In other ways, the man being called upon to throw the first pitch before the Tuesday night series opener between the Red Sox and Yankees is an absolute mess.
"Yeah, I'm going to be very, very nervous," Bradley said about throwing out the first pitch. "I'm already, as soon as I pulled into the ballpark, my hands started to sweat, I got butterflies in my stomach, I'll be very nervous."
Much of that has to do with the fact that one mistake can go viral. Bradley is keenly aware of how many eyes will be analyzing that one single toss.
"Believe me, I know," said Bradley, who rose to prominence by claiming the PGA championship in a dramatic playoff earlier this month. "All of my boys in New England and Boston have already told me, you bounce it in or throw it over their head you're never going to hear the end of it. Let's hope I throw a strike."
Of course, if there's anyone in the park with nerves of steel, it's probably Bradley, whose remarkable comeback from five shots down in the final three holes forced a playoff with Jason Dufner. Minutes later, Bradley, who was born in Woodstock, Vt., and also lived in Hopkinton, Mass., was lifting the Wanamaker Trophy.
Bradley will be playing in the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston in Norton this week. He calls it "a great New England course" and calls himself "a New England kid that's trying to do my best." That should yield plenty of positive vibes this coming weekend.
"I feel great," he said of his homecoming. "It's so good to be back in New England, in front of my friends and family."
With that in mind, Bradley's thoughts have been with many of those stricken by floods in his native Vermont as a result of Hurricane Irene. Roads, bridges and many structures near his childhood home were swept away as part of the worst flooding the Green Mountain State has seen in a century.
"I feel for everybody and I've seen a lot of pictures," Bradley said. "I'm going to try to do what I can to help and I'm really just thinking about them every day, every single day. I feel for those people because I lived right there where all that damage was done."
Bradley will offer his assistance when he can. For now, he's just a New England kid trying to do his best, which for Tuesday night involves trying to throw a strike.
