Bradley lights up PGA
ties Jason Dufner at top
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – As Tiger Woods made his weary way out of the PGA Championship, another whiff of the future of golf wafted through in the lanky, smiling person of Keegan Bradley – not a character in a soap opera with that name, but more improbably, a former college star out of St. John’s (the Manhattan St. John’s) and now a 25-year-old PGA Tour rookie via the Nationwide Tour.So what’s a nice rookie from St. John’s doing in a place like this? Namely, atop the leaderboard in his very first PGA.
After a quiet 71 in the first round, Bradley shot a bogey-free 6-under 64 Friday to tie for the halfway lead at 5-under 135 with Jason Duffner (65). They share a one-shot lead on D.A. Points (67), John Senden (68), Jim Furyk (65) and Scott Verplank (69). First-round leader Steve Stricker ran afoul of the Atlanta Athletic Clubs’ troubles and shot 74, slipping to a tie for seventh.
Woods, of whom much was expected this second outing after his 11-week injury layoff, is going through a nightmare chapter of a dream career. After a stunning 77 in the first round, he stumbled through a 3-over 73 that was far more fragmented than it looked, containing maybe as much sand and trees as short grass. At 10-over 150, he missed the cut for the first time in 13 PGAs, four of which he won.
“I think I was in nearly, what? – 20 bunkers in two days,” he said. “And had four or five water balls. So that’s not going to add up to a very good score.”
Woods left, saying he was hitting the ball much better in this swing change program under his latest coach, Sean Foley. Woods said he won’t play again till November.
Bradley, a tour rookie from the Nationwide Tour, flirted with winning in the Bridgestone Invitational the week before, got some tough training with St. John’s, competing against such Big East Conference teams as Notre Dame and Louisville, and on such courses as Bethpage Black, site of two U.S. Opens. The tests have come in handy.
“I’ve got to tell you, I do feel very comfortable out there,” he said. “It’s always so much fun to be out here.”
Comfy enough to get around the 7,400-yard course in six birdies – three a side – and no bogeys. He made a couple of 10-footers, a couple 8-footers, and the bonus, he said, was a curling 30-footer at the par-3 No. 7.
Dufner, 34, a non-winner on the tour, started on the back nine and launched his attack with three straight birdies from the 11th. The jewel of his round was an eagle at the par-5 No. 5, off a 3-wood to 25 feet. The 65 was a huge relief.
“I hadn’t played very well this summer, but that’s kind of par for the course for me, so I had three weeks off coming into this event,” he said. “I wouldn’t say that I expected to be 5-under after two days, but I felt like I could have a good chance if I played fairly well.”
Points was a kind of survival story. “I was panicking because I wasn’t hitting it very well,” Point said, and then he figured it out – a cuppy left wrist and shoulders opening too fast. He got straightened out just in time, and went out and promptly birdied No. 1 with an OK drive and a 6-iron to 6 feet. From there he made four more birdies and two bogeys. Few could touch him for accuracy. For two rounds, he’s hit 24 of 28 driving fairways, and 30 of 36 greens. And he found a certain peace of mind figuring he doesn’t have to blow the doors off to win.
“I feel pretty good that I’ve treated this week like every other week,” Points said, and also, because of the difficulty of the course, “potentially I don’t have to be 15 or 16 under to win this week.”
Bradley showed no traces of an aw-shucks attitude. He didn’t show signs of giddiness, either, not even sitting before an international media corps.
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a surprise that I was up here,” he said. “But I work very hard. I feel great. But I know it’s Friday, and not Sunday.”
And Bradley is also accustomed to fans wondering, “Keegan who?”
“The worst part,” he cracked, “is when you sign an autograph and the kid looks at you and asks you what your name is.”
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