NORTON — August was a month of major milestones for Keegan Bradley.
The Vermont native burst onto the national scene by winning the PGA Championship two weeks ago. And that allowed him the chance to fulfill two other dreams: meeting childhood idol Tom Brady and throwing out the first pitch at Fenway Park.
Talking with WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan after his PGA title, Bradley told of receiving a congratulatory text from Brady and of wanting to play a round of golf with the Patriots quarterback, which is in the works.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday night the diehard Red Sox fan took to the mound at Fenway prior to the Red Sox-Yankees series opener.
“Yeah, one of my dreams my whole life has been to be able to throw the first pitch at Fenway, and I got to realize that dream [Tuesday] last night in front of a bunch of my friends,” Bradley said Wednesday. “It was a strange feeling to be on the mound at Fenway, but it lived up to the hype. It is something I will never forget.”
Bradley admitted that his friends put some pressure on him before his ceremonial pitch.
“Well, talking to my buddies, they’ve said, ‘You better not bounce that thing in there,’ and I just didn’t want to bounce that thing in there,” he said. “I would give myself a B-minus. I’ve got Dustin Pedroia, who got down in a catcher’s stance. He’s kind of a small guy anyways, and it was a small target. But it was — I was afraid. I was so nervous that I was afraid I was going to do something embarrassing, so I was happy with it.”
Bradley has returned to New England this week for the Deutsche Bank Championship, part of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup. He is excited to be back close to home.
“Yeah, it’s great,” Bradley said. “It’s the first time I’ve gotten to see a lot of my family members since I won the PGA, and it’s amazing how the people of Boston and at Fenway Park [Tuesday] night, how aware they are that I’m from New England and that I won the PGA. It’s a cool feeling for me to come back to Boston and kind of have established my career a little bit.”
Bradley was born in Vermont and moved to Massachusetts before his senior year of high school, graduating from Hopkinton High. He won the Massachusetts Division 2 state championship in 2004. From there he went on to play four years of golf at St. John’s University.
“Part of my DNA is a little bit of a chip on my shoulder, I guess you could say,” Bradley said. “At St. John’s no one is going to think that a professional golfer is going to come out of there.”
After spending a few years on the Hoooters Tour and Nationwide Tour, Bradley is spending his first season on the PGA Tour, and he surely has made the most of it.
In May he earned his first career victory at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. He followed that up with a win at the PGA Championship in August. It was his first major that he had ever played in. He became the third golfer in history ever to win in his first major tournament.
Phil Mickelson has taken Bradley under his wing and given the rookie advice during his outstanding rookie season.
“He’s really helped me,” Bradley said. “He’s been so nice to me. I’ve got to play some practice rounds with him and he’s a big part of the reason why I’ve won twice. He’s helped me with my routine in some late tee times, which is very important, especially at the PGA; I was teeing off at 3 and 3:30. And then, like at the PGA, I’m walking to go hit some balls on the range and I’m walking by Phil and he gave me a fist pound and said, ‘Go get ‘em today.’
“If you would have told me five years ago that that would have happened, I’d probably have been laughing at you. It’s really cool. He deserves a lot of credit. The guy is just a really great guy.”
Bradley sits at No. 14 in the FedEx Cup standings, which puts him in good position to advance to next week’s BMW Championship and from there The Tour Championship, for which only the top 30 qualify. He is trying not to put any more pressure on himself this week playing in front of so many family and friends.
“The biggest thing right now for me is to try to downplay this week as much as I can, because not only is it in my hometown in front of my whole family, but there are a lot of FedEx Cup points on the line,” Bradley said. “This is an important week, especially after missing the cut last week. Always the week after you miss the cut there seems to be a little different feel to it. It’s my hardest battle every week that I play is I have to try to downplay it. It’s going to be tough, definitely.”