Michael

Bradley

In four previous starts at the Puerto Rico Open, Kaye missed the cut last year, was 71st in 2019, withdrew in 2011 and finished T-45 in 2010. The 51-year-old has two PGA Tour titles on his resume, winning the 2003 Buick Classic and the 2004 FBR Open. He battled injuries and was granted a Major Medical Extension for 2008, 2009 and again in 2012. He didn’t make any Tour starts again until the 2017-18 season, and has since made just 10 starts with two made cuts. Kaye made his PGA Tour Champions debut in 2021 and played four events with two finishes inside the top 20 (T-16 Ascension Charity Classic, T-18 Boeing Classic). He finished T-47 at the final stage of the Champions Qualifying Tournament.

Bradley is 4-for-8 with zero top 30s in full-field events this year, but just about anyone in any field can go low at anytime. He hit 13 greens today but needed only 24 putts. Better yet, he converted nine birdies, five of which measuring over 11 feet. The most notable disappeared from six yards off the green at the 17th hole, 39'11" at the first and 25'7" and the seventh. He also poured in a par save of 12'2" at the eighth and reached the midpoint in 4-under 138, five strokes back of the overnight lead.

Bradley has four career wins and two of them have come at the Puerto Rico Open. He’s made three of six cuts this season including last week at The Honda. His GIR ranking of 22nd will be important to keep up if he hopes to be successful in his defense.

Bradley is the all-time money leader at this event, a not-so-surprising fact given he’s won two of the four editions. Until today, he’s scored under par in all 12 rounds. He was headed towards yet another low number as he sat 4-under through 12 holes but he bogeyed four of his final six.

Bradley will end the week well back in the field with an aggregate total of 3-under 72-71-72-70=285. He had a nice week with irons, hitting 76.4% of his greens in regulation for the week, but ranked well down the list in scrambling.

Seriously impressive stuff from a guy that hadn’t broken 71 in eight previous round at Kapalua. Bradley rolled in five birdies today including conversions of 38'0", 28'2" and 10'7" at the eighth, 13th and 15th holes, respectively. It bears repeating because it’s such a unique feat that his only top 10s in the last 11 years were his wins in Puerto Rico in 2009 and 2011.

Bradley was forced out after one round of the AT&T National with a hip injury. He then withdrew early from last week’s Greenbrier. Today he hit 12 greens and circled five birdies, including conversions of 14'3", 24'9" and 13'7" at the first, 11th and 14th holes, respectively. Alas, he also swallowed four bogeys, including a three-putt version from just inside 21 feet at the fourth holes.

After a withdrawal before his second round of last week’s AT&T National and his early WD from The Greenbrier Classic, both due to a hip injury, consider him a question mark at TPC Deere Run. He’s played in the tournament 13 times, including the last four, but has just one top-65 finish in eight appearances at the host track.

Bradley was scheduled to go off the 10th tee at 1:15 p.m. ET today. He opened the tournament with a birdie-free, 8-over-par 40-39=79. This drops him to 7-for-16 on the season with one top 30. He’s fully exempt on the PGA TOUR through 2013 by virtue of his victory at the Puerto Rico Open in 2011. If he’s able, he’ll give it a go at next week’s Greenbrier Classic where he’s listed in the published field.