Bud Lite and cereal? How Keegan Bradley celebrated his PGA Championship win

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – It’s hard for Keegan Bradley to believe that it’s been 15 years since he edged Jason Dufner in a three-hole aggregate playoff to etch his name on the famed Wanamaker Trophy and win the 2011 PGA Championship.

How did he celebrate?

“I remember driving out of the Atlanta Athletic Club with the Wanamaker in my lap, holding it like this, and we were looking at each other like, this is crazy,” he recalled on Monday during his press conference ahead of the 108th PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club.

Keegan Bradley speaks to the media during a press conference ahead of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

By the time he finished all his media obligations that Sunday night in Atlanta, it was late and he was starving.

“We were trying to get some beers or something,” he recounted. “And we went back, and I had Bud Light and cereal for dinner. We still have a picture of it in my house somewhere… It was the best meal of my life.

“And then I took the trophy and put it right next to my bed. I remember waking up in the morning and looking at it, like this is crazy. I can't believe this.

“And then I got back, and a few of my buddies picked me up. I was single and 25 years old, and all my buddies picked me up from the airport. We went on a few-day celebration tour with the trophy, bringing it everywhere. One of those moments that you get to share with people, and you know, some of the fondest memory of my life.”

Bradley returns to a course where he has some of his other fondest memories. He won the 2018 BMW Championship at Aronimink at a time when he was struggling to figure out a new technique for making putts after the USGA and R&A banned the belly putter.

“I had this really incredible moment that I'll never forget the rest of my career that happened here,” Bradley said. “I was on the eighth green and it's adjacent to the 10th green and I'm in the final couple groups and I'm leading the tournament, and on the 10th green was Tiger Woods in his red and black. I looked up at the leaderboard and he was one back of me. I remember thinking, this is so crazy that I'm in this spot again and there's my idol and he's trying to chase me down and he's right there. It was just a moment that I was really proud that I put myself back in position to be there.”