Eileen Blass-USA TODAY
Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley were without a doubt one of the hottest teams at last year’s Ryder Cup. They duo played incredibly well together and seemed to feed off of one another on the course. Well, they apparently have a pretty solid relationship outside of the ropes, as well. They’re at least comfortable with one another to exchange some friendly banter.
Bradley, who will be defending his title this week at the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational, gave some insight into his conversation with Mickelson after “Lefty” won the Open Championship. “I texted him, and it was fun to talk to him about the round,” Bradley said. “This was a couple of days ago. We were double checking we were going to play on Tuesday, and I said, ‘I know you’re the champion golfer of the year, but I’ll teach you how to play Akron if you want.’ And he only responded with, ‘I won there when you were nine years old.’”
It’s always enjoyable to hear about good relationship between professional athletes, especially those that compete against each other on a regular basis. Not every relationship has to be contentious, and Mickelson and Bradley are just one example of that. When you spend as much time together as PGA Tour pros do, it’s impossible not to develop relationships – whether positive or negative. Unfortunately, the bad blood is generally what we hear about.
The repartee between the two southpaws also goes to show the amount of respect that the majority of his competitors have for Mickelson. Sure, not everyone gets along, but it’s hard to find many flaws with the way Mickelson goes about his business. And he’s clearly been doing it well for a while if he was picking up wins before some of the guys he’s playing against hit puberty.
Carl Conrad is the Senior Golf Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter or add him to your network on Google.
