Keegan Bradley grew up idolising his legendary aunt and now they can
compare major victories after he shocked the golf world to win the US
PGA Championship.
The 25-year-old tour rookie racked up some big
milestones when he produced a unforgettable comeback and triumphed over
fellow American Jason Dufner by one shot in a three-hole aggregate
play-off.
He became the first player to win a major at his first attempt since Ben Curtis won the British Open in 2003.
It's
the first time the feat has been achieved on American soil since
Francis Ouimet won the 1913 US Open and he's also the first player to
win a major using a long-handled (belly) putter.
Bradley rallied
from five shots down with three holes to play after a shattering triple
bogey at the 15th hole, making birdies at 16 and 17 as Dufner tumbled
with bogeys at 15, 16 and 17 to finish tied at eight-under 272.
In
the playoff, Bradley birdied 16, Dufner made bogey at 17 and while
Dufner birdied 18, Bradley two-putted for par and the victory which will
take him from 108th in the world to 29th.
He also earned a five-year exemption to all four majors and the US PGA Tour along with the winner's cheque of $US1,445,000.
"It's
the best golf I've ever played, and man, it was so exciting," said
Bradley, who snapped the record six-major US win drought since Phil
Mickelson's Masters triumph last year.
The son of a club pro,
Bradley is also the nephew of LPGA Tour great Pat Bradley who won 31
LPGA titles and claimed five major titles, including a career Grand
Slam.
"I grew up going to Pat's tournaments and totally idolising her and wanting to be like her out there," said Bradley.
"I
remember as a kid going to her tournaments and literally staring her in
the face and she was so into it, she would not even recognise me.
"I thought that was cool. I always wanted to be like her."
Pat
Bradley told the Gold Channel: "I made a lot of history in the game.
Now it's time for Keegan to make his own history and he's off to a
wonderful start.
"I'm just so very proud of him, the way he fought back and brought it home.'
Denmark's
Anders Hanson finished one shot back in third at seven-under 273 while
Sweden's Robert Karlsson and American veterans David Toms and Scott
Verplank tied fourth at five-under.
After entering the final
round of last week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational just two shots adrift
of Adam Scott in a tie for fourth, Bradley crashed to a final round 74
and tie for 15th.
When he seemingly fell from contention with his triple bogey on the 15th hole on Sunday it seemed a similar fate loomed.
"Last
week I had a horrifying back side. I had a chance to win, I was in
contention and it was scary, I completely lost it," said Bradley.
"I
did a lot of work with Dr Bob Rotella (Sports psychologist) and Jim
McLean (coach) and also Phil Mickelson and Camillo Villegas have been
huge help to me since then.
"The guys out here, its something you don't expect when you come out here how great and helpful everybody is.
"It definitely crossed my mind, here we go again, but I was able to put it behind me which felt great.
"The major thing I tried to do this week was under-react to everything."
Scott
was the best-placed Australian four shots adrift of the play-off in
seventh at four-under par while John Senden finished tied 19th at even
par and Robert Allenby was one-over for the week in a tie for 26th.
