TO THE FORE
Bradley fighting his way back to relevancy after years-long slump
NASSAU, Bahamas — Keegan Bradley doesn’t want for much. He simply wants to be a part of the conversation again.
Bradley, the former St. John’s star, doesn’t want to be forgotten. Not now. Not while he’s just 32 years old and should be in the sweet spot of his prime.
Yet for the past few years, Bradley — who rapidly ascended to golf’s A-list with two wins in his first year on the PGA Tour, including the 2011 PGA Championship — was roaming in the wilderness wondering if he’d ever see the light again.
After becoming one of the it young players, Bradley suddenly was a forgotten man — a player who’d won a major championship and played in two Ryder Cups yet felt like he didn’t belong anymore.
“What I found to be toughest was the group of guys that I was playing with and on teams with, I just wasn’t part of that conversation anymore,’’ Bradley told The Post on Thursday after shooting a 1-under-par 71 in the Hero World Challenge opening round at Albany Golf Club to stand six shots off the lead. “That was an eye-opener. I never took it for granted, but I definitely didn’t realize how much I would miss it if I didn’t have it.
“For years, it was just a given I was going to be playing in every major championship and the WGCs.’’
Then the results went sideways — no wins and just two official top-five finishes from 2015 to the end of this current season, when Bradley finally broke through with a victory at the BMW Championship in August at Aronimink outside of Philadelphia.
It was Bradley’s first win since 2012 and it put him back on the map, qualifying him for the Tour Championship for the first time since 2013 and boosting his world ranking to its current No. 29. It, too, was responsible for getting him into the Hero, the elite, who’s18-player-field hosted by Tiger Woods and his foundation. “This is a bonus for me,’’ Bradley said. “It’s always a big deal to play in this tournament. It means you’ve done a lot of great things.’’
Golf is one of the cruelest games for a lot of reasons — the most prominent of which is how quickly a player can lose what he once had. Bradley’s decline is a cautionary tale for players who think they’re going to keep riding the crest of the wave.
Bradley’s slump, which dragged down his world ranking, caused him to miss the past two Masters and the 2017 British Open.
“When I look at the time frame, it wasn’t that long ago that I was in all of the majors,’’ Bradley said. “But it felt longer.’’
Missing out on the team events also ate at Bradley’s soul. Few players openly embraced being a Ryder Cup member more ferociously than Bradley, who played in 2012 and 2014 but hasn’t been a part of the past two.
“There was a point even as early as last year — even two years ago — when I was involved in some of the Ryder Cup meetings,’’ Bradley said. “I was invited. This past year at one of the tournaments, I heard a couple guys talking and I realized I wasn’t even invited to the meeting ... nor did I deserve to be. I understood it [but] was just like, ‘Wow, I’d come pretty far there [and] now I’m not in the conversation.’
“Those times hurt,’’ Bradley said. “It hurts to watch majors on TV. It’s brutal, especially the Masters. Just being home watching as a fan, you feel distant from some of the guys on the Tour that I’ve been playing with forever.’’
The BMW win changed everything, opened doors Bradley never thought he’d need opened for him.
“Just with the one win I feel like I can be back to this level,’’ Bradley said. “I feel more comfortable in this position than I do from the outside trying to play my way in. It’s where I feel like I should be. I hope to be a part of the conversation going forward.’’
That’s not too much to ask, is it?