Keegan Bradley wins Travelers Championship, breaks tournament record by one shot.
Keegan Bradley first attended the Travelers Championship as an elementary schooler, envisioning the day he would be on the other side of the ropes. Not only to play the Travelers, but to win it, with the crowd chanting your name on the walk up the 72nd hole? This is what dreams are made of. Bradley fulfilled his unique childhood dream Sunday at TPC River Highlands, carding 2-under 68 for a 23-under total and three-stroke victory over Zac Blair and Brian Harman, his sixth PGA TOUR title. Bradley, 37, grew up in Woodstock, Vermont, two and a half hours from Cromwell, Connecticut, but the Travelers – established in 1952 as the Insurance City Open – has cemented itself as the TOUR’s event for all of New England. The term “fifth major” can be cliché, but for Bradley and the Travelers, it certainly applies. He led by as many as six strokes Sunday and despite three bogeys in a four-hole stretch on the back nine, his field-leading 27 birdies meant that once he striped his tee shot on the water-logged par-4 17th, he was essentially in the clear. After putting out on No. 18 and raising his fists to the sky, he immediately thought back to his roots. “This is for all the kids that grew up in New England,” said Bradley, who accrues 500 FedExCup points, moving to No. 5 on the season-long standings. “I’m so lucky and so thankful to be from this New England area … This seems like a dream.” He was one of those kids, after all, and they’ll be striving to replicate his moment in the years to come.
