Keegan Bradley Wins PGA Grand Slam of Golf

Timonesss · November 2011

There's a lot of great golf to watch lately. After watching the McGladrey Classic and while I'm eagerly anticipating the appearance of Tiger Woods play in the Presidents Cup in November, the PGA Grand Slam of Golf provided a exciting opportunity to watch some of golf's best from the past year compete against each other.

On the windy Port Royal Golf Course, in idyllic Southampton, Bermuda, Keegan Bradley beat the other tournament winners (Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke and Charl Schwartzel) to take the PGA Grand Slam of Golf event, finishing 4-under for the tournament. The win on October 18 came after two exciting days of golf and I thought Rory McIlroy, who was the co-leader with Bradley after the first day (and one of my favorite young players on the tour), would continue his strong play and win the whole tournament.

But it was Charl Schwartzel who provided the serious competition for Bradley. He was on fire and really made the event exciting to watch. Schwartzel was really on a roll after sinking a big putt on the 5th hole, then knocking in five birdies in a row.

Bradley and Schwartzel battled for the rest of the day, but Bradley never let him catch up. It came down to the 18th and I almost thought we would be seeing a playoff. The swirling Caribbean winds made the day even more wild and Schwartzel dealt the best with the conditions, both McIlroy and Bradley lost a few strokes overall due to the wind. Even as the oldest and most experienced player in the event, Darren Clarke was a disappointment to me and wasn't really in the race on either day.

The Grand Slam of Golf field was made up of PGA tournament champions. Charl Schwartzel, the South African who won The Masters at Augusta National, Rory McIlroy, who won the U.S. Open at Congressional, along with Darren Clarke, who won the Open Championship at the Royal St. George course. Rounding out the four players was Keegan Bradley, who got his spot by winning the PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club. His win at Atlanta was his first start in a major.