NORTON, Mass. — Any way you turn this week at TPC Boston, you’re more than likely looking at a Bradley. There’s Aunt Pat, Dad Mark, Mom Kaye, and upwards of 25 additional members of the New England clan, cheering on native son Keegan and clamoring for tickets to this weekend’s Deutsche Bank Championship.
“The game of golf for the Bradley family has been amazing,” Mark Bradley told us Friday after watching his 25-year-old son score an opening-round 3-under 68 in the second of four FedEx Cup playoffs. “Golf is the glue in this family of ours.”
And for now, Keegan is the magnet attracting Bradleys from near and far to this weekend’s PGA Tour event. In addition to Pat and Mark, a slew of other relatives, assorted friends, and former golf coaches will be on hand to watch what amounts to a home game for the champion golfer from Woodstock, Vt.
Despite the family reunion and potential pressures such a gathering may induce, the man of the hour remained focused on his job inside the ropes. With players still on the field, Bradley ended his day three shots back of early leader Troy Matteson. And while his famous aunt reminded us that her nephew “got off to a great start but he knows…there are three rounds left,” Keegan’s father acknowledged that his son’s greatest fear was not making the cut on a course he played as a Hopkinton (Mass.) High School golfer.
“The pressure he’s putting on himself is that he doesn’t want to fail this week,” said Mark Bradley, head pro at Jackson Hole (Wyo.) Golf & Tennis Club. “He wants us to be able to watch him play in the final two rounds, so making the cut is right in there in front of him…to make the cut for everyone.”
“Everyone” included Bob Hansen, Keegan’s York, Maine-based grandfather on his mother’s side. “Grandpa Hansen” — who brought 7-year-old Keegan to his first-ever golf competition, the annual Herbert Bracy Junior Golf Tournament at York Golf and Tennis Club — hoped to make it down to Boston despite feeling a bit under the weather, said Mark Bradley.
With all the family hubbub going on outside the ropes and fielding up to 50 ticket requests a day (a task he turned over to his mother), the PGA Tour rookie conceded being the hometown hero had some minor drawbacks.
“I wouldn’t mind if my next tournament was in northern Alaska,” Bradley said with a laugh. “Honestly, it’s awesome to be home, it’s awesome to be doing all this stuff. Some things are a little overwhelming but it’s so worth it.”
Still, the man about town said he was somewhat fatigued to start the day.
“I was very tired last night [after tossing the coin to start the New England Patriots’ final pre-season game at nearby Gillette Stadium] and then this morning I woke up and I was pretty tired,” he said.
With “all afternoon and all day tomorrow to rest up” before his 12:16 p.m. tee time, Bradley was still reveling in his turn as a first-pitch celeb on the Fenway Park mound and on his time with Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the rest of the three-time Super Bowl champs.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” he said, chuckling to learn that his mentor, Phil Mickelson, had bounced his first pitch to home plate at Fenway the night before.
And just in case Bradley had forgotten that family lurked around every corner, his father provided a reminder that Keegan may be a major golf champ but he’ll always be Mark’s little boy.
“Did you sign those autographs for the kids,” the elder Bradley asked as his son made his way to the clubhouse.
“Yup,” responded the 2011 PGA champ.
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Check her out on the Waggle Room, Boston Golf Examiner, National Golf Examiner, and GottaGoGolf websites. You may also follow Kay on Twitter @golfexaminer.)
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