Keegan Bradley's journey from the slopes in Vermont to Ryder Cup captain - ESPN

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — While attending St. John's, Keegan Bradley and his teammates had a rare privilege — playing the famous Black Course at Bethpage State Park, the site of this week's Ryder Cup, when it was closed to the public on Mondays.

Then-St. John's coach Frank Darby had worked out the deal with Bethpage Black superintendent Craig Currier, whom Darby befriended while helping stage the New York State Open at the course over the years.

The Johnnies didn't have a home course, so they bounced around clubs in the New York metropolitan area. When private clubs closed for the winter, Bethpage Black stayed open for a few more weeks. The state park course known as the «People's Country Club» soon became Bradley's favorite.

«It was like being able to shoot basketball at Madison Square Garden with no one in the stadium, no one there,» said Mike Ballo Jr., one of Bradley's teammates. «It's just such a surreal experience.»

There was one rule: Bradley and his teammates could play only holes 3 through 14, what is known as the «Short Course,» and weren't allowed to cross Round Swamp Road to play the last four, which were too close to the clubhouse and security guards.

With those restrictions in place, Bradley and his teammates had to skip the 15th, the most difficult hole on one of the toughest courses in America. They'd never get a chance to tackle the par-3 17th and its shallow green, or walk up the 18th fairway like Tiger Woods did when he won the 2002 U.S. Open.

It was like taking your kids to Disney World and telling them they couldn't ride the roller coasters and had to stay on the tea cups all day.

Finally, one day during the fall of Bradley's senior season in 2007-08, he and teammate George Zolotas had had enough. They