Keegan Bradley “Wins” the Grand Slam of Golf, Does It Help POY Case?
The official start to the Silly Season annually begins in Bermuda (previously Hawaii, among other locales) while some more pressing and pressurizing situations are taking place at the last PGA-sanctioned tournament of the year at Disney World.
While a group of 50 or so guys are playing for their professional lives in Orlando, trying to secure their Tour card for another year, the four major champions are sipping mai tais in the tropics for a couple hundred thousand dollars.
Beings that all four of the major champions this year were first-time major winners, they were psyched to head to Bermuda for a little exhibition match that had them mic’d up talking about their travels, their long putters and the pretty blue water.
In between all that chatter, the foursome was playing a bit of golf on Port Royal Golf Club, a public course down in Bermuda. After the first day, it seemed like the event would be a two-man race between Bradley and Rory McIlroy who sat at 4-under par, but windy conditions played a major role in Wednesday’s second and final round.
That wouldn’t be the case with Charl Schwartzel doing his best Masters impression rattling off five birdies in a row to close out his front nine, tying him for a lead at 2-under with Bradley. McIlroy bogeyed his last three holes on the front to leave him at 1-under and one shot back.
McIlroy would prove to be a non-factor on the back, shooting 1-over and finishing with a 4-over 75 to leave him at even for the event.
Bradley birdied the 10th hole to regain a one-shot lead. His lead grew to two-strokes after Schwartzel bogeyed the par-3 13th. But the South African was able to get his dropped shot back with a birdie on the 15th, putting him to 2-under with Bradley sitting on 3-under.
Both swapped biridies on the short par-5 17th to keep Bradley’s lead at one stroke. Unable to birdie the 18th, Schwartzel was forced to settle for second place while Bradley claimed his third win of the year, if you want to call it that.
The question about Bradley’s win has only reinforced some people’s opinion that he should have been picked for the Presidents Cup, but as it is, the picks are over and done with. Hindsight is 20/20, so there’s no need to go down that road again.
A more relevant question was whether or not this win will help his case for Player of the Year.
Obviously, the win can only help.
Although the four major winners have not looked the part in their recent starts, they still were able to win majors within the last six months. The PGA Player of the Year seems to be a two and a half man race. The two to choose from are Bradley and Webb Simpson.
Bradley has the PGA Championship as well as his win at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, but he doesn’t have much else going for him by way of consistency. He has just two other top-10 finishes this year and he has missed 10 cuts.
Simpson, on the other hand, also has two wins (Wyndham and Deutsche Bank), albeit neither of them majors. However, from a consistency standpoint, he is far and away had a better year. Simpson has only missed three cuts. He’s finished second twice, third three times and in the top-10 six other times. And as it stands right now, Simpson holds the money list lead.
Even though all that looks good for Simpson from a purely statistical standpoint, it stands to reason that winning a major championship trumps top-10s.
So, the question at hand is how will Bradley’s win in Bermuda enhance his resume? Simply put, a win is a win and if his triumph in the Silly Season can sway even one vote, then winning was a big help.
Perhaps Bradley’s best shot of winning the POY this year would be to root really hard for Luke Donald to win at Disney, take over the money list title and maybe steal a couple of Simpson’s votes.
But if Simpson wins, this could be a very close Player of the Year vote.


