So, there you go. Before he was a PGA champion, Keegan Bradley was a Globe All-Scholastic.
“Sure, I remember that,’’ golf’s Flavor of the Month said after shooting a 3-under-par 68 yesterday in the first round of the Deutsche Bank Championship. “I had a little Afro then. The best part about it was that people thought ‘All-Scholastic’ is for academics.’’
These are heady days for the 25-year-old Bradley. He’s been in demand since winning the PGA Championship three weekends ago in Atlanta. He’s given the Wanamaker Trophy more exposure than the Stanley Cup. Now that he’s playing close to home, he’s leaving up to 50 tickets for friends and relatives, and drawing big crowds.
Bradley stopped by Fenway Park Tuesday night to throw out t he first pitch to Dustin Pedroia before Game 1 of the Red Sox-Yankees series.
“It’s probably the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life,’’ Bradley said. “Fenway Park is a cathedral to me. I know Pedroia was saying some stuff to me after the pitch, but I was so happy it was over I kind of blacked out.’’
Thursday night he was in the tunnel in Foxborough, watching Tom Brady rally the troops before the final preseason game. Bradley made the ceremonial coin toss at midfield at Gillette Stadium.
He said those moments made him more anxious than the 35-foot sliding birdie putt on 17 at the Atlanta Athletic Club - the shot that vaulted him to PGA Championship.
“It’s just nice meeting the guys on the Red Sox and the Patriots, how nice they are and how they kind of look at me as one of their own,’’ he said. “It’s really, really fun to be in that kind of inside group. As a little kid it was more a dream of mine to just go to the games, let alone meet the guys.’’
He made arrangements to golf with Tim Wakefield this winter in Florida. He talked golf with Jon Lester. He got goose bumps talking with Bill Belichick. And he still has the congratulatory text he got from Brady.
