THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Keegan Bradley to the interview room here at the Sony Open in Hawai'i. You're making your 13th start at this event. Your most recent start you finished runner-up to Grayson last year. He's been on our minds this week and I'm sure he's been on your mind, as well.
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, he certainly has. Weird feeling yesterday playing the 18th hole for me. Last time I was there I was there with Grayson. Really sad. Really a horrible thing. Hopefully we can honor him, his legacy here for a long time.
Q. You played last week at the Sentry, finished T15. Thoughts on the overall state of your game as you head into week 2 of the 2025 season?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Pretty good. Maui is never a real great place for me, so 15th is a pretty good finish.
I always feel a lot better coming here after Maui. I feel sharper. My legs are in better shape after hiking around that place. I always feel a little bit sharper here.
Q. Everyone seems to be talking about your play as it relates to Ryder Cup basically. I'm more curious what your outlook is on this season, Ryder Cup notwithstanding, building off last year?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, I'm still on my mission to be the best player that I can be, one of the best players in the world. I haven't won a major in almost 15 years. I really want to contend in majors. That's number one on my list.
I've won three years in a row. I'd like to make that four years in a row. But I really want to be looked at as one of the best players in the world. Me being the Ryder Cup captain doesn't have anything to do with that.
I still feel like I'm in the prime of my career, playing the best golf I've ever played, and I want to keep building on that.
Q. Three in a row is pretty good.
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Really good. I went a long time without winning, so I've really tried at this point in my career to enjoy things more. When I'm in the final group at BMW or Hartford or whatever, take stuff in. I tried to do that at the Presidents Cup, especially on Sunday. I really am trying to remember the feeling, remember how nervous I was, remember what it was like to walk out of the locker room for the last time maybe at the Presidents Cup. Stuff like that. I've really just tried to enjoy the ups of the golf world.
Q. Where did you learn that? Did someone advise you or did you do that on your own?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: No, earlier in my career I regret a lot of things. I regret not enjoying the process more. I kept -- I won the PGA Championship and the trophy was in my closet. I was on to the next thing. I didn't take the time to cultivate many relationships, and I felt like -- I've been over this a ton, but I felt like everybody was my enemy. I felt like it was me against the world.
I look at this generation now, and they're all like best friends. I just think that's incredible.
They're not inside the ropes. They want to beat each other --
Q. I was going to say, if you talk to some of the old guys, that's one of the questions they have about this generation is the friendliness they have. Back in the '80s those guys were never friendly with people, and they wonder if that's back at the competitive level. Do you see otherwise?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I really don't. That was my thought process was like, I can't be friends with this guy that I'm going to be playing against. I always would come up with things in my head that they thought I was terrible or whatever, like made it up, and I believed it.
But these guys have a different outlook on life. I say this a lot, but for Scottie Scheffler and Xander, the top players in the world, it's really hard to be that good at something and be that nice. You have to have such a killer instinct to be the best in the world at golf or business, and these guys are like the nicest most friendly -- Xander is such a laid-back guy, and then you get him out on the golf course, and he's just a killer.
They're going to live a much happier life out here than the guys in the '80s did, than I did. But they are really competitive with each other. I think it can get a little uncomfortable for sure. I'm at the Presidents Cup, and we're getting ready to go for the opening ceremonies or whatever and I'm standing there with Sam, Scottie, Xander and Collin, and I'm looking at this group of guys, and I'm thinking, these four guys are going to be basically playing against each other all year long for majors, for history, for legacy, and they're joking around like best friends. I know that this group here is going to have a lot to say in the future of golf, and I just thought it was great.
Q. How different was that to what you had with Brendan Steele, with Phil --
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Well, Brendan, I became very close with Brendan, like very, very close. He's gone now, but that was even a couple years in. Steely is such a great guy that we just bonded right away.
But outside of that, I didn't have many. I had friends, Phil and stuff, but these guys, they go on vacations together. They spend time away from golf that I didn't necessarily do. I do with Steely, though.
Q. What have you done to try to change that?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: So probably four or five years ago, I really wanted to make another team. I really wanted to play. I felt like I was getting passed over a few times, and I really had to think, this probably could be my fault. I wasn't making much of an effort to get to know the guys, for them to get to know me.
Also when you go through such a horrible stretch in your career, you really appreciate the good times a lot more. So I promised myself if I get back to this level, I want to enjoy it more. So I decided I was going to make more of an effort to -- and part of doing the Netflix series was to have people see the real side of me. It's tough for me to be myself at a tournament. I'm an anxious, nervous guy, so it's tough sometimes.
