Who Are Those Guys? Keegan Bradley Edition

IN “BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE Sundance Kid,” Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) kept saying, “Who are those guys?” That line reminds me of the PGA Tour some weeks. Like last week, for instance.

Keegan Bradley beat Ryan Palmer in a sudden-death playoff to win the HP Byron Nelson Championship, his first PGA Tour victory. I didn’t see it, so I missed my chance to be filled in on Bradley’s bio by the CBS golf crew. I’m in total darkness. I know less about Bradley than I did about Gary Woodland, who won the Transitions Championship. I had at least heard of Woodland.

First of all, Bradley is to be congratulated. To win on the PGA Tour is a huge accomplishment under any circumstances. The 24-year-old Vermont native held it together down the stretch on a difficult golf course and beat a tour winner in a playoff. That says a lot. It has become a trend, too. Bradley is the sixth first-time winner on tour this year.

But, besides being young and from The Green Mountain State, who the heck is he? Well, he’s the nephew of LPGA Tour great Pat Bradley. I know that Bradley.

Keegan Bradley played golf at St. Johns University, not exactly a collegiate golf powerhouse. Apparently, he won his share of college tournaments. Last year he played on the Nationwide Tour, where he had a second and two thirds en route to a 14-place finish on the money list.

In his first full year on the PGA Tour, Bradley has three top tens in 16 starts. He drives it long. He’s a Boston Red Sox fan. He listed their World Series victory as his biggest thrill outside of golf. Ben Hogan and his father are in his dream foursome. And he accepts his phantom status. “Going under the radar is kind of my thing,” he said.

Bradley had done a great job of staying under the radar until yesterday’s big win on national television. Now it will be much tougher to sneak up on anyone, especially if he can keep mustering the game to close out wins on Sunday.

−The Armchair Golfer

Related:
Who Are Those Guys? Gary Woodland Edition

An Outdated Glimpse of Kyle Stanley

KYLE STANLEY, AN ALL-AMERICAN at Clemson and Nationwide Tour player, leads the final stage of the PGA Tour Q-school after a first-round 65 at the Orange County Golf Center in Orlando, Florida. Stanley finished 35th on the Nationwide Tour money list and won the 2009 Ben Hogan Award, the most prestigious award in men’s college golf.

Every once in a while I get a call from my brother-in-law. “Hey, did you hear about Kyle Stanley?” He made the cut at the U.S. Open. He’s near the lead in Boise. Or something else.

It’s a topic because we used to watch Kyle run around on the lawn with his sister at Glendale Country Club in Bellevue, Washington. He might have been 10 years old. Kyle’s dad, Matt, was a friend of my father-in-law. There was a group of us that would gather for Memorial Day and Labor Day barbecues at the club. I wasn’t a member. I was strictly a guest eater and pretend son of Mel in the father-son tournament. It was an opportunity to pig out and make small talk with people I saw twice a year.

There was Kyle throwing ball out on the grass with his older sister. Every once in a while he’d make a breathless pit stop at our table to check in with mom and dad. That kid out on the lawn turned out to be a phenomenal golfer.

I saw Kyle at the 2009 Wyndham Championship in Greensboro pounding balls on a sweltering August afternoon. I had a fleeting thought of saying something to him but quickly reconsidered. He wouldn’t know me. What would I say? I used to eat ribs and corn on the cob with your dad on Memorial Day weekend ...

Funny, I got one of those “Kyle” messages exactly a month ago from another person who sat with us and the Stanleys in the Glendale dining room.

“Ever thought about looking into Kyle Stanley who is now on the Nationwide Tour?” Karen wrote in an email. “He is not winning but I see on Sunday reports that he hangs around the 10-30 spot. Big Ed loved Kyle.”

(Big Ed was my father-in-law. He died in 2006.)

I think Kyle Stanley is going to make it to the big show, the PGA Tour. I’m sure I’ll be hearing more about him. The kid can flat play.

−The Armchair Golfer

Rocco Mediate Makes Nationwide Tour Debut

ROCCO MEDIATE OPENED WITH a 67 on Thursday followed by a 69 today to stay in contention at the Mylan Classic near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not far from his hometown of Greensburg. Rocco has made 588 starts on the PGA Tour, but this is his first appearance on the Nationwide Tour as he tries to regain his 2008 form. Hard to believe it was only two years ago Rocco won $1.4 million and nearly wrestled the U.S. Open trophy away from Tiger Woods.

“I just wanted to hopefully putt better,” he said, “that’s all I’ve been trying to do all year.”

It’s been a tough 2010 campaign for the popular veteran. Rocco has made just seven cuts in 21 events and has sunk to 438th in the Official World Golf Ranking. He’ll be 48 in December.

Geoffrey Sisk is the current leader at 10 under.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Keith Allison/Flickr)