KEEGAN BRADLEY HAS earned nearly $8 million in his two years on the PGA Tour, enough to buy his own hamburger joint.
But work in one?
Such was the advice of someone on Twitter who was trying to antagonise Bradley over his belly putter and the proposed rule that would ban the anchored stroke it requires starting in 2016. Bradley was the first player to win a major using the belly putter, so it makes him feel like a target.
And on Twitter, there are no boundaries for taste.
“I had a guy yesterday telling me to send my application in to Burger King for 2016,” Bradley said.
It was funny. And so was the ribbing he took from a few of his peers, which prompted the former PGA champion to take Tiger Woods’ conventional putter and, with a curious crowd suddenly very interested, make three out of four putts from 10 feet.
But it’s also making Bradley more motivated than ever. He wants people to understand that he uses a putter that is still legal under the Rules of Golf at tournaments like the World Challenge, where he opened with a 69 and was two shots behind Nick Watney. And he wants people to understand that he’s a pretty good player for a lot more reasons than jamming the end of a mid-length putter into his stomach.
Such was the case on a cool, overcast afternoon at Sherwood Country Club, when Bradley didn’t make hardly anything and still was only two shots out of the lead. The other 13 clubs were working OK, for he hit every green until a bad break with his tee shot on the 18th, leading to his lone bogey.
“If I could have made a few more putts, I probably could have been a lot lower,” said Bradley, who paused before adding, “I know people don’t want to hear that.”
Putting was all the rage one day after the US Golf Association and Royal & Ancient Golf Club proposed a new rule — 14.1-b — that would prohibit players from anchoring a club against the body. Watney attributed five birdies in his last 10 holes to his putting, including a 15-foot putt for his first birdie ever on the 14th hole. Tiger Woods, the tournament host and defending champion, made a half-dozen key putts for par that kept him in the game with a 70.
Steve Stricker made news with his putter, too. He changed from the putter he has used so long that even the metal tape on the bottom looks like it has been there his entire career. He decided to go with a different putter he bought at a golf store in Wisconsin.
“Mid-life crisis,” Stricker said with a grin. For Bradley, it’s personal.
“I hope that people look at us for the accomplishments and the players that we are, not look at us for using an unconventional putter,” Bradley said. “I feel like the USGA has really put an ‘X’ on our back and really shined a light on us, and I don’t know if that’s exactly fair. … When we started putting with it, they were legal, and they still are. It’s a sticky situation, and I hope people can see through that.”
