As I said before, I'm not a golf fan. If you sat me down, on the spot, with a piece of paper and a pencil and told me to write down all the active golfers I know, I could probably get about 20. Maybe a few more or a few less. So when I was told I would be following a "Keegan Bradley", I didn't know who that was. The first time I saw his face was the first hole he teed off on, and I found out his age (24) a few minutes later.
But my friend Kara (who recently was converted from "Ashley's friend" to my friend") knows Keegan, and Keegan provided the tickets. So we owed it to Keegan to follow him around. This also gave me the opportunity to see all 18 holes at the Byron Nelson...something I wasn't able to experience at the Colonial.
What was interesting was that I'd actually heard of the other half of Keegan's twosome: 17-year-old high school amateur Jordan Speith. Kara was annoyed that Keegan was going to be part of this big mob of people following the local kid, and she braced herself for the crowds that would be overwhelmingly in favor of the other guy. And they were. As soon as Jordan shot, people started moving and talking. A couple of times, the crowd had to be stopped because Keegan was going to make a shot.
And while he was close all day, Keegan went into the clubhouse down a couple strokes...needing some help to win. But then one of the golfers in the lead bogeyed consecutive holes. And before we knew it, Keegan was in first place. It took a nice putt by Ryan Palmer to get to a one-hole playoff. Which Keegan ended up winning.
Kara was ecstatic. She had followed Keegan around for three of the four days of the tournament, and she'd mostly done it by herself (or just with us). Of the thousands of the people at the tournament, Kara might've been Keegan's only true fan. After all, he's not local, and it's his first year on the tour.
But someone else noticed...one of the volunteers working Keegan's twosome was aware that Kara was following Keegan around. He'd noticed her following Keegan (not just today...other days too) and wondered if Kara was, perhaps, Keegan's wife. And when Keegan won, he was quick to show up and offer high fives to the group.
But then something weird happened. Kara asked where Keegan would go after the win, and the volunteer said that he would be taken to the media tent for an interview. Then he asked if she'd like to go.
After that, weird things kept happening. As Keegan was ushered off, we followed him. The volunteer chaperoned us, getting us into the exclusive after-tournament party. We got to the front of the room as Keegan thanked all the volunteers and the military personnel on site. Keegan got to the exit, near us, and hugged Kara and the others in our group. We congratulated him, and it was pretty cool.
But Keegan still had to do his press conference. The volunteer, again, asked if we wanted to go. Not wanting to turn down more VIP options, we were driven by golf cart to the media building. Ushered by security again, we ended up seated at the Byron Nelson's champion's press conference.
It was a bit unreal. The day had gone from a vague notion of knowing one of the players to sitting in the media room as this guy got interviewed. After it was over, Keegan approached us again. I shook his hand, and I congratulated him on his big win. He said it was nice to meet all of us, and he seemed like a genuinely good guy.
Again, I don't really follow golf. But it was still a cool experience to be ushered around like VIPs. We were treated like Keegan's special guests (which, I suppose, we were in a way), and it was really cool.
So, if anyone asks me who my favorite golfer is, I have an answer. It probably won't be a name anyone recognizes (unless he keeps winning), but it will actually be an honest one. I'm not sure if I'll follow golf any more than I did before...but now I, at least, have someone to root for. And, at the end of the day, that's why I watch sports in the first place.
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