Keegan Bradley Among Golfers Hoping PGA Tour Returns To Boston

CROMWELL, Conn. — After The Northern Trust decided not to renew its contract with the PGA Tour two years ago, Tour commissioner Jay Monahan expressed optimism Boston would reappear on the schedule down the line.

“For us, it’s really a matter of when, not if, we’ll be back,” Monahan told reporters in August 2021. At the time, he also pointed to the fact The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. was set to host the 2022 U.S. Open, one of the four majors on golf’s calendar.

Well, those days are gone.

The 2023 U.S. Open concluded at Los Angeles Country Club last weekend making the tournament at The Country Club more than one year old. And the PGA Tour’s lone stop in New England this season, the Travelers Championship located in Cromwell, Conn., will host a star-studded elevated event starting Thursday.

When it’s over, New England golf fans will once again be left to wonder if there’s more coming down the pike as Monahan once hinted.

Keegan Bradley, a New England native who currently is ranked 28th in the world, is hopeful. Bradley once again will tee it up at the Travelers with this week marking the 13th consecutive season he’s done so. It’s an event he “cherishes.”

“I haven’t heard much but I’ve heard him say that,” Bradley told NESN.com on Wednesday at TPC River Highlands, referencing Monahan’s comments from a few years ago.

“I really hope that they do that. It’s a shame to not play tournaments in the Northeast in the summer and the fall,” Bradley said, the crisp air clearly coming to mind. “I think playing in the Northeast in the fall is the best time to play anywhere I’ve ever been.”

Michael Thorbjornsen, a 21-year-old amateur from Wellesley, Mass. who earned a sponsor exemption this week after finishing fourth at the Travelers in 2022, also would love to have a Tour event in his home state.

“That would be unbelievable,” Thorbjornsen said during a press conference Wednesday, recalling the 2022 U.S. Open last summer and previous events held at TPC Boston.

“I remember growing up watching that, going to TPC Boston and wanting to play in that tournament. If there is ever an opportunity for the PGA TOUR to get a tournament back, I definitely think they should do it.”

“If there is ever an opportunity for the PGA Tour to get a tournament back, I definitely think they should do it.”

Michael Thorbjornsen on the PGA Tour returning to Boston

Bradley pointed out how the 2022 U.S. Open received an unforgettable reception from Boston-area golf fans. He said this year’s event at LACC offered “no comparison” to last June’s in Brookline.

“The fans, you saw it at the U.S. Open last year, they’re just rabid fans and they just are begging for golf,” Bradley said. “I think everybody wants to see some more tournaments up in the Northeast. … I know that the players and the local communities would love to have a tournament up here.”

TPC Boston in Norton, Mass. previously hosted the PGA Tour. The course located off Route 140 featured the COVID-impacted 2020 Northern Trust after it hosted both the Dell Technologies Championship (2017-18) and Deutsche Bank Championship (2003-2016).

Bradley feels the area is deserving of a more consistent presence, similar to the Travelers which has become, as he put it, one of the “premiere” events in the world.

“Especially the fact that there’s so little events around here, so when you do pop one up here, I think it makes it even bigger,” Bradley said. “It doesn’t have to be a major, it could just be regular event.”

Boston-area golf fans surely would agree. But for now, we’re left hoping Monahan and the Tour follow through on their sentiment.