Serby’s Sunday Q & A with… Keegan Bradley

With the U.S. Open on the horizon next week, golfer and St. John’s alum Keegan Bradley took a swing at a Q&A session with Steve Serby.

Q: What is your mentality on the course?

A: I’m very intense. .. .I’m very passionate about the way I play. I love showing emotion. I love making a putt and celebrating it. I’m not the type of player who’s gonna hold in emotion for four days. I love letting it out and enjoying it with whoever’s there watching.

Q: How did winning your first major, the 2011 PGA Championship, change your life?

A: Dramatically. I used to never be known at golf tournaments. All of a sudden, overnight, people knew. It was a big adjustment for me. In our sport, winning a major is the biggest thing you can possibly do. You’re put in a class of players that are very few.

Q: Did you take the Wanamaker Trophy into bars?

A: The Bruins had just won the [Stanley] Cup that year. They get the Stanley Cup for two days. [Zdeno] Chara took the Cup and walked out the front door with it and let people hold it, touch it, be around it. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I brought [the Wanamaker] around with me and let people touch it, take pictures with it, something I’ve never heard a golfer doing. I keep it in my room on the floor. Every day I see it, it’s amazing I did actually win that trophy.

Q: Does it motivate you?

A: Totally. It’s a reminder of what I’m capable of on the golf course, one of the best moments of my life.

Q: Do you aspire to greatness?

A:Yeah, definitely. My biggest fear is to just kinda go through my career without being noticed. I want to be one of the best players in the world.

Q: You are.

A: I’m trying.

Q: How would you assess your U.S. Open chances?

A: I’ve never played Merion. .. .I feel as though I should have a decent chance.

Q: What are your thoughts on the proposed ban on the anchored putters?

A: I haven’t put much thought into it. The rule doesn’t take effect until 2016.

Q: Do you think something can be worked out?

A: In 2016, the guys who use unconventional putters are going to have to make an adjustment.

Q: Do you think it’s unfair?

A: I respect the USGA’s decision. … I don’t necessarily agree. … Whatever they decide, I’d adhere to.

Q: Describe Adam Scott.

A: No weaknesses. Amazing player.

Q: Bubba Watson.

A: Long. Freakishly, naturally talented.

Q: Dustin Johnson.

A: Probably could be the best player I’ve ever played with.

Q: Rickie Fowler.

A: Very steady. … Somebody you wouldn’t want to see on Sunday.

Q: Phil Mickelson.

A: A mentor to me. One of the game’s greatest players ever.

Q: What are your practice rounds with him like?

A: We do play matches a lot on Tuesdays of tournaments. It gets you prepared for tournament play.

Q: What drives you?

A: Fear of playing poorly is a huge motivation. Also winning — I’d love to win more majors. I’d love to win a ton of tournaments. The high of winning is so amazing, you always try to chase it.

Q: Michael Jordan.

A: We’re members at the same course [The Bear’s Club in Jupiter, Fla.]. He loves golf more than anybody I ever met.

Q: How good a golfer is he?

A: He can make four, five birdies in a row. He’ll break 80. I give him 10 shots per round. I have to play well in order to beat him.

Q: Is he a big trash talker on the course?

A: He doesn’t stop talking when we play. He’s always telling me I got a bad short game. Tiger [Woods] would have got that up and down. He’s beaten me once in the 25 times we’ve ever played. I’ll let that be the judge (laugh).

Q: Has he helped you with the mental side of the game?

A: He’s always told me to let the game come to me. Sometimes you can try to force playing well.

Q: He’s also told you to be cocky.

A: Not cocky to other people, just cocky to yourself. Just let your talent take over.

Q: What is your relationship with Tiger?

A: I have an unbelievable relationship with Tiger. He goes out of his way to help me and be super nice to me. He’s just a genuinely good guy to me. We have lunch together. … I feel like he’s one of my buddies out there, which is a good feeling to have.

Q: Do you pick his brain?

A: I try to give him his space. Just being around guys like M.J. and Tiger, just being in their presence is great for whatever sport you play.

Q: Why is that?

A: They’re such accomplished athletes. They have such an aura about them.

Q: Since 2010, Dr. Bob Rotella has also helped you with the mental side.

A: He’s just there for me to call if I feel a little down.

Q: Was he in Atlanta when you won the PGA Championship?

A: He was right there with me the whole way.

Q: What was the best piece of advice he gave you?

A: He wanted me to downplay everything, not to get too emotional. Whether I made an eagle or a double-bogey, he wanted me to keep on an even keel the whole round.

Q: You must have heard his voice after your triple bogey on 15.

A: Definitely, for sure. I always hear his voice out there.

Q: Describe your encounter with your idol, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

A: I’ve never met Brady. He sent me a text message the day after I won the PGA, which was the coolest thing that ever happened to me, saying how pumped he was I won the PGA, how he envied the way I handled myself down the stretch.

Q: Why was he your idol?

