PALM HARBOR, Fla. — As the ball sailed through the steamy, shimmering late afternoon sky, Keegan Bradley thought he had gotten away with a poorly-hit 8-iron.
The Jupiter, Florida, resident set his eyes on the bunker short of the 13th green and thought if that’s where it was headed it could be worse.
It was.
The ball never reached the bunker, instead hitting the wall that keeps the earth from falling into the water and bounced back into that lake.
Bradley bent over his 8-iron and dropped his head in disbelief. He knew at that moment his chances of a fifth PGA Tour win likely were sunk. Just like that ball.
“I just hit a terrible shot,” he said. “I hadn’t really hit a really bad shot all week and you just can’t hit it there. It was a bummer.”
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That shot turned a two-man deadlock at the Valspar Championship into a two-shot lead for Sam Burns, Bradley’s playing partner the final two rounds. Burns would double that lead three holes later before settling for a 68 and finishing with a 17-under 267, three shots ahead of runner-up Bradley.
“I’ve done pretty well in my career when I’ve had a chance,” Bradley said. “I just didn’t hit the shots that I needed coming down the end.”
Bradley, 34, was able to put the weekend in perspective. Yes, there was disappointment that he could not finish after an opening-round 64 and holding the lead after each round … outright after Thursday and tied with Burns following play on Friday and Saturday.
But his game is on the upswing after that final-round 71, mainly because of his putting. And recovering from that one bad shot enough to hang onto second place — even after missing a 4-foot par putt on No. 15 — says a lot about where Bradley is mentally.
Bradley admitted his putting woes had taken the fun out of his game.
“I just didn’t hit the shots I needed coming down the end,” he said. “But I’m proud of the way I finished off to come in solo second. A lot of points at stake, World Ranking points. I can take that away from it.”
What he can take away is his best finish in 43 starts, dating to the 2019 Travelers Championship when he tied for second behind Chez Reavie and got a check for $752,100.
Although Bradley had the lead at the turn, he seemed to be playing catchup to Burns the entire round. They started even, but Bradley dropped two shots by the third hole after Burns birdied No. 2 followed by a Bradley bogey the next hole.
Bradley battled back and regained the lead outright on No. 9 by dropping a 16-foot birdie putt. That lasted one hole before Burns birdied No. 11, his first of three birdies on the back nine (he had two bogeys but both after he took an insurmountable lead).
“You never wish that upon anyone, you never wish to see someone hit it in the water,” Burns said. “I was hoping Keegan would play his best. I wanted to see how I would hold up and see if I could beat him with my best against his best.”
What made that moment more surreal was this is not No. 17 at PGA National or the iconic island green at TPC Sawgrass. Though the hole played the second toughest on the course that was mainly because it had the second-fewest birdies. Bradley’s was just the second water ball off the tee on the day and the 11th in the 449 times the hole was played in four days.
In other words, Bradley had a 2.2 percent chance to putting that tee shot in the water when he addressed the ball.
Bradley is not going to let one shot derail what he believes is a resurgent career uptick. He said his game is in “great shape” and is confident he will be back in this same spot sometime soon, perhaps this week in Charlotte or in three weeks at the PGA Championship on Kiawah Island.
And nothing said more about his state of mind than his upbeat mood following the round. Bradley quickly turned his attention to his family as he walked off the 18th green with hugs for his wife, Jillian; sons Logan and Cooper.
“We got a four-hour drive back to Jupiter,” he said with a big smile. “We’ll see how much I like them then.”
No matter what happens on that drive, he will enjoy it more than that tee shot on No. 13.
