Humble Is The Word For Bryant


June 3, 2008

By Theresa Smith

Colorado Springs, Colo. - An atypical fame and fortune accompanied Brad Bryant when he won the U.S. Senior Open last July at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis.

When the journeyman, who actually doesn't mind being called "a fisherman who knows how to play golf," posted a closing round 68, for a 6-under 282 in gusting winds and searing heat, he also earned a place on the championship trophy, along with Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Lee Trevino - an enduring fame, if not the kind that raises Q ratings.

The fortune - a $470,000 paycheck - his largest ever, was not used for a new car or cruise. Part of it was donated to his Lakeland, Fla., church. And he celebrated his victory by treating a church group, including his teen-aged sons, to chicken wings at their Monday night hot spot, Beef O'Brady's.

The greatest performance of Bryant's golf career did not change the 53-year-old son of a Southern Baptist minister and an Alamogordo, N.M., school district secretary.

Brad Bryant contended that he was the second-best player in his family until winning the Senior Open. (John Mummert/USGA)

He remains as self-deprecating, God-fearing, and family-oriented as ever.

"It wasn't life changing, but it did bring more notoriety to what I'm doing this year," he said on Monday while sipping a diet soda at The Broadmoor, site of the 29^th Senior Open, July 28-Aug. 3.

"Up until this, I was known as the second-best player in my family," he said in reference to his younger brother, Bart, a PGA Tour member. (It should be noted that Bart, in January at the Buick Invitational, praised his older brother and credited him for his status on the tour. He called him "a super brother who is the main reason for why I'm where I am today.")

These days, it is equally important to be a good father. Most recently, he withdrew from the Senior PGA Championship to be home while sons Jamieson and Jonathan prepared for their final exams.

"They needed to see dad's face around the house,'' said Bryant.

Last July, he needed to see their faces as he scraped into contention from five strokes down for the second-best final round comeback in tournament history.

The Senior Open title was an answer to a prayer, a request from God to do something significant when his boys were with him. Along with mom, they watched dad claim a place in golf lore.

The Francis D. Ouimet Memorial Trophy was Bryant's for 11 months.  After a month in his Lakeland Fla., home, it went on display for several months at his home course, Lone Palm, and at Champion's Gate resort.

While Nicklaus and Palmer jump out to the first-time observer, Dave Eichelberger's name caught Bryant's attention. He gave Bryant his first lesson.

Forty-four years later, Bryant has one PGA tour triumph - the 1995 Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Classic, and four Champion's Tour victories. This season, he has three runner-up finishes on aching shoulders and a neck wracked with arthritis.

Despite the physical challenges of competing past 50, there is nothing senior about his enthusiasm for the game and his next shot at the Senior Open.

"Coming here for this event is going to be a real treat,'' he said. "Everyone is looking forward to coming to The Broadmoor. The guys that have played The Broadmoor in the past, they understand that it's golf. Hopefully, the USGA won't take the golf course and brutalize it like the PGA did for Oak Hill.

"It's like last year at Whistling Straits - the wind got blowing really, really hard and they moved the tees forward on a lot of the holes and they made some pretty wise decisions from the course setup.

"It was very tough and if you got it going badly, you could certainly shoot a high score like Tom [Watson] did coming down the stretch. But the other side of that coin was that if you really played well, like I did, you could shoot in the 60s, even though the wind got to blowing hard.

"Now coming to Colorado Springs in July, everyone feels like we're probably going to have good weather. We probably won't have to fight 40 mile-per-hour wind. You'll have tight fairways, and tough rough, and fairly slick greens, but you won't be fighting the elements quite so badly.''

Bryant is a proponent of preserving the essence of par.

"They've chosen wisely on their course setups so guys could go out and shoot some good scores,'' he said, noting the final-round 63 of 2005 champion Allen Doyle.

"I think that the USGA understands that with the Champion's Tour you're going to have some players that you really don't want to embarrass, the great players of the game. And I think, rightfully so. It seems to me, they have a pretty good understanding of the waning lack of ability."

TheresaSmith is a freelance writer based in Colorado.