Bradley hoping to make comeback

Even then, his aching back was making the simple act of walking a chore, and negotiating a beat like Doral's Blue Monster an ordeal.

Bradley's victory was all the more impressive considering that his back was hurting so much (the result of a herniated disc) that he was unable to practice beyond a few chips and putts each day.

It was almost as painful to watch him try to finish a season that started so promising for the pleasant, soft-spoken Tampa resident, yet ended in week after frustrating week.

Still, Bradley had arrived as a pro following five year in which his only victory was a tainted, 36-hole affair at the 1996 Buick Challenge, when he won a five-way playoff. There was no asterisk on this Doral victory, as he beat back one of the top fields on the PGA Tour at a non-major tournament by shooting 10-under-par 278 on Ray Floyd's beefed-up Monster, made more treacherous during the week by persistent winds.

"A win is a win, but this was definitely more special because it was 72 holes," Bradley said. "The toughness of the golf course, the strength of the field, just the way I played and having to do something coming in on the last hole was really special to me."

Bradley said the daunting task of competing for the title in one of the PGA Tour's most prestigious stops, against a top-drawer field, enabled him to play through the pain. "[His back] was getting real stiff," Bradley said of that week. "But I think with all the adrenaline and the moment, I was able to overcome it. If I as just out there playing with the guys, I think it might have bothered me more than it did. I didn't have a choice. I had to play, I had to perform. So I tried not to let it bother me."

Bradley started the week with an unsteady 71, but forged his way to the top of the leaderboard with a 66 in the second round that gave him a share of the lead with Tim Herron and John Cook. Bradley gamely shot a 70 in the third round that earned him a two-shot lead over Stewart Cink, but lurking another shot behind was Mayfair, a winner the week before, and the ever-dangerous Tiger Woods.

Bradley was up to the challenge, painful back and all. He remained in the lead until he missed a near-tapin putt at the 11th hole. But he played the last seven holes at 1-under, and Mayfair fell out of a share of the lead with a bogey at No. 17.

At the 18th hole, Bradley missed the green to the right, and faced a chip, to a pin cut in the front left, that could roll into the water, with too firm a stroke.

"It didn't realise how hard that chip was until I got there," said Bradley after the victory. "I looked at it and thought I could chip it into the water."

Instead, he delicately rolled to the ball to within a pace of the hole, and dropped the putt.

Since then, Bradley has battled his sore back to regain the form he displayed on the Blue Monsters. He had to withdraw from the Honda Classic the following week, didn't even think about entering the Bay Hill Invitational and struggled valiantly to make cuts at The Players Championship, the Masters and the MCI Classic after that.

His last gasp at contending for a tournament since Doral was a tie for eighth at the Greater Greensboro Open, when he shot par or better all four days. But after that, Bradley missed the cut twice and withdrew once in three attempts at playing over the next 12 weeks, and he was unable to play in the U.S. or British Opens.

His last top-20 finish was a tie for 12th at the FedEx St. Jude Classic and he finished the year missing the cut at the Las Vegas Invitational and the National Car Rental Classic in an attempt to qualify for the Tour Championship.

This year, Bradley has finished dead-last in the no-cut Mercedes Championship, reserved for winners of the previous year, withdrew from the Phoenix Open and missed the cut at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, after an embarrassing 81 in the first round.

However, he bounced back to make the cut at the Buick Invitational, and went on to finish tied for 21st, making his biggest cheque of the year so far with $28,000.