A: I just loved the story of how he was a sixth-round pick, he fought his way to play in the NFL, he was a backup, earned his way as a starter, won all those Super Bowls. … Everything he’s about is what I want to be about.

Q: How excruciating was it watching him lose those two Super Bowls to Eli Manning and the Giants?

A: Horrifying. The first one was really brutal.

Q: You were at St. John’s at the time.

A: Half the guys were from Boston and half from the New York area on my St. John’s team.

Q: On the other hand, you were also there when your Red Sox came back from down 3-0 in the ALCS against the Yankees in 2004.

A: It was awesome. I went to Game 1 of that ALCS at Yankee Stadium when they lost … and also, Queens is very Mets, and Met fans hate the Yankees as much as Red Sox fans.

Q: What was it like throwing out the first pitch at Fenway after winning the PGA Championship?

A: Ever since I was a little kid, my dream always was to throw out the first pitch at Fenway. The Yankees were in town, and they asked me to throw out the first pitch. It was the most nervous I’ve ever been. I wish I could do it again so I could enjoy it a little more. It was one of the best memories of my life.

Q: How was the pitch?

A: It was a little high, over the plate. I didn’t bounce it in there, that’s all I cared about.

Q: Did you meet some of the Red Sox?

A: Tim Wakefield, Jon Lester, [Kevin] Youkilis — they’re all big golfers. They were getting ready to play, so I didn’t bother them too much.

Q: Are you OK with Youkilis as a Yankee?

A: I’m fine with it. Bobby [Valentine] ran him out of town. I loved at the beginning of the year when [Youkilis] said he’d always be a Red Sock.

Q: Winning the 2011 Byron Nelson Championship?

A: It was pretty amazing. I was a rookie on the Tour, I didn’t have much job security before that week. When I won that week, I knew I had a place to play for 2 1/2 more years no matter what happened.

Q: The Ryder Cup?

A: The most passionate thing I’ve ever done in my life. The most rewarding thing. Anytime you play for your country it’s a huge honor.

Q: A scouting report on Keegan Bradley.

A: I think my driver’s a big strength. I consider myself to be a pretty straight driver of the golf ball. I love chasing down leaders. I’m constantly working on my short game.

Q: Why do you enjoy chasing down leaders?

A: I enjoy people thinking I got no chance and come back and win.

Q: Do you love being the underdog?

A: I’ve always been underlooked my whole career. Not many expected me to be a Tour player. No one really expected me to win in college.

Q: Why St. John’s?

A: I really liked the coach, Frank Darby. We play some of the best courses in the world on Long Island and Westchester. Coach Darby believed in me, gave me a scholarship my freshman year, something I needed in order to play college.

Q: What was your experience at St. John’s like?

A: Spectacular. … I met a lot of the most influential people in my life — Dr. Glenn Muraca at Wheatley Hills, who basically sponsored me when I turned pro. I was in Houston, Texas, on the Hooters Tour, I had $1,200 in my bank account in Houston and Q [Qualifying] School was due that week. I got up the nerve to kinda ask Doc. He wanted my bank information, and he wired me $6,000. That week I went on to win the Hooters event and I won $35,000.

Q: What were the circumstances when you met Dr. Muraca?

A: When I graduated St. John’s, I needed a place to play, really to work on my game. Wheatley Hills let me work in the bag room and allowed me to get full playing privileges at their course.

Q: Describe Bethpage Black.

A: I have a lot of fond memories. It’s a golf course that’s very fair but very difficult.

Q: What was it like living with your father in the place you called Tin Cup II.

A: We lived in a 10-foot trailer together in Boston the summer of my senior year of high school. It was definitely different, but it was a great experience. It gives a lot of perspective when I look back. I keep a picture right in my room so I can remember every day.

Q: Your aunt is LPGA legend Pat Bradley.

A: She’s the most influential person of why I wanted to be a PGA Tour player. I looked up to her the most of any athlete growing up. She’s my idol. I loved everything she did on the golf course. She was so intense, an extremely hard worker.

Q: Other favorites growing up?

A: Freddie Couples. … Obviously Tiger Woods. He came on the Tour in ’97, I was born in ’86. Him winning the Masters was my first vivid, vivid memory of watching golf and loving it.

Q: describe your home town — Woodstock, Vermont, population 3,200.

A: Great place to grow up.

Q: No traffic lights?

A: Zero traffic lights. Zero fast food places. Very old school.

Q: You were quite a ski racer.

A: For a while, I was a better ski racer than I was a golfer.

Q: Three dinner guests?

A: Howard Stern, Rob Dyrdek, Tom Brady.

Q: Why Howard Stern?

A: I love Howard Stern. I’ve been listening to him for close to 10 years. I was in my car so much on the Hooters Tour, it kinda helped me stay sane out there.

Q: Superstitions?

A: You mark your ball with a coin. I always will mark the ball heads up.

Q: You like to fish.

A: I’m a good freshwater fly fisherman. I live in Florida now. It’s a totally different way of fishing.