Farmingdale, NY – While attending St. John’s, Keegan Bradley and his teammates had unusual privileges – played the famous Black Course at Beth Page State Park, the site for this week’s Ryder Cup.
Then st. John’s manager Frank Derby has begun a contract with Craig Courier, manager of Bethpage Black, whom Derby has become friends with while holding the New York State opening game on the course for many years.
Johnny had no home course, so he attacked clubs in the metropolitan area of New York. When the private club closed in the winter, Beth Page Black remained open for several more weeks. The state park course, known as the “People’s Country Club,” quickly became Bradley’s favorite.
“It was like being able to film basketball at Madison Square Garden, where there was no one in the stadium,” said Mike Barro Jr., one of Bradley’s teammates. “That’s exactly that surreal experience.”
There was one rule. Bradley and his teammates could only play holes 3-14, known as “short courses,” and were not allowed to cross Swamp Road to play the final four too close to the clubhouse or security guards.
With these restrictions in place, Bradley and his teammates had to skip the 15th, the most difficult hole on one of America’s toughest courses. They didn’t get the chance to tackle the par 3 17 days and its shallow greenery.
It was like taking your child to Disney World and saying that you couldn’t ride a roller coaster and had to stay in the teacup all day.
Finally, one day during the collapse of Bradley’s senior season from 2007-2008, he and his teammate George Zolotus were enough. They crossed the marsh roads and played 15-18. By the time they reached the 18th green, there was a crowd of people waiting for them.
“Everyone was staring at us like, ‘What are you doing here?'” Zolotus said. “We thought we could slip in and get out, but that really didn’t work that way.”
State Park police called the courier who was able to ease the situation.
“I’m not blaming him for doing it. I don’t think they regret it at all,” Baro said. “And now, years from now, we can laugh about it, but that was a bad thing. For years, no one knew we were there, so it wasn’t good. And all of a sudden, everyone knew we were there.”
This weekend, 39-year-old Bradley will be free to go to Beth Page Black as Beth Page Black’s youngest captain since 34-year-old Jack Nicklaus in 1963.
“I’m here as an 18 year old kid going to St. John’s, playing the Red course in our home tournament and coming back as captain of the Ryder Cup, surpassing my wildest dreams,” Bradley said.
After the Europeans Two years ago, he shot an American at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club on the outskirts of Rome, 16½-11½. The US team needed new leadership and fresh ideas. Even after Tiger Woods handed over the opportunity, Bradley was the most unlikely choice – for countless reasons.
Bradley didn’t consider himself to be in the upper class of the sport despite winning the 2011 PGA Championship as a rookie and eight tour victories in his career. When the PGA Tour rebuilds in the wake of the threat of LIV golf, he was not invited to meet with other top golfers and was suddenly ruled out of the 2023 Ryder Cup team despite being 11th in points.
The cameras were rolling when then-US captain Zach Johnson called Bradley to break the news that he hadn’t got one of the six captain’s picks.
“The moment was real,” Bradley said last year. “I was crushed. It took me a while to get through it – our whole family. We were devastated.”
For a child who grew up downhill on Vermont ski slopes, Bradley’s golf career often felt like a difficult climb. His father, Mark Bradley, was an avid skier – Keegan’s paternal grandparents opened their first ski store in 1958. Mark’s younger sister, Pat Bradley, is inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame after winning six major championships and 31 tournaments on the LPGA Tour. She was also an alpine ski racer along with her brother John, who runs a ski shop in Manchester, Vermont.
Mark Bradley spent a year at the University of Vermont before hittinghiking across Canada in the spring of 1973. His intended destination was Alaska, but he became ill and weakened while camping while on a trip. He crossed the road, thrust his thumb out and headed south to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He worked there as a fly fishing guide for 10 years and met Keegan’s mother, Kay.
While Kay and Mark Bradley were back in Vermont, they passed the golf course on Ohio Interstate 80. Knowing that fishing wasn’t big in his hometown, Mark Bradley decided to play golf again. Kay got him a member of the Woodstock Country Club. He was offered a job from Blue to become a club pro at Haystack Golf Course in Wilmington, Vermont.
From the age of six, Keegan went to work with his father almost every day. When Keegan couldn’t wake up one morning, Mark went to work without him. His mother dropped him down to the club a few hours later, and Keegan wasn’t happy that his father had left without him.
