As the PGA Tour season was nearing completion last August, Keegan Bradley, now a six-time winner after claiming victory on Sunday at the Travelers Championship, found he was missing his younger self. So, he decided that he needed to find a way to make a part of himself go missing.
About 15 kilograms worth.
It was at the BMW Championship at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware that Bradley realised he wasn’t in the kind of shape required to play his best golf. He shot a closing five-over 76 to finish T-58 and failed to advance to the Tour Championship. He wasn’t swinging optimally. He wasn’t thinking as clearly. “I wasn’t feeling that good in general, but on the course, I felt like I was kind of fatiguing,” said the 37-year-old in January at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
For years the former PGA champion had bought into the same fitness regimen as most of his peers that included strength training. When the 6-foot-3 Vermont golfer turned pro in 2008 from St John’s University, he was a wiry 86 kilograms. Over the years he had bulked up to 100.
Wondering what he could do differently to improve his overall health, Bradley consulted one of his Florida neighbours, Dr Joshua Levitt, who with his wife Amanda founded a nutritional company called UpWellness. (Fellow professional golfers Brendan Steele and Charley Hull are endorsers of its products.) Bradley accepted the recommendation to radically change his diet to almost nothing but meat.
“If it walks, swims or flies, you can eat it, and I did a lot of fruit as well,” said Bradley, whose transformation has been so stunning that some fellow players seeing him last January for the first time in months inquired if he might be ill. “So, I’d have eggs in the morning, maybe chicken or ground beef for lunch and then steak at night. All grass-fed meat is the key. No vegetables. And no condiments, no sides, no starches, not even ketchup. All I did was salt, pepper… and some hot sauce.”
“This is what I did for months, and it’s very difficult,” he said. “The times where I’m just craving, you know, a piece of pizza or pasta I was telling myself, ‘No, this is part of the journey. It’s part of the process.’ But I feel good. I feel proud for doing it.”
By the time he showed up at the Zozo Championship in Japan in mid-October, Bradley was back down to 86 kilograms, but he hadn’t lost any distance or swing speed and felt like he was swinging with more ease. After a T-5 at the Sanderson Farms Championship to begin the 2022-2023 season, Bradley put together four solid rounds at Accordia Golf Narshino Country Club, including a closing two-under 68, and defeated Rickie Fowler and Andrew Putnam by a stroke for his fifth PGA Tour title but first since 2018.
“At Zozo, coming down the stretch, I felt so good, and that whole week I felt so good,” Bradley said. “Even at CJ Cup, the week after with no sleep, jet lag, I put a good week together [T-21]. And I just felt like [I have in] years past.”
In 15 starts in 2023, Bradley has missed just four cuts, finishing runner-up at the Farmers Insurance Open and tied for 10th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, before winning at TPC River Highlands with a tournament record 23-under total, claiming his sixth career victory.
The latest win vaults him to fifth in the FedEx Cup standings with just nine events remaining until the FedEx Cup Playoffs. It validates Bradley’s thoughts earlier in the year when he said he firmly believed he was in the best position in years to succeed and achieve his goals – most notably making the US Ryder Cup team. He has backed off his carnivore diet slightly, but only because he doesn’t seek to lose additional weight. He’d dearly love to add a few more kilograms in holding trophies and other cups.
“You know, a lot of people when they see me, they want to give me advice. ‘Now is when you should bulk up and lift.’ And I that’s not really what I’m looking to do. I’m just trying to feel better on the course. And I feel like I play my best golf when I’m super lean, kind of like when I first came out on tour. You know, it’s very easy to fall into when you’re out here to do what everyone does and what you’re hearing. But it’s important to learn what’s best for you as a player.”
For Keegan Bradley, he’s finding that less of him is becoming more fulfilling.
An earlier version of this story was published in January during the Sentry Tournament of Champions
