Log In

Reset Password
BERMUDA | RSS PODCAST

Grand Slam ‘cherry on the top’ for Bradley

Keegan Bradley celebrates on the 18th green after winning a three-hole playoff against Jason Dufner at the PGA Championship golf tournament Sunday, Aug. 14, 2011, at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Ga. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The PGA Championship trophy lives by Keegan Bradley’s bed at home and some mornings he will wake up, look at it, and laugh.It is two months since Bradley’s triumph in Atlanta and the young American is still getting use to the notion that he is a major champion. Not just any major champion either, Bradley is only the third player in the history of the game to have won a major event at his first attempt.Already on a select list of the game’s best, Bradley said being on an even smaller list, alongside Francis Ouimet (1913, US Open) and Ben Curtis (2003, Open Championship), was ‘surreal’.“It’s bizarre, it’s really....it’s something you can’t explain,” said Bradley “I have trophy sitting in my room and every day when I wake up I look at it and sometimes I laugh. It’s crazy, it’s really surreal.”The last month or so have been surreal for Bradley who said he had been more nervous watching a repeat of his final round at Atlanta Athletic Club than when he was actually playing.“For whatever reason I was extremely nervous watching, I could barely sit there, I was sweating, it was horrible,” he said. “But, I knew what was going to happen, so it was really fun to watch.”Despite all the fresh attention and the opportunities that go with his new found status, being a major winner is only just beginning to sink in for Bradley, and arriving in Bermuda yesterday afternoon brought the reality of his situation crashing home.The PGA Championship winner is visiting the Island for the first time and called his visit for this week’s PGA Grand Slam the ‘cherry on the top of the season’.“Being here is awesome, really, really cool,” said Bradley. “Bermuda is such a cool place, I’d never been, but flying in was really cool. Everybody says great things about the course and it’s just a real treat to be here.“Being a major winner is just kind of sinking in now to be honest with you,” said the 25-year-old. “It’s really, really cool, it’s kind of like the cherry on top of the season getting to come down here and play. It’s really cool to be with all the guys from the PGA, it’s just a lot of fun.”The Grand Slam, which begins in earnest at Port Royal tomorrow, will include several firsts for the event, which is now in its 29 year. It is the first time that four first time major winners have competed at the event, and for Bradley it will be the first time he has played alongside Rory McIlroy, Charl Schwartzel and Darren Clarke.“I’ve actually never played with any of them,” he said, so this should be really good. Rory (McIlroy) is a good guy, so is Charl (Schwartzel), and then there is Darren Clarke, obviously. It’s a good group of guys and it will be a lot of fun.”