Sang-Moon executed a low-trajectory, high-spin shot en route to victory. (Pennington/Getty Images)

By Mark Immelman, Special to PGATOUR.COM

Lord Byron‘s event at TPC Four Seasons always attracts a stellar field as the PGA TOUR’s finest travel to the Lone Star State to pay homage to one of golf’s greatest champions and finest men.

The course layout is demanding from tee to green and play is normally defined by the warm and gusty North Texas winds. Hence it is those players who can flight the ball and control their shot trajectory (and make putts) who normally prevail around the firm and fast course conditions. This year, however, a band of severe Wednesday night thunderstorms changed the personality of the course and the first round became a birdie-fest with Keegan Bradley leading the assault on par with a 10-under 60.

The winds kicked up over the next three rounds and scoring became tougher. In the end it boiled down to a battle between the two members of the final Sunday pairing, Sang-Moon Bae and Bradley.

Both combatants were tied at 12 under as they headed up the par-5 16th. After getting their second shots into position, Bae faced an uphill pitch from about 40 yards and Bradley faced a pitch of about 50 feet from right of the green. Bae drove a low-spinning wedge into the green which gripped and spun back to about 5 feet from the cup. Not to be outdone, the gusty Bradley clipped a low and aggressive spinning wedge shot to just inside of his playing partner. Both shots were absolutely gorgeous and certainly worth learning how to play.

How to play the low, spinning wedge shot:

This shot starts at address. Move the ball back to around the middle of the stance and favor your lead foot (left for right-handers) as you set the bulk of your weight there. Lean the shaft slightly to the left (for righties) as you set your hands a little ahead of the clubface and the ball.

As you make your backswing, hinge your wrists up to steepen the shaft plane which will assist you to make a crisp, descending strike. It is recommendable to make a slightly shorter backswing as this will give you the freedom to accelerate through impact without the fear of the shot going too far.

Begin your downswing by rotating your lower body back to the left and swing your arms down through impact with the lead arm closer to the body and the left hand leading the clubface through impact. That lead hand should retain control of the action throughout the delivery so that the trail hand does not shut down the clubface. Once contact has been made, swing and extend the arms past the body into a shorter, balanced follow-through. Once again, the lead arm and hand should dominate the delivery and holding the club a little tighter with the last three fingers of the left hand will certainly help.
Get out and practice this shot; it will surely shave strokes off your score.

Good luck

Mark Immelman, the brother of PGA TOUR professional Trevor Immelman, is a well-respected golf instructor and head coach of the Columbus State University (Ga.) golf team. For more information about Mark and his instruction, visit his web site, markimmelman.com or follow him on Twitter @mark_immelman or “Like” Mark Immelman Golf Instruction on Facebook. He also has a golf instruction e-book called “Consistently Straight Shots – The Simple Solution” available on iTunes/iBooks.

Watch Bradley birdie the par-4 15th in Sunday's final round.

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

IRVING, Texas -- Keegan Bradley was hoping to go wire-to-wire this week at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. The disappointment of not being able to finish a job that started with a course-record 60 on Thursday stings, but he'll eventually look at the positives from nearly winning his second title at TPC Four Seasons Resort.

"Coming in second is great, which I'll love tomorrow," Bradley said after his final-round 2-over 72 left him at 11 under, two shots shy of Sang-Moon Bae's winning total. "Right now it's a little disappointing."

Bradley entered the final round with a one-shot lead over his playing partner Bae, fell behind by four shots early, then rallied to share the lead after making a putt from inside 18 feet at the 15th hole.

"I hung in there. I chipped away," Bradley said. "I was down four early on. I chipped away and got it back to even with four to play, which is all that I could have asked for. When I made that putt on 15, I was pretty confident that I was going to win this tournament."

But Bae made his short birdie putt on the par-5 16th while Bradley missed his from inside 4 feet. Bradley then bogeyed the 17th to cost himself a chance to win on the 18th.

"I love being in contention so I figured if I could hang and hang and hang, somehow I would find a way," Bradley said. "But just that putt on 16 was the end of it."

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

IRVING, Texas -- Keegan Bradley will soon play the par-5 seventh, one of two par 5s at TPC Four Seasons Resort. He has feasted on those two holes at this week's HP Byron Nelson Championship.

Bradley is a cumulative 7 under on the par 5s -- the seventh and the 16th -- through his first three rounds, with five birdies and an eagle on his six attempts. His eagle came at the seventh hole when he drove the green in two and made a putt from just outside 10 feet. That happened in the first round en route to his course-record 10-under 60.

No player in the field this week has performed better on the par 5s.

Of course, it's no surprise that Bradley has taken advantage of the par 5s. He ranks tied for third on the PGA TOUR in par-5 scoring average with a 4.50 average. Tiger Woods is first at 4.36 with Justin Rose second at 4.41.

Click here to follow the remainder of Bradley's round on Shot Tracker

Keegan Bradley (left) and Tom Gillis were in the same group on Saturday but have different tee times for Sunday's final round. (Pennington/Getty Images)

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

IRVING, Texas -- Tom Gillis wants nothing better than to overtake Keegan Bradley and win his first PGA TOUR event in Sunday's final round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship.

But that doesn't mean the 44-year-old Gillis, who starts the round two shots off the lead, isn't a big fan of Bradley. The two practice and play out of the same club in South Florida, and on Saturday, Gillis got his first up-close look at Bradley in a TOUR event as one of his playing partners.

