Next week, Keegan Bradley won’t get kicked off Bethpage Black. In fact, Bradley will be one of the most popular figures on site, as he’ll lead the U.S. team versus the Europeans in the 45th playing of the Ryder Cup.

But nearly two decades ago, Bradley was just a college kid trying to squeeze in tee times on one of golf’s best, hardest and most famous public courses.

Bradley, the latest GOLF Magazine cover star, recently sat down to talk about his road to Bethpage, and it included looking back at his collegiate golf days at nearby St. John’s and sneaking in tee times on the Black Course.

The Black is closed on Mondays for maintenance, but back then Bradley and some of his teammates — with a little help from the superintendent at the time — would sneak on the 13 holes across Round Swamp Road.

“The inside loop you are on the other side of the road, so no one can see you when you are out there,” Bradley said. “And when you cross over the road from 14 to 15, you are on the other side where the clubhouse is and people can see you everywhere. So we would sort of play the inside loop so no one saw you because the course was closed; I’m sure you weren’t supposed to do it. It was just so horrible not to go over there and play those [remaining] holes.

“Finally my senior year my buddy George and I, we went and played it and we got in so much trouble. It was really bad. That’s as mad as I have ever seen my coach. Finally my senior year we were like, screw it, we gotta go do it — and it was ugly.”

A police officer was even called on site to look into the report of golfers sneaking on the course. Bradley calls it a “huge mistake” now, but he says there is just something about Bethpage Black that is too tempting to ignore.

“People don’t realize, if you are not from New York, just how important Bethpage Black is to the locals,” he said. “Winged Foot is great, Shinnecock is amazing, but if you talk to a real New Yorker, Bethpage is the home course.”

For more from Bradley, read Dylan Dethier’s feature story here, and check out the full-length YouTube video with Bradley below.

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