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THE MODERATOR: 2011 PGA Champion Keegan Bradley joins us at the 108the PGA Championship. Welcome to Aronimink and your 16th PGA Championship. This is a place you probably have some pretty fond memories up. What comes to mind when you think of Aronimink.KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, that was a major moment in my career. I never knew if I would win again on TOUR and I get to win for the first time in five or six years and the first time I got to win with my family here.My son, Logan, was a little baby, and they ran out on the green. So it was a dream for me since I was a little kid to be able to experience that. And to win at an amazing course like this is really, really extra special.Q. Based on your knowledge of the course, what is going to make the difference between winning and losing this weekend?KEEGAN BRADLEY: What makes this place difficult are the greens. So you really need to be able to control your distances, hit the ball in the fairway. Off the tee it's not extremely challenging, but the greens get really crazy and they are really mounded and hilly and just like a lot of northeast courses are like.So to put the ball in the right spot is really important.Q. Have you been out on the course yet this week?KEEGAN BRADLEY: Not this week. I came a couple weeks ago with some guys and played it but it was in incredible shape then and I heard it's even better now.Q. Just setup-wise, based on what we had in 2018, do you expect it to play similar, any specific differences that you've already noticed as we try to learn a little bit more about Aronimink? Been a while since we've been here.KEEGAN BRADLEY: When we played here last time it was so wet. It's not going to play like that. It actually made some of the shots in difficult because of how soft the greens were, come spinning off. Totally different. Who knows, the weather, it looks like it's getting better.Added a few tees. They made a lot of the finishing holes a lot harder. 18 was already difficult and they added 30, 40 yards there; same with 17 and 15. Seems like they have made a lot of the harder holes even harder but it's just an amazing venue for a PGA Championship.Q. You win the PGA, like rookie, rookie season. But is there a chance that your win here in '18 is kind of more important to your career because of what you've done since then?KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, definitely. I was in a really, really dark place with my putter, and this was the first glimmer of hope that I had. You know, when you put yourself in positions to win and you succeed, magical things can happen.You know, I didn't know how I would react to being back in that position, and I remember coming down the stretch and thinking in my head, I can't believe how calm you are in this moment. And you know, that's not something I say to myself very often.I was just really almost shocked that I was so calm, and really enjoying the moment of being in there, and I had this really incredible moment that I'll never forget the rest of my career that happened here. I was on the 8th green and it's adjacent to the 10th green and I'm in the final couple groups and I'm leading the tournament, and on the 10th green was Tiger Woods in his red and black. I looked up at the leaderboard and he was one back of me.I remember thinking, this is so crazy that I'm in this spot again and there's my idol and he's trying to chase me down and he's right there. It was just a moment that I was really proud that I put myself back in position to be there.Q. Regarding that performance 15 years ago, obviously a lot that's happened in your playing career since then. Now we come here to Aronimink in 2026, a bit since you've last seen it, how does your major championship preparation evolve over the years in your career?KEEGAN BRADLEY: This is really a different preparation because of the leadup to the tournament playing two weeks before. I don't know, I think when I actually won in Atlanta Athletic Club I had done that, but we don't normally do that very often now.That's why we came a little earlier and played the course. I just played balls today and going to play nine and nine. I have to be a little bit more conscious of getting some rest this week. What's great about this golf course, and a lot of golf courses in the northeast, is the hole's going to be right there. You see it and you know what you've got to do. There's not a lot of hazard. It's right there and you have to deal with it, and that's what I love about this place.I think coming a little earlier was helpful and then these next two days, I get a little feel for, it too.Q. You mentioned growing up in the northeast where Donald Ross greens are popular. What are your thoughts when you think about playing a course with Donald Ross greens?KEEGAN BRADLEY: I think you have to be very specific of where you're hitting it. I can think of several holes here where you can land it and be close to the flag, four or five feet and it's going to roll. The 11th hole is a really wild green, and if you missed it and it comes down off the green, it's coming like 50-, 60-yards down the front. So you have to be really accurate and precise with where you're hitting the ball on the green.Q. I was wondering, as a past champion, what makes the PGA Championship unique or different? Some players will say it's the strength of the field or the setup. From your point of view, what is the difference with the PGA Championship?KEEGAN BRADLEY: For me there's a lot of significant things. PGA of America has been really important in my career. My dad is a PGA professional, taught me the game, brought me up to where I could -- he was the head pro at golf courses where I could practice. PGA of America has always been really special to me.Playing in Ryder Cups and being the Ryder Cup captain I've gotten to know a lot of PGA of America people, which makes it extra personal.I think what separates the PGA to other majors is they have no agenda at this tournament. Kerry Haigh does an unbelievable job setting up major championship golf courses. You go to the U.S. Open, you know their agenda is they are going to make this ridiculously hard to the point of being unfair.You know, at the British Open, the weather, and the Masters is the Masters. It's just going to be tough and stressful.PGA Championship could be 3-under could win. Could be 15-under. They just want to host a great tournament, and I think they do an incredible job of that.Q. We talked to you at THE PLAYERS and you mentioned mentally, still, just struggling after Bethpage last year. Just wondering where you're at now with everything.KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, I'm starting to feel better. I really am. The last