Keegan Bradley admits he has to pinch himself at times to be sure his meteoric rise has not been a dream.
The 25-year-old who gave up dreams of Olympic skiing glory to devote himself to golf in his mid-teens was fighting to retain his PGA Tour card this time last year. Now he is a major champion, and this week he returns to where his dramatic rise all began, at the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas.
Bradley, nephew of the former LPGA multiple major winner Pat Bradley, landed his breakthrough tour title at the TPC Las Colinas course 12 months ago when he parred the first hole of a play-off with his fellow American Ryan Palmer, who found water with his approach shot. That earned him a two-year PGA Tour exemption, meaning that whatever followed he was safe at the highest level until at least the end of 2014.
There was better to come. In August, Bradley made his major championship debut at the US PGA Championship and went on to triumph in a play-off there too, beating Jason Dufner. Life had turned upside down for a player who looked back this week, as he returned to Irving, and said: "I went from an unknown rookie trying to keep his card to winning a PGA Tour event and locking up my future a little bit."
Now seeking to defend his breakthrough title, he added: "This tournament might have set up my whole career. People don't realise what the stress level is of a rookie on the PGA Tour, trying to keep your card. I played on the Hooters Tour and thinking about going back is scary. And to know I was on the [PGA] Tour for at least 2½ more years was huge. At the PGA, I didn't have that pressure of having to win my first tournament or having to worry about making enough money to keep my card, stuff like that, where rookies have to think about that.
"Sometimes I will be sitting around and I will realise that I won the PGA and start laughing, by myself, like I can't believe it. It seriously happens all the time. I keep the trophy on my mantle [piece] in front of my TV in my room, and I'll just be watching TV and I'll look over at it and start laughing, because it seems so bizarre that's the trophy, it's in my room.
"Definitely sometimes I have to ask myself, 'Is this really real?' But I've been wanting to do that my whole life, and it's cool to be living it. But I have so much further to go, and that's what I'm happy about. I want to be out here for a long time and be one of the best players, so I have a lot to work for."
Bradley appears a strong contender again this week, with the narrow fairways suiting his game.
"I go into it knowing that I love this course; it suits my eye well," he said. "I'm looking to win tournaments, so this is a great opportunity for me to contend this week."
One likely challenger is Matt Kuchar, coming off his victory at the Players Championship at Sawgrass on Sunday. Kuchar, 33, shot up 11 places to fifth in the world rankings on Monday and has not discounted a charge to No.1.
"I think it's an exciting time right now in that there is the possibility for several players to become the No.1 player," said Kuchar.
derek miller
A consumer group has made a renewed call for clearer food labelling after finding takeaway sandwiches can contain three times the amount of fat as the same filling elsewhere.
The Which? investigation found fat and salt levels varied widely across the same sandwich flavour at different shops, with some containing double the amount of salt as the equivalent bought elsewhere.
Inconsistent labelling across stores meant the healthier option was not always obvious, the watchdog found.
A Morrisons chicken salad sandwich contained 11.7g of fat (amber or medium on recommended daily intake panels) compared with one from Waitrose which contained 6g. While Waitrose used the traffic lights labelling system, Morrisons did not, Which? found.
A Lidl BLT had 3.36g salt (red/high) but one from Boots contained 1.5g salt (amber/medium), with Boots using traffic lights but Lidl opting not to. And an Aldi egg mayonnaise sandwich contained 22.3g fat (red/high) while one from Asda contained 10.1g (amber/medium).
Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "With obesity levels reaching epidemic proportions, it's more important than ever that consumers know exactly what they're eating.
"Many retailers are already using traffic light labelling, but the rest need to catch up and do what works best for consumers. We want to see the Government insist all food companies use traffic lights on labels, so there's a clear, consistent system that makes it easier for people to make informed choices."
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