Bradley on his mom: 'She's been my biggest cheerleader'

Keegan Bradley is a major champion and a four-time winner on the PGA TOUR who is looking to make his 10th straight trip to the FedExCup Playoffs.

But there was a time when he was a chubby-cheeked kid who couldn’t decide between racing down ski slopes and driving down fairways. He was good at both, although golf finally won out, and his mom Kaye was always waiting at the bottom of the mountain or beside the 18th green.

“She was always taking me to ski races, supporting my love for sports, and she was a person in my career that doesn't get a lot of credit, but deserves it,” Keegan says. “... Throughout my whole career, she's been my biggest cheerleader, and I always know when I'm out there playing that she's following every shot on ShotTracker, and living and dying with every one of them.”

Kaye comes from a family of golfers, and married into one. (Pat Bradley, LPGA Hall of Famer, is Keegan’s dad’s sister.) She plays for fun but leaves the competition to Keegan -- although she’s the one who suggested he go ahead and make the switch from the anchored putter, with an assist from his buddy, Michael Jordan, more than a year before the ban was official.

When Keegan beat Jason Dufner in a playoff at the 2011 PGA in his major championship debut, Kaye was among the many in his gallery at the Atlanta Athletic Club. She even made peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches for him to nibble on during the final round.

The many acts of love weren’t lost on Keegan, who is now married with a son of his own.

“My mum is very hard-working and takes a lot of pride in what she does,” Bradley says of Kaye, a women’s clothing sales representative.

“She is very caring,” he adds, “and I hope that I have that side of her in me, definitely. I admire a lot of what she does, and hopefully I was able to take her qualities and make myself a better person and player.

“She's very resilient, and she's very patient with everybody,” Bradley continues, “and that's something that I hope I've learned from her. But she's also, like I said, very hard-working, and a very caring and determined person, and I think that that's what I've taken most from her.”

Seven years ago on Mother’s Day, Kaye gave PGATOUR.COM a list of 18 things people didn’t know about her son, who won the 2011 Arnold Palmer Award that goes to the TOUR’s top rookie. He now turns the tables so fans can learn how important she has been to him.

Here with, Keegan’s 18 things about his mom:

1. She is the best grandmother (“Mimi”) to her three grandchildren. They love her!
2. She always cooks my favorite meal when I come home, which is breaded chicken, rice pilaf and corn.
3. My mum has always put her kids first in her life and has set us all up to succeed.
4. She is my good luck charm!
5. My mum is an avid New England sports fan, even though she falls asleep when the games are on too late!
6. Once, when I was little, I was so sad I couldn’t play golf in the Vermont winter, she drove me five hours to a year-round range in Cape Cod.
7. My mum is happiest when she’s around her kids and grandchildren.
8. She loves to work out!
9. My mum’s family is a very accomplished golf family. Her sister, my aunt Peggy, has won her club championship six times. And my grandfather has won the Maine Senior Amateur twice and broken his age countless times.
10. My mum drove myself and my friends around on my 21st birthday in Boston!
11. She always cries when my family or my sister’s family leaves her!
12. I know my mum gets very nervous when she watches me play ... even though she says she doesn’t.
13. My mum saw my first ever hole-in-one. She was on the green watching.
14. We had cereal and drank Bud Lights the night I won the 2011 PGA Championship.
15. My mum caddied for me in the Par 3 Contest in my first Masters, and hit a shot on the ninth hole.
16. She is an extremely hard worker and has won several awards in her field, which has always been an inspiration to all of us.
17. My teammates at St. John’s University always loved when my mom would come because she’d cook for all of us and clean the entire apartment!
18. Her family would do anything for her ’cause she’s done everything for us.