Another One Bites the Dust

Another scoring record, that is. Keegan Bradley's 60 (-10) at TPC Four Seasons Resort was the big news in golf Thursday. Granted, Thongchai Jaidee's 3&2 victory over Ian Poulter -- IAN POULTER, OF ALL PEOPLE! -- was impressive, but the Volvo World Match Play starts out with round robin play so Poults wasn't eliminated. If he had been, I'd probably be writing about that.

But Bradley stole everybody's thunder on Thursday. He made 10 birdies, an eagle, and 2 bogeys. Think about that, folks... if he hadn't made those bogeys, he'd have posted a 58 in a Tour event! According to an article by Mike McAllister:

Twenty-eight rounds of 60 have been shot on the PGA TOUR. Of those, ShotLink has hole-by-hole scores of the 21 rounds since 1983. Bradley's 60 is the first to include two bogeys.

As Darth Vader once said, "Impressive. Very impressive."

Perhaps most interesting was Keegan's mindset. I've pulled a couple of comments from his post-round interview. First, his answer to the question,"When did you start thinking about 59?"

Um, I didn't‑‑ I've played rounds before, one in particular Nationwide Tour when I was 9‑under after 14, and it was par 7 and I was thinking about it, but today I finished eagle, birdie, birdie so it didn't cross my mind very much, It did in the fairway, I hit a 136 yards, I hit a wedge, it was going right at it. And it crossed my mind for a second, and it would be unbelievable if I buried this! (Laughter.) But I had 3 feet to shoot 60. I was actually very nervous, uncomfortable over it and thank God I made it.

The other is his answer to the question, "How many places do you hold or share a course record, to your knowledge?"

I'm not 100% sure but probably four or five. It depends on if they still stand from when I was younger. Shooting a course record is pretty unbelievable at an event like this, considering the history and the players that have won and the players that have played here before me.

It's awesome. I was thinking a little bit of Phil today when he shot 60 at Phoenix. I was thinking about how, you know, I wanted to shoot 60, to at least compete with him a little bit with that one. For whatever reason I was thinking about it. I like to beat him every time I can, at anything, but it was a special day. I enjoyed the day.

Okaaaay... he wasn't thinking about shooting 59, he was thinking about beating Phil. I'm sure of it now -- that boy's deranged!

But I suppose you have to do something unusual if you want to get your second win at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. It certainly got Keegan off on the right foot. (Of course, if Phil tries to compete with Keegan at the U.S. Open... I wonder...)