Q. We were talking the other day who's going to be left to do Ryder Cups in the TV booth since everyone is involved --
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I know. I saw someone from NBC the other day, and I was like, you've got a lot of shoes to fill. But they're going to be a big asset to our team. Kevin, I sort of moved up the timeline with Kevin because of his obligations with NBC. I wanted to make sure if he couldn't do it.
Q. What do you think he brings?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: So Kevin brings -- what I was explaining early in my career, he did the exact opposite. He cultivated all these relationships with everybody. They love Kevin. Kevin is a guy's guy, bleeds red, white and blue, is a proper locker room guy. Like he's not going to be patting you on the back every time. He's going to mess with you, joke around with you, but also keep it very light.
I really envy -- what I envy most about Kevin is his interactions with the players, his insight to certain players' personalities, his competitiveness, but really just what happens if Kevin walked into this room right now. He changes the vibe. When you're in a room with all these Ryder Cup players and everyone is nervous, you need guys like Kevin.
Q. Also, did you play here in '11?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I did.
Q. Can you try to imagine what it's like for some of these rookies starting the season here with 100 cards instead of 125, compared to whatever level of nervousness or any type of cutthroat feel you had as a first-timer?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: It's a scary feeling. I think back to me, I walked out -- I got here my first event, I walked out to my first event, Ernie Els was on the putting green, and that was like a holy cow moment for me. But this West Coast Swing is so important so rookies. I didn't know how important it was when I was here.
But it's a real daunting feeling because you worked your whole life to get here, and now you have to play the best golf of your life in order to keep your card.
I look at the rookies, and part of me is I look at them and I'm so jealous that they have all of this in front of them, that they have this fun journey that they get to do, and another part of me is like, man, they've got a lot of pressure on them, starting right out of the gate. They're going to be nervous.
I wish them all the best. It's a really tough business to be successful in.
Q. You made THE PLAYERS as a rookie. How did you get in THE PLAYERS?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: I finished top 10 at Bob Hope, but I can't remember if Dallas was before PLAYERS or not. A handful of us got in. I remember Steely got in. That was a huge deal. I remember the purse was $10 million, and I couldn't believe it.
Q. Back when $10 million was like --
KEEGAN BRADLEY: $10 million was like shocking.
Q. Don't say chump change?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: No, it's definitely not.
Q. How have you celebrated the wins differently?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Well, I really -- my dad was at my last win, and we sat in the car -- I'm the most nervous when I sat in my car during the day because that's when you can lose focus and screw something up, so I tried to focus in, and when I left, I said to my dad, these next three or four hours, really try to take everything in because this is the moments you're going to remember when you win. You're not really even going to remember the putts, you're going to remember getting the trophy, going into the locker room, signing all the flags.
So I really tried to take moments, like I said, and put my phone down and look around and look people in the face, remember what I'm hearing, remember the feeling that I had, and really trying to remember how much hard work it took to get here. When you win a tournament like BMW you've beaten the best players, and it's a big deal.
So I tried to remind myself and tried not to think about, oh, now I've got TOUR Championship next week, I've got Presidents Cup I'm trying to make, trying to put that all aside.
Q. What are those special moments --
KEEGAN BRADLEY: So the BMW, my dad had never been there for a win, and we went out to dinner with Scottie, my caddie, Manny Villegas, and my dad. You sit there and you go over all the shots and the feelings. Oh, I hit this really bad shot here and I knew this was a pivotal moment but I made that putt, and everyone is so happy.
I like to look -- sit back and look at the joy in everyone's faces, like Scottie, my caddie, he's just made a ton of money, he's pumped. Look at my dad, he's euphoric from this whole thing. It was just a proud moment for me.
Q. How did Manny get the invite?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Manny is one of my buddies. He was flying out, I was begging him to come, and he popped in.
Q. What were you feeling leaving this place a year ago?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Horrible. This was the only tournament that I can think back of in my career where I definitely should have won that I didn't win. I've been fortunate enough, the ones that I should have won, I've won a bunch of them. I lost in a playoff at Riviera, but Bill Haas made this long putt and I birdied 18 to get into the playoff. Here, I was in control, I felt especially on the back nine, and I really felt like I should have won this tournament.
So leaving here didn't feel -- normally you have a second or third you're still leaving really excited. I didn't have that feeling here. I was bummed out.
Q. Are you worried about Riv?
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, any news?
Q. I got a text from someone in Florida who says the course had not been touched yet.
KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, it's sad because I played with four guys from LA today, and they're stressed out. Their families had to evacuate, and their homes could be gone. It's sad.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports