Well you can’t play a sport in college if you played that sport in a pro league and got paid for it. Anyway it’s also a professional golf rule he obviously doesn’t have a PGA card so he was invited to play as an amateur.
Keegan Bradley
- Thread starter MarkRedman
- Start date
jerseyshorejohnny
Well-known member
Keegan Bradley and Tom Brady highlight the pro-am teams at the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
The 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is set to tee off on Thursday, February 7.
www.sportskeeda.com
jerseyshorejohnny
Well-known member
Not Keegan related but amazing to see someone choke their way out of a 59. Lol. Three straight putts on line but none reached the hole. Still a great round ny Wyndham today. 3 clear of everyone and 6 clear of all but 2. Usually when someone goes that low its because everyone is going low. Not quite the case today.
Moose
Well-known member
I do find it pretty ironic to call someone ranked 14th in the world of professional golf (maybe I'll drop him 8-10 spots if you include LIV) not mentally tough enough.
Bradley seems to be the Jenkins of golf for some Johnnies fans, good/very good is just not good enough, let‘s find reasons to knock him because he’s not great…..
Bradley is a very good PGA Tour professional who has successfully resuscitated his career after having issues when they changed putter rules. Always been a great ball striker. He still has a way to go for anyone to believe he's one of the top 25 in the world (not on the diluted tour). His win at the Travelers and 2nd at Farmers where against good fields. His 2nd at Sony and win at Zozo where pretty diluted fields. Doesn't "live in the top 10" like most of the current greats. He seems to have also taken steps to improve his likability in the media and with his tour player peers which will go a long way to getting recognition. Has matured a lot.
Like Jenkins, many want him to be great. Don't think either will be but I give Bradley a better chance. But he's approaching 40 so he doesn't have a lot of time. Jenkins has even less.
Definitely not a top 10-20 golfer consistently. But i think he is back in top 30 with ability to beat anyone at anytime as you said he has resurrected his career.
But I know many expect him to drop on the weekends as he has done many times but the last year or so he has closed much better. Still with the hiccup here and there though.
Moose
Well-known member
You are a golf fan so curious if he's 14 now with only PGA players. What LIV golfers in your mind are better than him if they were allowed to be ranked because I'm curious how far he would drop. I think around 25 is pretty safe. 30 for sure.
Rahm
Cam Smith
Meronk
Koepka
DJ
Hatton
(maybe Bryson)
Agree with you moose on that spot for him.
There are definitely a bunch of PGA tour players with a lower world lgolf ranking that I would take over him as well. Spieth, Kim, JDay resurrected, JT same, Sam Burns, and Finau. Maybe Cam Young. To the LIV list I'd add Niemann. What about guys like Na with a similar career trajectory but 9 career wins? Ancer is also a rising star. Add those to your list and that's 31 players. I'd batch him in the bottom 3-4 of that list. So we're not that far off.
Moose
Well-known member
I think its a lot like recruiting. After the top 10-15 its a big group with probably no real difference between 21 and 50. Depending on who's on a streak etc. Two years ago I would have said Finau was rising but lately he's floundering. Can Justin and Jordan regain form? Day was unstoppable until his body broke down.
Then there's rising stars like Theegala (local guy so increased interest here as I know folks who work at Pepperdine) who I would put above him as well, and there's a few others. Another key stat I looked at is Top 10s last year. Keegan was T26 on that list on the PGA Tour last year. Ten guys we haven't even discussed were above him on that list last year as well. Keegan shows really well in select weeks but he's not as consistent as a lot of the guys in his weight class but many of them don't have his key accomplishments . . . yet. His primary claim to fame is winning the PGA (14 years ago). Since then he's had only 3 top 10's in majors. Legends and careers are made in majors.
Of course if he never won the PGA we probably wouldn't be having this conversation at all.
And if he didn't got to St Johns . . .
Of course if he never won the PGA we probably wouldn't be having this conversation at all.
And if he didn't got to St Johns . . .
Yeah but at their bottoms they're still as good as Keegan. And JT and Jday both have multiple top 10s this year already. Spieth just 1 but he's only played two events.
You definitely sound like you know your golf and golfers austour but I would take Keegan over a couple of those guys you potentially are saying you would over him. At this point in time Keegan is definitely a top 30 golfer in the world but there are so many good golfers out there in this day and age.
Moose
Well-known member
Of course if he didn't go to SJU I wouldn't care an iota about him. But also he's been very consistent player in a global sport played by thousands who want to play on the Tour. His career definitely plateaued after that win and the Ryder Cup with Phil. But he's still made himself a pretty damn good career.
The question is what is your best indicator. Top 10's might be a good one. World Ranking does have flaws. Can't a golf nerd like Ken Pom come up with a Major World Ranking system? Might be good benchmark. Could it be missed cuts. Nothing like working 2 days and not getting paid for the 'work'.
I just took exception to the weekend comment. We can line him up against any of the names you mentioned and have fascinating debates with all of them.
Personally I like Theegala's game a lot. We all wish JT and Justin haven't have so many stop and go's.
The question is what is your best indicator. Top 10's might be a good one. World Ranking does have flaws. Can't a golf nerd like Ken Pom come up with a Major World Ranking system? Might be good benchmark. Could it be missed cuts. Nothing like working 2 days and not getting paid for the 'work'.
I just took exception to the weekend comment. We can line him up against any of the names you mentioned and have fascinating debates with all of them.
Personally I like Theegala's game a lot. We all wish JT and Justin haven't have so many stop and go's.
Think what it is is that in many tournaments KB would tease you by having a very low round and put himself in good position if not outright leader after 2 or 3 rounds then on Sunday he gives it up. Winning twice in the past year is nice but prior to that if I had to title his professional golf career it would be Never On Sunday.
Add Zalatoris to the stop and go. Injuries have derailed what might have been a stellar career.
My best personal indicator is how they play in the majors which is why I don't hold Keegan in higher regard. And I agree about the weekend comment. Any given day any of these guys can go either way. And stats are skewed by what courses they played on.
But with Keegan his downfall is his getting out of trouble. Last year he ranked 150+ in both scrambling and sand saves. That's why his ball striking is key, especially now that his putting is sooooo much better. I bet if we tracked his results on courses by size of green or average score you'd find he struggles on the harder courses to hit the green unless he has an even more stellar ball striking week.
Listen, he's definitely somewhere between 25 and 50 and yes that can change a lot week to week, but I wouldn't be on him to win in a big tournament or on a tougher than average course. He might but there are a lot more likely to do so. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Keegan is more of an accumulator than a bonafide star.
And to Eric, I didn't go to St Johns and care not one iota about anything about the school besides the men's basketball team so I might not be taking some of the intangibles of this board into consideration.
And I care about the school more than my sister who went to law school there.