What Keegan Bradley does with a clutch 6-foot phone might surprise you

Keegan Bradley always ranks highly in the stroke category that won the PGA Tour Statistics category: GRIT.

Maybe it has something to do with his growing up in New England under harsh conditions. Or during his time at St. John’s University, playing his game on Shin-Bethpage Black. Or hone in the mini tour that exploded on the PGA Tour with a major victory (2011 PGA Championship). For whatever reason, Bradley isn’t the kind of person you want to get along with in the Ryder Cup, nor is it in the final round of the Travelers Championship.

This is the scene on Sunday in TPC River Heights, where Tommy Fleetwood finds himself on the wrong side of Bradley’s allegation. After blocking a sloppy bogey, Fleetwood could only look back and watch Bradley be 6 feet tall to win. Bradley’s putter has only one place – at the bottom of the cup – but how He hit the circuit breaker from left to right, still causing some eyebrows. That’s because when he hits the putt, Bradley isn’t looking at his ball, but the hole.

Bradley has been using this “head-up” technique for years, but only on short putters. Six feet (5 feet 8 inches to be exact) ShortBut Bradley said his year has expanded his “cutoff” range because his unusual putter style includes 6 feet. “I probably wouldn’t have seen the hole from that distance last year,” he said.

Bradley’s eyes locked in the hole, shook his head and poured his birdie attempt to inflate the New England legion around him.

Bradley’s short distance is not 4 to 8 feet, and he ranks 111th on the tour this season with a rate of 66.67%, but he clearly believes that it has worked for him and that there is scientific data that it does not only work for him.

In 2017, golf biomechanics expert Sasho Mackenzie conducted extensive research with Neil Macinnis, a rigorously tested “experienced golfers who usually use NT putts.” [near target, meaning looking at the ball at address] Finding strategies to putt better while using feet – better in terms of percentages and missed distances [far target] Visual focus strategy for putters tilted within 14 feet. ”

In other words, it was Bradley who faced the putter on the 72nd hole.

“I talked to some players, like basketball players,” Bradley said. MJ would say you never watch the ball when you free throws. You look at the edge. So I started doing this. I started to do better. ”

Although unusual, Bradley’s technology is not unprecedented. Jordan Spieth hired the chief putter. So, Louis Oosthuizen and Tony Finau.

“I’m not as free as I want, so my coach just said, ‘Well, why don’t you look at the hole?’” Fenau said when explaining his technique at the 2021 Masters. “I started doing it and it started bleeding in the game. I had no game plan, but it seemed to have released me.”