couple months, I've started to feel more like myself. I've gotten -- sometimes I'm a little too honest with how I'm feeling and it gets me in some weird spots.It was tough after the Ryder Cup and is it still is. I'll be driving down the road and things will pop into my head and think about things I had done or wish I had done different.Getting back out here and getting in the routine, I'm playing some better golf and I'm starting to feel a little bit more like myself out there, and I'm feeling a little bit more separated from Bethpage.As time goes on and I'm able to play another major, play some bigger tournaments, hopefully put myself in contention, those things will sort of kind of get back into the distance.Q. Following up on that, talking about feeling better, you almost made the team for the Ryder Cup last year but the captain decided not to pick you.KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah (laughing).Q. So how much would you like to be on the team next year for the Ryder Cup?KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, so I've been thinking a lot about that. It's going to be really hard, I know that. I'll be 41 when that happens. But what a cool story it would be. How fun would that be?I've sort of resigned myself. Ryder Cup's just so brutal to me over the years in every way. In every single way it's been brutal, and I have a tough time focusing in on something like that because of how tough it's been.But I've been sort of telling myself lately -- I told myself after Rome I was never going to get that emotionally invested. I was going to play my game and try to get on the team. But I'd really like to make that team in Ireland. I'd really love to play for Jim Furyk, who is an idol of mine, but also become a great friend and mentor.Getting to know the guys; the guys on the team last year changed my life. Changed who I am as a person, and I would love to play on a Ryder Cup with them.Q. Curious, what's it like, you go to the PGA Champions Dinner, what's that like, the gathering, when you're at that thing?KEEGAN BRADLEY: It's the most spectacular day of my peak golf year. Sometimes because we're busy and we're so focused on competing and getting better, you sort of forget some of the accomplishments you've made in your career.When I go to the Champions Dinner, I'm overwhelmed with emotion because to be in the room with these people and the way The PGA of America has done it since COVID, it's just been the players and we've been able to really hang out, tell stories, and hear, you know, stories from Larry Nelson and stories from Pádraig Harrington. It's really just an incredible night.Sometimes, as I'm getting older in my career, I'm trying to relish and enjoy these moments and I really look forward to that night tomorrow night because I feel it's a time you can actually go, wow, what I did there in 2011 was really something special and something that I get to enjoy with those group of people every year for the rest of my life.Q. You're a northeast guy. This is a northeast course. Do you get an extra energy from the crowd and from the venue being in a northeast course, having a tournament here?KEEGAN BRADLEY: Definitely. Yeah, I even went out on my deck today when I was at my house and I could smell, like, the northeast. I could smell the grass. It was different.But I take extreme pride and I feel a lot of weight to represent New England and the northeast in the golf world, because there's not that many of us. I feel like I have a duty to the younger generation and people that are growing up to show them that, you know, we can compete from being around here.It's difficult, but I do feel when I come here, not just the courses suit me a lot better here and my career, because this is how I grew up playing. But I do feel a duty to represent the area. Philly is a little bit south for me but I'll take it. It's northeast to me. Really the proudest part about me is where I'm from. I take a lot of pride in representing this area, and hope to be in contention.Q. For us that are still figuring out this course, reacclimating, can you pick out a consequential hole on the front and back that you think will make a big difference this week?KEEGAN BRADLEY: On the front, the 8th hole is a really, really tough par 3. It can play anywhere from probably about 180 yards to about 240. There's a run-off in the back that sort of goes up into the rough. It can be anywhere, I mean, I hit a 7-wood last time I was here. Just a brutal hole.And then 17 is like really properly tough. There's a new tee there from when we played and you're standing there, it's basically -- from the back tee it's basically a par 4. The flag looks really little. There's a lot that can happen on that hole. The water is in play.When you're coming down there with the lead, a one-shot lead, that's going to be a stressful shot. Those two holes, especially 17, because, you know, you can tuck these pins into these hazards that run into them, and you know the hole is going to be really tough.Q. How did you celebrate after winning the PGA in '11, and during the course of the year, was there some other big celebration that you did afterwards?KEEGAN BRADLEY: So after the PGA in '11, my mom and sister were there, and I remember my agent, Ben was there, and I remember driving out of the Atlanta Athletic Club with the Wanamaker in my lap, holding it like this, and we were looking at each other like, this is crazy. Like I was holding it.And then I went -- we tried to -- it was Sunday night. We were trying to get some beers or something. Everything was closed. And we went back, and I had Bud Light and cereal for dinner. We still have a picture of it in my house somewhere.And then I took the trophy and put it right next to my bed. I remember waking up in the morning and looking at it, like this is crazy. I can't believe this.And then I got back, and a few of my buddies picked me up. I was single and 25 years old, and all my buddies picked me up from the airport. We went on a few-day celebration tour with the trophy, bringing it everywhere.One of those moments that you get to share with people, and you know, some of the fondest memory of my life.Q. What type of cereal was it?KEEGAN BRADLEY: I forget what it was. Do you remember? He's got the picture. Whatever -- I was starving. It was midnight. After you're done with media, and I just remember like thinking, how surreal this was. It was Bud Light and cereal. It was the best meal of my life. Like one minute I'm a rookie and now I'm a Major Champion and I'm looking on my Twitter and every couple minutes, I've gotten thousand new followers. It was crazy, the night and the next following couple weeks.FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports167266-2-1003 2026-05-11 19:10:00 GMT
