Bradley earns first tour win in playoff – Byron Nelson Championship
IRVING, Texas – Keegan Bradley survived 72 holes at the Byron Nelson Championship, and then he won a one-hole playoff with Ryan Palmer. In conditions that the west-Texan Palmer called “as tough as I've played in” due to strong winds and firm and fast greens, Bradley posted the number – a 3 under 277 – and then waited for the final five twosomes to finish. A fantastic birdie at the last by Palmer forced the playoff.For anyone thinking Bradley was a surprise winner, he may have been the most surprised of all.
“I'm sitting here, I still don't know what happened since I made that last putt on the 18th,” he said to the media following the win. “I lost my caddy -- oh, he's right here. But it's an unbelievable feeling, and it's only going to get better.”
How could it not get better?
Bradley is a rookie on the tour and he had two top-10s and five top-25s to his credit coming into the Nelson. He still had to worry about the reshuffles, the inability to comfortably plan your schedule and all the assorted other concerns that are natural for a first-year tour player. He appreciated the moment.
“Winning at all out here is so difficult,” he added. “It really hasn't hit me yet. I'm sitting here in front of you guys. That's the start of it, but I'm -- I'm speechless, and I'm so proud of the way I played and I'm so proud to win Byron Nelson's tournament. That's an amazing thing for me.
“I grew up idolizing Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson a lot, and I know a lot of history about the both of them, and to win his championship, his trophy, to see Peggy Nelson out there on the green, it's an unbelievable feeling, and it's surreal.”
The first playoff hole was the 18th, and that was the only one needed. After both players had driven their tee shots right, Keegan hit an approach that missed rolling down the sill at the side of the green and into the water by a couple of inches. Palmer wasn’t so lucky as his ball got wet. Bradley won with a par to Palmer’s bogey.
But for Palmer, who had only made a cut here once in seven previous tries, he was pleased with his effort.
“I felt great, was excited, pumped, couldn't wait to get goin',” Palmer said about the playoff. “I was pretty steady, few awkward shots there through the first part of the round and good birdie on 7, but it was tough, no doubt.
“Tough making putts, and I finally started making a few, huge bogey on 11, great birdie on 9 but to battle the way I did, I birdied 16, 3-putt 17 and make the putt I made on 18, I can't be more proud of myself. I had to do that just to give myself a chance and I did. It's the way it goes.”
And then he had the room laughing when he added, “I'm 0-1 in playoffs now.”
Bradley was comical as well, when discussing what it was like to be paired with high school sensation, Jordan Spieth.
“Yeah, Jordan is a spectacular player,” he said. “He had a lot of pressure out there. He had a lot of spectators. Pepsi (Steve Hale, Bradley’s caddy) and I knew, on the 10th hole, he hit one to about 6 feet and there was a huge ovation, and I hit mine to about 2 inches, and there was two claps, and we're thinking did it go long, is it short? So he had a lot of pressure out there.
“It was definitely different. This is a smaller version of playing with Tiger or Phil, but their fans are so loyal to him, and he has loyal fans, and it was actually a little bit relieving and he was a great kid -- couldn't have had a better pairing, so it worked out perfect.”
It didn’t work out quite so perfectly for Ryuji Imada. After a birdie at 13 got him to five under, he had a two-shot lead with five to play. The final five holes were playing extremely tough and Imada played them well but little mistakes cost him dearly.
He parred 14, bogeyed 15 after hitting a tee shot left and into some trees. He missed a birdie chance at 16, dropped another shot by missing a short putt to save par at 17 and couldn’t get up and down from the right greenside bunker at 18. Bogeys on three of the final four holes dropped him to two under and he had to settle for a share of third-place with Joe Ogilvie.
“Today as a whole, obviously I didn't finish off like I wanted to. So it definitely leaves a sour taste in my mouth, but overall I played well,” Imada said.
“The wind was strong, the course was difficult, the golf course was set up really tough. You know, after 14 holes I think I played really great golf, and a hiccup on the 15th tee shot, wind was clipping left to right and I didn't want to miss it right and I came over the top a little bit.
"Second shot, pretty good third shot into the green, I had about 12 feet for birdie (at 16), left it short, and 17 I was -- I was playing it left of the water, and I may have pulled it a little bit, but I think I hit a pretty good shot. I thought the wind was more to the left side, and I thought it might have taken it more closer to the green, and I was trying to shoot for the green. I had a great first putt. Second putt, I don't know how -- I hit a good putt, left edge, might have been too firm, but it was a good putt, unfortunately it lipped out.”
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