Bradley comes of age in play-off

GOLF:THERE CAN often be a degree of cynicism about professional sport, and especially in golf with its wheelbarrows of prize money. Yet, here, in the 93rd edition of the US PGA Championship, Keegan Bradley – with a freshness and exuberance that bodes well for his future – confounded those cynics with a breakthrough Major win which was, indeed, the stuff of fantasy.

In ending the drought by American players in the Majors, a sequence stretching back to last year’s Masters and which had seen six non-Americans lay claim to the US Open Trophy (twice), the Claret Jug (twice) and the Wanamaker Trophy in turn, tour ‘rookie’ Bradley required a three-hole aggregate play-off to defeat long-time leader Jason Dufner.

Both players had finished on the 272 mark, eight-under-par, before going mano o mano for the decisive play-off holes.

Here, Bradley – who had recovered so wonderfully in regulation play when transforming a five-shot deficit with three holes of his round remaining to earn a play-off – carried that momentum with him and took the initiative from the off. The three-hole play-off was held over the 16th, 17th and 18th holes. And, on the 16th, after Dufner hit his approach into five feet, Bradley responded by hitting his to four. Dufner missed the downhill birdie putt; and Bradley made his uphill. One shot ahead.

On the Par 3 17th, a hole of 207 yards, Bradley hit his eight-iron to 15-feet below the hole. Dufner, too, found the green, but some 30 feet away. The drama continued. Dufner raced his first putt 12 feet past and missed the par save back.

He had three-putted the hole twice in the space of an hour. Bradley two-putted for par, and walked to the 18th tee with a two -shot advantage.

Bradley closed the deal on the 18th, a hole that had invoked fear in so many players throughout the championship. After finding the fairway and left with 193 yards to the pin, Bradley hit a six-iron – holding his breath until the ball cleared the water and landed on the green – to 15-feet. He two-putted for par, and a two stroke winning margin – 10 to 11 – over Dufner, who rolled in an 18-footer for a birdie.

On a beautifully sunny day, with the gentlest of breezes providing some relief from the near-100 degree Fahrenheit temperatures, an intriguing contest developed.

And, if some of the game’s so-called big players absented themselves from the drama, the roles performed by Dufner – a 34-year-old from Cleveland, Ohio – and Bradley, a 25-year-old tour ‘rookie’ whose breakthrough win came in the Byron Nelson earlier this season, were very impressive.

The Par 3 15th hole, the start of a four-hole finishing stretch with the reputation as the toughest in championship golf, seemed to have ended Bradley’s hopes. Bradley ran up a triple bogey six there – where he chipped from greenside rough across the green and into the pond – and, at that stage, with three holes left to play, he had fallen five shots behind Dufner.

Bradley’s response was impeccable, holing a 15-footer for birdie on the 16th and then rolling in a massive 40-footer for birdie on the 17th.

Behind him, Dufner – who had a five-stroke lead standing on the 15th tee in regulation play – aided Bradley’s fightback. The man who plays the game with a wiggle and a waggle pushed his tee-shot on the 15th into the water but managed to limit the damage to bogey.

But the wheels had started to come off, and Dufner – who once aspired to a career as a baseball player only to discover golf as a 15-year-old – bogeyed the 16th, where he found a greenside bunker with his approach, and the 17th, when he three-putted, and manfully two-putted from 35-feet for a par on the 18th to get into the play-off with Bradley.

Denmark’s Anders Hansen finished as the leading European player, with a closing 66 for 273 which left him alone in third place – his best-ever finish in a Major – which left him “very proud of myself, it’s good for the future”.

Robert Karlsson, the 6ft 5in Swede, also played his part in the drama until a late collapse – finishing bogey-bogey-bogey – which saw him eventually sign for a closing 67, which left him on 275 in tied-fourth place.

Finding water was to prove a common theme in the closing stages, with Lee Westwood – the world number two – falling victim to the 507 yards Par 4 18th hole. There, the Englishman’s tee shot found a fairway bunker and, with nothing to lose, he attempted to find the green in two only to see the ball splash into the pond.

“I have enjoyed playing great for a long time now, but unfortunately when I turn up to Majors, when I don’t win one, then, obviously, it’s a disappointing week for me. But that’s the sort of level of golf I’m playing at,” said Westwood, who closed with a 68 for 277, three-under, in tied-eighth.

World number one Luke Donald also finished on 277, after dropping two shots over the closing four holes.