“Hey Keegan, I can’t be late,” Mark told him. “Late the first tee in the golf tournament and see what happens.”
Mark never needed to launch Keegan again. For several years, Mark placed pillows and blankets on the Honda Civic, and Keegan slept for several hours before stepping into the pro shop. He hit the ball in practice range and played the course for hours every day. When Keegan was old enough to go to school, the school bus dropped him at the Woodstock Country Club, where his club was waiting for him.
“I gave him a good grip,” Mark said. “I taught him this and that, but I kept my mouth closed.”
When Keegan was in first grade, his teacher asked him to draw pictures of what he wanted to do as an adult. He drew golfer stick figures and a green with a flag and wrote that he wanted to become an expert on the PGA Tour.
The skiing was also found in Keegan’s DNA. He began racing when he was six years old, and he was one of the fastest downhill skiers in his age group in the state. He spent the winter at Suicide 6, a ski resort in Green Mountain in Vermont, and was a member of the Woodstock High ski team.
“When you stare at the cold of Vermont, the ice, wind and snow, and when you’re standing at the starting gate, I don’t think there’s a scary place for sports,” Bradley told Pgatour.com in 2019. “You don’t have a teammate. That’s everything about you. It’s all about your courage. You almost had to push yourself and push it onto the dangerous line.”
When Keegan was 13, he told him he wasn’t sure he wanted to continue skiing as his father didn’t want to risk his future PGA Tour career. After finishing third in the huge slalom at the state championships in March 2003, Keegan told his father he was finished.
“We skied to the bottom of that hill, and he never put them again,” Mark said.
Bradley’s parents split Before the senior high school season. Mark took an assistant teaching position at the Hopkinton Country Club in Massachusetts, and in the summer of 2003 he and Keegan lived in a 28-foot motorhome.
They used a communal shower and Keegan slept on a table that was converted into a bed that was not long enough for his tall frame. Keegan played golf during the day, and he and Mark shared stories around the campfire at night.
One day, in the summer, Keegan returned to the motorhome after playing 36 holes for the Hopkinton Country Club. He had become friends with John Curran, one of the nation’s top junior golfers.
“How did you play?” Mark asked him.
“I played so great,” Keegan told his dad. “I was able to hit it as hard as I could.”
“Keegan, it sounds like there was a breakthrough,” Mark said.
“No, dad, this was strange,” Keegan said.
The next day, Mark enrolled Keegan at Hopkinton High School and found an apartment in the school district. In October 2003, Keegan won the State 2 Division 2 title by carding a 1-under 69. Curran and Kimbaried Novan also played well, with the Hillers winning their first state team title with a 21-shot victory. Curran continued to play for Vanderbilt, and Donovan went to Duke.
“When Keegan first started, all the other kids were traveling the world,” said former Hopkinton high golf coach Dick Bliss. “He didn’t have that much luxury, but he had a passion. I mean, no one worked hard every day.”
Keegan wanted to play college golf in Florida or Florida, but these schools didn’t think up-and-coming people from cold weather states were that good. So he chose to attend St. John’s after Derby offered him a full scholarship. There were only six or seven golfers on his roster, which was one of the temptations that Derby used to get golfers to come to St. John’s, without practice facilities or home courses.
“In his freshman year, he was the best player on the most talented team,” Derby said. “When he got there he was just a born leader. We were still putting that team together. When he came in, he was like a magnet. The other players followed him.”
When they crossed Swamp Road nearly 20 years ago, including Zolotas.
“I think the story could have been a bit sensational,” Derby said. “It wasn’t like they were dragged off the course with handcuffs. I heard there was a police officer. Keegan was the perfect guy to coach because he’s never been mad at him.
Bradley saw the Courier again on Monday at Beth Page Black and apologized for sharing their secrets.
“I’m not on social media, but as I continue to talk about how he bothered me about how he bothered me, I’m sure he texted me to 100 people,” said Courier, manager of the Glen Oaks Club on Long Island. “I’m paying him if the nation comes after me and comes after me because he loses revenue.”
Bradley and his St. John teammates shared a home near campus. It was like a fraternity house where freshmen shared rooms. Pizza boxes and empty beer cans were scattered across the floor, and the car was parked on the grass in front of it. Bradley and his teammates practiced together, played together, and sometimes cut the end of the class together to get to the course early.
“He’s leading by example,” Baro said. “He’s always been a role model, especially in college. He was the best. He played the most and he was the best player. So if you wanted to reach his level, you had to do the same thing.
