Getty Image / Andy Lyons
Keegan Bradley is currently the #25 ranked golfer in the world. The 2011 PGA Championship winner recently shed 30 pounds and feels better than ever. Though, not good enough to provoke Michael Jordan on the golf course (again).
Golf isn’t viewed as the most physically strenuous sport. After all, there’s a reason that it’s popular with the elderly. But for PGA Tour professionals who are walking 18 holes or more for 4-day tournaments in addition to practice rounds and travel, the sport exacts a physical toll on their bodies.
Walking 18 holes equates to around 4 hilly miles. Golf.com says that walking 18 with a caddie burns between 800 and 900 calories on average. Something that was taking a toll on PGA Tour star Keegan Bradley until he sought the advice of a nutritionist, according to Golf Digest.
“I wasn’t feeling that good in general” — Keegan Bradley
Keegan finished 34th at the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua. He was -9, nearly 20 strokes off winner Jon Rahm. But Keegan Bradley is feeling GREAT after losing 30 pounds and going from 220 pounds to 190 pounds.
After feeling like he “was kind of fatiguing,” Bradley consulted the guidance of his neighbor, Dr. Joshua Levitt who operates a nutritional company with his wife. Together, they suggested a radical diet for Keegan Bradley.
“If it walks, swims or flies, you can eat it, and I did a lot of fruit as well. 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.”
In addition to eating almost exclusively grass-fed meat and things that ‘swim or fly’, Keegan also cut out Gatorade and soda from his diet. He also cut out heavy weight lifting and started exercising regularly on a stationary bike and the elliptical machine.
There were times he was craving food outside of his diet. He told Golf Digest that it was “very difficult.” Adding that “the times where I’m just craving you know, a piece of pizza or pasta I was telling myself, ‘No, this is this is part of the journey. It’s part of the process.’ But I feel good. I feel proud for doing it.”
In 2022, Keegan Bradley picked up the 5th win of his PGA Tour career at the Zozo Championship in Japan. That win was good for $1,980,000.
As for how he felt after losing the weight, Keegan told Golf Digest “at Zozo, coming down the stretch, I felt so good, and that whole week I felt so good. 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.”
Loading up on meat intake might not work for everyone. It is always best to consult a nutritionist before embarking on a rigid diet like that. But it is intriguing, isn’t it?