As much as he tries, Keegan Bradley can’t get a possible spot on the Presidents Cup out of his mind.
“The cliché is to say that I’m not thinking about it,” Bradley said after Thursday’s first-round 64 at the Tour Championship. “But literally probably every third hole, or maybe even less, it pops into my mind.”
The 10 automatic spots have been determined for the international competition that will be played in Australia in November. Captain Fred Couples has two additional picks. One already has been promised to Tiger Woods. He will make the other Tuesday.
“I really want to be on the team, but I want to earn my way onto the team just like I’m going to have to. If the captain and assistant captains think I’ve done enough to get on the team, they’re going to pick me. And if they don’t, that’s totally fair, too.”
The first-round lead at the Tour Championship won’t hurt his chances.
Mahan from the water
Hunter Mahan hit the most interesting shots of the first round. His tee shot on No. 17 came to rest on the edge of the lake guarding the left side of the fairway. With a portion of the ball above water, Mahan went into the lake barefoot and played a shot back into the fairway. He finished with a bogey.
Mahan, whose white pants were no worse for wear after the shot, said he thought it was better to hit from the water then to take a penalty stroke and hit from the rough.
“It’s new sensation hitting out of the water,” Mahan said. “I just had to get it out. If I could get it up and out anywhere in the fairway I was going to be fine. I could give myself a chance.”
Mahan promptly chipped in from off the green on No. 18 to recover the stroke.
Big putt, big money
The golfers competing at this week’s Tour Championship at East Lake aren’t hurting for cash.
After all, the average Tour player earned almost $900,000 this year, and Webb Simpson topped the field with $5.6 million earned.
But the $10 million bonus that will go to the winner of this year’s FedEx Cup playoff has the attention of every player in the 30-man field, even if they are trying to think of anything but.
“Well, this week the zeros definitely catch your attention,” Dustin Johnson said. “There’s a lot of money. Definitely that’s enough for you to think about, for sure.”
Simpson said he is going to try to keep his mind off the money by keeping money off his mind.
“It’ll be in the back of our minds all week,” he said. “But I think the better we can try to focus on winning this golf tournament, it’ll kind of take care of itself.”
Etc.
Augusta native Charles Howell III and his wife are expecting their second child in October. Howell said if it’s a boy they will name him Charles Howell IV. “But we won’t call him Charles. I wouldn’t do that to him,” Howell said. “We’ll call him Chase.” … Charlie Yates Jr. and Kayla McClendon, of the First Tee program of East Lake, hit tee shots to cap opening ceremonies Thursday.
Staff writer Doug Roberson contributed to this article.
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