Keegan Bradley credits NBA great and golf enthusiast Michael Jordan with helping him regain the aggressive mental attitude that led to him winning the first major he ever played two years ago. This week at Muirfield Village Golf Club, the 2011 PGA champion hopes his sensei’s Jumpman golf shoes will keep his tootsies comfy as he and Presidents Cup partner Phil Mickelson seek to repeat the magic of their Ryder Cup stint, when the duo went 3-0 in team play.
Keegan Bradley gets the jump on Internationals in his Jumpman golf shoes
Keegan Bradley walks in Michael Jordan’s shoes at the Presidents Cup.
David Cannon
USA! #jumpman http://t.co/7QeeHPFNYR
— Keegan Bradley (@Keegan_Bradley) October 2, 2013
Bradley -- who, along with Lefty, was 2-up over Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel through seven holes in Thursday’s four-ball match but all-square as they made the turn -- has credited His Airness with putting more pep in his step on the golf course.
“I was talking to M.J. a bunch this season, and he was telling me to play much more cocky,” Bradley said during the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March. “He wants me to play with a lot more aggression and be cocky and just like I’m playing him, which is normally a pretty good beating.”
Bradley is one of a handful of PGA Tour golfers to jump at the chance to have the six-time world champion mentor him on what it takes to win on the big stage.
“I just was going out there and pretending I was him,” Bradley said at Bay Hill. “I’m learning through him what the mental side of what he was thinking and that’s a big help to me.”
The 2011 Rookie of the Year reiterated his praise for Jordan on Wednesday.
“He’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, very helpful and a guy that I think a couple of us out here leaned on for some advice,” Bradley told reporters ahead of the 10th edition of the Presidents Cup. “Just wearing these shoes makes me a little cockier or a little more ready to go in.”
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