention to himself with his win but that's about all he accomplished by that performance. Now he needs to prove himself by repeating, otherwise he too will become one of the used to be future.

 

Arnold Palmer made his mark with a home made swing and the hard work of a working man. Jack Nicklaus made his mark with superior planning and game management. Tiger Woods made his mark with an all out take no prisoners approach. All three played brilliant golf with superior and daring skill. Keegan, for now, is just a might be. He deserves some attention and could possibly become but is far from proven regardless of how well he won his major because it was only one.

 

Golf needs more Palmer, Nicklaus and Woods.

 

 

Shambles

[jamo]

Golf needs more winners, simple as that.

[Miboy62]

This is his 2nd win this year. For as young as he's and being his first year he seems humble that's nice to see.

Hope he has many more.

[Matt Saternus]

I like the story of the kid who wasn't recruited to top college programs, didn't get All American honors, but now is a winner. That said, I totally agree with the guys above: golf needs dominant players. Golf needs guys who the casual fan can tune in and see win 2-4 times EVERY year, guys who are playing on the weekend EVERY weekend.

[Kanoito]

Why doesn't this surprise me?

 

I agree with Shambles... you can encourage and root for this rookie, that's good for the game of golf! If he the kid worked hard then he totally deserves it.

 

But the Tiger-bashing is getting old... seriously **** all those commentators and sports analysts that don't have 10% of Tiger's game. It's easy to have a big mouth behind a desk, a computer and a microphone. Were they this brave when Tiger was dominating? Oh no way! Hypocrisy at its best!

[JBones]

Hasn't this happened a lot in the PGA (Micheel, Beem, Yang, Bradley) over the last few years? And isn't it always the same thing; "could this be the changing of the guard"? I like seeing these fresh faces winning tournaments, but after what Tiger did for the game of golf, I'm sick of all the "Tiger bashing". When Tiger makes his comeback and I think he will, all these hypocrites will be saying "I told you so", like they've been rooting for him all long.

[Kanoito]

When Tiger makes his comeback and I think he will

 

That's the one thing I look forward to the most!

[GolfSpy Dave]

I would be more into the Keegan story here if Dufner hadn't rolled bogey on 15, 16, & 17 and thus opening the door for a playoff.

[Moecat]

One writer's assertion that Keegan's win wasn't a fluke ...

 

http://espn.go.com/golf/notebook/_/page/birdiesandbogeys110817/bradley-pga-win-fluke

 

The numbers, certainly in this case, are not a fluke. There is a reason Keegan Bradley became just the third player in nearly 100 years to win a major championship in his first attempt.

 

Trot out all the clichés you want about experience and needing to put yourself in position a few times and even the one about learning from failure.

 

Then consider that Bradley won the PGA Championship Sunday at Atlanta Athletic Club having never before played in one of the game's four biggest championships.

 

It just doesn't happen that way, making the victory in a three-hole aggregate playoff over Jason Dufner all the more improbable.

 

Yet, if you judge the small body of Bradley's career to date against that of the last two players who won majors in their first attempt, you'd probably take the latest PGA Tour rookie winner's résumé.

 

At least Bradley had won a tournament on the PGA Tour earlier this year. He had Nationwide Tour experience and won twice as a professional on the Hooter's Tour.

 

Ben Curtis and Francis Ouimet accomplished their victories with even fewer credentials.

 

• Ouimet, 1913 U.S. Open. Just 20 years old and using a 10-year-old caddie named Eddie Lowery, Ouimet's playoff victory over British stars Ted Ray and Harry Vardon is often credited with helping put golf on the map in the United States. It was a huge upset victory because Vardon and Ray were among the top players of the era.

 

Ouimet, who became the first player to win the U.S. Open as an amateur, only entered the tournament played near his home in Brookline, Mass., at the urging of a United States Golf Association official who knew he had won a Massachusetts amateur event. He was also just the third American to win the tournament, which began in 1895. The following year, Ouimet won the U.S. Amateur, having never before qualified for the tournament. He would win the event again in 1931 and play in the first eight Walker Cups. Ouimet played in just one British Open and one Masters, from which he withdrew. He never competed in the PGA Championship because he remained an amateur and the event is for professionals only.

 

But it's what he did -- and the experience he had -- before winning the Open that makes his achievement all the more remarkable. Among many other honors, Ouimet later had a caddie scholarship named in his honor that still prospers today.

 

• Curtis, 2003 British Open. It had been 90 years since Ouimet captured the U.S. Open in his first major appearance, again showing just how improbable Curtis' victory was at Royal St. George's.

 

Consider that Curtis had never finished in the top 10 in any PGA Tour event, had never even played a links, a type of golf clearly in need of experience. Then there is how he got into the tournament.

 

Ranked 396th in the world at the time, Curtis was among the top eight players who were not already exempt at the Western Open two weeks prior. Curtis tied for 13th and was the third player selected from that category -- one that is no longer used.

 

Before the British Open, Curtis had earned less than $200,000 and was in danger of losing his card.

 

Starting the day two strokes back of Thomas Bjorn and a star-packed leaderboard, he beat the likes of Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Davis Love III, despite playing the final 7 holes 4-over par. But none of the other contenders could take advantage, and when Curtis holed a 10-footer for par on the last hole, it stood up.

 

Consider that Woods was just a year removed from having won seven of 11 majors, and that Singh was about to go on a tear that saw him soar to No. 1 over the next two seasons.

 

• Bradley, 2011 PGA Championship. Bradley, 25, at least had the experience of having captured a PGA Tour event earlier in the year at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, where he prevailed in a sudden-death playoff over Ryan Palmer.

 

Still, that victory was not enough to get him a spot in the U.S. Open or British Open. And he entered the PGA ranked 108th in the world -- or 288 spots ahead of where Curtis was ranked heading into the British Open eight years ago.

 

Bradley, in fact, would have been a factor in the rookie of the year race without his victory. He had finished 15th the week prior at the Bridgestone Invitational and had two other top-10s along with another six top-25 finishes. So Bradley was adapting to life on the PGA Tour very nicely.

 

Yet, that in no way prepares you to win a major championship on your first try, as history attests.