Bradley wanted to play every day while in college, but he expected his teammates to be with him.
“I think people in New England and the Northeast have a grit mindset with them,” Bradley said. “I spent this finite time like this to practice golf. I grew up in Vermont and had some really bad winters. And Boston was actually heading south. I was able to hit a shot later this year. I had to capitalize this time and get ready to play and get ready to do this one day.
“I still had that mentality because I was old and able to play all year round. Today I still have that mentality (and that) I can’t waste this moment.”
Bradley and his St. John teammates, along with Curran, have had a text message chain since 2006. It is called “Jup Life.” Many of them are moving to the Jupiter area after college and are about to take part in the PGA tour.
Ballo played on the Web.com Tour during the 2013-14 season but was unable to maintain the card. He got a job as a bullette at a golf club in southern Florida. When Bradley asked Baro if he was playing at the PGA Tour Canada Q School, Baro told him he had no money to sign up.
Bradley called him two days later.
“Listen, I’m going to sign up,” Bradley said. “You can’t quit now, there’s no way. You’ve done nothing but get better every year. You have a great game. I know how hard you work.
Bradley has now entered his fourth season on the PGA Tour and has the chance to lend a friend. Baro played competitive golf for five more seasons.
“If he hadn’t done so, I might not have been playing professional golf for another six months,” Baro said. “He didn’t do that, so he could tell people who helped me. He didn’t do it for any reason except that I was one of his best friends.
Bradley’s teammates from St. John’s were part of the opening ceremony of the Ryder Cup. Curran and Bradley are the best guys at each other’s wedding, and Curran drives Bradley’s cart this weekend.
Bradley never forgot his roots, or the people who helped him reach the PGA Tour.
“When you grew up in New England, whether you’re trying to become a golfer or work, you want to get your job done. “I carry the Northeast and New Englanders wherever I go. That’s my identity. I love growing up there. I love being a little different to the people here.”
According to his father, it wasn’t that easy for Bradley to make friends on the PGA Tour.
“Kegan is a very personal person,” Mark Bradley said. “He even says that when he first went on tour he didn’t make friends with anyone. That wasn’t that he was mean or didn’t like him. It just saw each of them as an enemy, almost as an enemy.
After Bradley moved to South Florida about five or six years ago, he approached our stars, such as Justin Thomas.
“Kegan would be the first to say he’s always quiet and has been to himself, and I think this captaincy is the best thing that’s happened to him,” Thomas said. “It brought out another side of him. We keep making jokes that you have to talk to all of us, and you can’t hide from us anymore. You have to hang out with us.”
Bradley said last year he taught him that even if he wanted to beat their brains on the course, he still could be friends with his competitors.
“I told them this. I’m older than all of them, but I respect each of them,” Bradley said. “They are all very good people. I’ve learned a lot from the players in this group. They get into their careers in a much different way than I do. They want to make friendships. They want to enjoy their time.
“(That’s) what I learned from each of them is what I have with me for the rest of my life.”
There is no question Bradley’s game is almost as good as anyone’s game. He has won each of the last four seasons on the tour and ranks 13th in the world. After finishing first in the Travelers Championship on June 22, Bradley seriously considered becoming the first play captain of the Ryder Cup since Arnold Palmer led the Americans to a 23-9 defeat at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta in 1963.
Ultimately, after Cameron Young, Sam Burns and Ben Griffin bolstered their game, Bradley didn’t use any of his six captain choices on himself.
Bradley told his father that while playing in the FedEx Cup playoffs, it took too long to look at the scoreboard and see how others were playing instead of focusing on their game.
“He was worried that if he played, he was wondering what was going on with everyone else while he was playing, and that he felt a bit responsible,” Mark Bradley said.
That doesn’t mean Keegan Bradley isn’t thinking about what he’s missing this week. He looked down at the fairway on the Black Course, and looked down at his playing for St. John’s, wondering what had happened.
“I sometimes look down at the fairway and see the guys walking down the fairway and how badly they want to do it, and be in the group with Scotty Schaeffler and see him playing and becoming a teammate,” Bradley said. “But I feel like I’ve been asked for a bigger cause here to help our people prepare to play and play at the highest level, so I feel like I’ve been asked for a bigger cause here.
“But deep inside me, I always think, ‘I might have been there.’ ”
Even in a hole in a round swamp.