Keegan Bradley starts ‘special week’ with 62

CROMWELL, Conn. – Given the real-time world in which we live, the early-morning news from Round 1 of the Travelers Championship was instantly embraced. When you are on each of the first five greens in regulation – as Keegan Bradley was – and convert one putt from 20 feet and four others from inside of 7 feet to get to 5-under, well, the enthusiasm is ignited, and wonderment is overflowing.

What is going on with Keegan Bradley?

Standing quietly in the scoring area after posting 5-under 65, Kevin Streelman conceded he wasn’t in Bradley’s group, but he suspects that “the pie” held the secret to what turned about to be an 8-under 62. The pie? Yes, smiled Streelman, who was kind enough to explain.

As a golfer, you want all facets of your life lined up “and I tell (young golfers) that your golf is a pie and the slices of the pie are your prep work, your diet, your swing, your fitness, your situation at home.”

Streelman paused, then smiled, and added: “What comes at the end of it is the score.”

Without proper perspective, one might not understand Streelman’s “pie talk,” but trust us, he is the perfect source to explain what was going on with Bradley’s blistering start. That’s because if you think birdies on each of the first five holes on Thursday is cool, how would you size up seven consecutive birdies to close a Sunday round and win?

Correct, much more impressive.

“It was what sports psychologists would call ‘perfect flow,” said Streelman, recalling that Sunday finish in 2014 when he birdied Nos. 12-18 to edge K.J. Choi by one. “It was simple, it was fun, it was disciplined, it was aggressive. It was very easy; it was crystal clear.”

Playing at the same time as Bradley, but on different sides of TPC River Highlands, Streelman didn’t see even one shot of that 8-under 62. But he’d be spot-on with his “pie” theory because the slices are aligned in Bradley’s world.

“This is a special week,” said Bradley, a native New Englander, who is playing for the 13th consecutive year in what passes as a “hometown” event. “I don’t get to have my family out here a lot anymore and having them out here is an advantage for me.”

That slice of pie intact, Bradley also found the silver lining to missing the cut in last week’s U.S. Open. “I was able to get out (of Los Angeles) and I got here early and flew my coach here. We got in some great work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.”

Another positive piece. As is the fact he is having a solid season (one win, a runner-up, two other top 10s). Then there’s the most appealing piece – he and his wife Jillian and their two boys (Logan, 5 ½, and Cooper, 2) are all settled in their Newburyport, Mass., home where they plan to live for a good part of the year.

“It’s so awesome. We’re so thrilled,” said Jillian, who, like Keegan, is a Vermont native and has always wanted to live much of the year in New England. Landing in Newburyport – a very cool, very vibrant seaport town 35 miles northeast of Boston – checks all the boxes.

Keegan’s mother and sister live nearby, Jillian’s parents are an easy two-hour ride away, and Logan and Cooper have cousins and a deep pool of relatives to pamper them.

All in all, Streelman would categorize that as a pie that is quite tidy, and Bradley said as much.

“It was amazing. They’re all birdie holes,” he said of Nos. 10-14, which he played in 5-under to start his day. “But they’re all bogey holes, as well. I just hit perfect shots on every shot I had on those first five holes.”

He probably figured he was in for a memorable day when he finally hit a few loose shots – a drive into a fairway bunker left on No. 17 and an overcooked approach. But then golf raised its mysterious head: Bradley knocked in a 75-foot putt for birdie to get to 6-under through eight holes.

That’s when it entered his mind – the possibility of matching, or surpassing the PGA TOUR record of 58, established here by Jim Furyk in 2016. “I wasn’t thinking about it a lot,” said Bradley. “But I certainly was going to try to do it.”

The fact that Bradley didn’t come close to 58 – he made a bogey and three birdies over the final 10 holes for 62 – doesn’t spoil his day one iota.

In fact, to listen to Streelman tell you that “when all my relationships at home are lined up” it’s a crucial slice of his pie, is to know by watching Keegan Bradley off the 18th green – his ninth hole – that his world is solidly on its axis.

Eyeing Logan at the ropes with Jillian, Keegan Bradley came over and gave his oldest son a big hug and their secret handshake. Talk about a flavorful slice of the pie.