"He's the 'new breed,' I call it. Very powerful," Gillis said. "That's the future of the game. He's one of the best players out here, there is no doubt.

"I've played with a lot of them, but this is the first time I've played with him in a tournament, and it's there. He's got the grit. He wants to do it. The sky is probably the limit."

The 26-year-old Bradley is seeking his fourth TOUR win and second HP Byron Nelson title on Sunday. 

IRVING, Texas -- Keegan Bradley rolled in a 34-foot birdie putt at the par-4 11th to move to 13 under during Saturday's third round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship.

Bradley led by two strokes over Tom Gillis through 12 holes.

WATCH MORE LONG PUTTS

Gary Woodland's 46-foot putt at No. 4

Graham DeLaet's 23-foot putt at No. 12

Scott Piercy's 30-foot putt at No. 12

IRVING, Texas. -- Tournament leader Keegan Bradley hit a 128-yard approach shot to 11 feet at the par-4 third, then sank the putt for his first birdie in Saturday's third round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship.

Bradley is even par on his round through seven holes and remains 11 under for the tournament, two shots ahead of playing partners Tom Gillis and Sang-Moon Bae.

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

IRVING, Texas -- Keegan Bradley certainly was satisfied with the course-record 60 he shot on Thursday. But he may have taken more satisfaction from Friday's second-round 1-under 69, a grinder's special that allowed him to maintain his three-shot advantage through 36 holes of the HP Byron Nelson Championship.

"I'm almost more proud of this round than yesterday because I didn't feel comfortable all day," Bradley said. "I don't know what it was. I can't put my finger on it. ... I was a little uncomfortable and then I settled it and hit some really good shots."

Following up a record round is never easy. Bradley knows that from experience. He once shot 61 at a Web.com Tour event, and shot 77 the next day.

After his round Thursday, Bradley said he received a 100 messages of congratulations from well-wishers but tried to put it in perspective.

"I don't get too caught up in it," Bradley said. "Whenever you shoot rounds like that, people make a big deal out of it, more than I do."

Still he didn't get off to a great start Friday.

Bradley has made five bogeys through the first two days at TPC Four Seasons Resort. Two of those bogeys have come at the par-4 first, and two others have come at the par-4 18th. For the middle 16 holes this week, Bradley is a cumulative 15 under.

On Friday, Bradley's opening drive missed the fairway to the left and his approach came up short of the green. He missed a putt from 6 feet, 7 inches that would have saved par.

"The first hole is probably the easiest hole out here," Bradley said. "I don't know why I keep making bogey on that hole."

Bradley birdied the fourth with a putt from just inside 9 feet, then bogeyed the sixth before birdies at the two par 5s (seventh and 16th) along with the par-4 10th.

Leading by four shots going to the 18th hole, Bradley didn't want to take any chances with water down the left side. So he bailed out again with his tee shot, just like on Thursday. His ball landed in the trees, and his low-liner under the limbs ran through the green and landed in the collection area on the other side to set up his bogey.

His caddie, Steve "Pepsi" Hale, said he might as well put a yardage plate in the trees for Bradley, given how frequently he find himself over there. But Bradley insists his problems off the 18th tee will be corrected this weekend.

"I'm going to hit good ones Saturday and Sunday," he said.

IRVING, Texas -- Tournament leader Keegan Bradley rolled in a 9-foot birdie putt at the par-4 10th and is now 11 under for the tournament and 1 under on his second round through 14 holes Friday at the HP Byron Nelson Championship.

Click here to follow the rest of Bradley's second round on Shot Tracker.

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

IRVING, Texas -- Veteran PGA TOUR caddie Steve "Pepsi" Hale had never been on the bag for a round of 60 until Thursday's first round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship when his man Keegan Bradley became the 28th player in TOUR history to shoot 60.

Hale said the closest he's seen his player strike the ball as well as Bradley did in the first round at TPC Four Seasons Resort was in 1989 when he worked as Curt Byrum's caddie. During the final round of the Las Vegas Invitational that year, Byrum shot an 8-under 64, a round that Hale still fondly remembers.

"I saw a flawless 64," Hale said Thursday night. "(Byrum) missed six putts from 5-10 feet. It's been a long, long time since I've seen a round like that."

Bradley's 60 on Thursday was near-perfect. He led the field in proximity to the hole at 18 feet, 2 inches, nearly 2 feet better than the next closest player, Freddie Jacobson.

Hale said Bradley had "great numbers" all day to hit full shots and played "a quality round of golf."

But of course, the round wasn't perfect. Bradley had two bogeys on Thursday -- the first time a player has shot 60 with two bogeys since records were kept in 1983. That covers 21 rounds of 60s on TOUR.

"I get stuck on the two bogeys," Hale said. "You always want more but you need to accept what you've got."

For a full report on Bradley's round, click here

IRVING, Texas -- Check out these video highlights from Keegan Bradley's course-record 60 that he shot in Thursday's first round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship. The video above is his eagle on the par-5 seventh.

MORE HIGHLIGHTS

Bradley's birdie at the ninth. Watch

Bradley's birdie at the eighth. Watch

Bradley's birdie at the fifth. Watch

Bradley's birdie at the second. Watch