THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 12, 2022

Keegan Bradley

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. Just talk about what was the key to dealing with these conditions.

KEEGAN BRADLEY: I mean, this is probably my best round, one of my best rounds of my life, honestly. This is as tough as golf as you're ever going to play. This is a course you want to play under no conditions because of how tough the shots are, and to play in this wind, to play like that, that was really, really a special round.

Q. What were some of the weirdest shots you had to play?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: I mean, I hit 9-iron from 95 yards, then a couple holes later I hit 9-iron from 208 yards. To me there's no yardage. It's just the trajectory of your ball, whatever club you can get to fit that window, that's the shot.

Q. Which two shots were those?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: I hit 9-iron on 12 and then I hit 9-iron into 16 from I don't even know the full number, about 206.

Q. When you have conditions like these how close is it to being unfair versus being a challenge?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: I think the TOUR did a good job. We're lucky that it's wet. Man, I'll tell you, that 17 and 18 are playing hard. I don't know if I've ever played two holes as hard as that. But I think they did a great job. To be able to play under these conditions, they've done a good job.

Q. What was your line off of 18 in that wind?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Honestly, on 18 I would have been okay blowing it right, but you've got to take such an aggressive line to get it in play. The tee is up, I've never seen it up, but I had 185 and I hit 4-iron. Man, those two holes -- and then 1, that pond is sneaky in play on 1 that's supposed to be just for looks there. But tough stretch there.

Q. And then the penalty, what happened and when did you realize that it was a penalty?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Well, apparently the rule is -- I thought as long as everyone in my group, and I guarantee most of the entire field thought the USGA changed the rule to simplify it, put your coin down, that's where your ball is. So put my coin down, the ball moved, a huge gust of wind came up. I looked at the guys in my group and we all said, yep, the coin was down first, all good. Didn't think about it again until Gary came up and spoke to me on 2, and proud of the way I handled that because that was tough news, especially with some tough holes in front of me.

Q. You mentioned yardages didn't seem to matter out there anymore. Not surprising that Bubba is like 4-under the way he plays golf out there?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, I think you're going to see guys -- obviously good ball strikers but guys that aren't so linear hitting hard shots on every hole. You know Bubba can finagle a bunch of shots in there. It's a tough day to play. You've got to be up for it because even tapping in tiny little putts is just brutal.

Q. Part of the draw of golf, and this week seems to be an exaggeration of that, did you sit and think that oh, I'm on the wrong side of this draw or does that not even dawn on you?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, we were all sitting inside yesterday going, oh, no, let's get out there and play last night because we knew this was coming. I saw some Tweets from the guys hoping that we didn't play, from the other side, which has never happened. They're hoping we don't play so then they get pushed out of today.

You know, that's just the way it goes in golf. It's kind of a strange thing in our sport. So silly that that's even a factor, but it is. I did a good job today. I really shot 3-under, but 1-under is a good round, too.