It Was No Coincidence That East Hampton Freshman James Bradley Won The Suffolk County Individual Title

James Bradley is a golfer through and through. From competing in national Drive, Chip and Putt competitions as a pre-teen, to junior championships, and now on the varsity ranks with the East Hampton boys golf team, the freshman lives, eats and breathes the sport.

Which is why it came as no surprise to anyone who knows the well-versed teenager that he won the individual title at the Suffolk County Boys Golf Tournament on April 27.

“In an individual tournament, to be number one in the county overall, for any kid, let alone a freshman … I don’t know the history of the tournament all that well,” but one would be hard pressed to find the last time a ninth-grader won a county title, East Hampton’s golf team head coach Rich King said. “I’m just really happy for him. He puts in so much time, so much work. He’s super dedicated to the game and it’s just good to see after everything he puts into it.”

Bradley had the lead after the first day of the tournament, going one under the par-76 course at Smithtown Landing Country Club, but since he had the early 7:30 a.m. tee time, he didn’t know that until later that night, when results were finally posted. Bradley said due to how well he played in what were very windy and cold conditions, he felt as though he could have had the lead going into the second day, he just didn’t know by how much.

He wound up with a two shot lead, so Bradley and King both knew that if he could maintain that, he would have a good shot at winning. He went ahead and improved his lead to, at one point, seven shots throughout the second day, which in golf is as big a lead as some get.

But he did have some hiccups, particularly on the final hole. The way he described it, was that he hit a good drive down the middle of the green, but it went a little further than he expected, and his ball sloped into a bunker. It only took him one shot to get out of the trap, but then it rolled off the green and into a hazard.

“I hit two shots and then three-putted, which put me over a little on that hole,” he explained.

By the time he reached the scoring tent, Bradley found out he had a three shot lead over Jack Bruetsch of Center Moriches, which is the lead he won by.

“It was extremely special because I didn’t have my best stuff during the regular season,” he said. “But to come out on top, it felt really good.”

With many of the private clubs on the East End still closed in April, all teams in League VIII this season played all of their matches at Rock Hill Golf and Country Club in Manorville. Only playing on that one course all season affected Bradley’s game, he said.

To that end, by the end of the regular season, King said Trevor Stachecki, a strong golfer in his own right, who placed sixth in the county to earn All-County honors, wound up overtaking the top spot on the team from Bradley, albeit by mere percentage points in overall scoring average.

But after a strong practice round just prior to the county tournament, and being that he had played at Smithtown Landing in junior tournaments, Bradley said he regained his confidence.

“No doubt, my game was feeling really good,” he said. “I had been playing well going into it, then had a good practice round. I had a really good relationship with the course, so I was feeling confident, and having a good relationship with the course is really key to playing well, so I was definitely confident coming in.

“I had a lot of emotions running through me,” after he won, he said, “but if there’s one emotion to tap back on it was relief, in a sense. Just the work the whole team has put in, the help of Coach King, not only for me but for the team. Coach King knew I had it in me, I knew I had it in me, and I know everyone knew I could get it done, so it was a relief.”

Bradley is the first Bonacker to win the county individual title since Turner Foster did it as a sophomore in 2016, and is just the third golfer in school history to accomplish the feat, with Zach Grossman being the first to do it in 2010 as a senior. A previous article had mentioned that Ian Lynch won a county title in 2012, but he actually didn’t. What Lynch did accomplish though, even though he never won a county title, was qualify for the state tournament three years in a row his sophomore, junior and senior seasons.

With three years left in his high school career, the question now becomes whether Bradley can repeat as county champion. His coach thinks that with the right breaks, he could certainly do it again.

“I think any time you win a tournament and you get a chance to play in it again, definitely, you’re always going to have a chance to because you’ve been there before. But things are going to have to break right for him,” King said. “And golf is not like any other sport, where you have to play your game and hope that your golf is better than everyone else, because that’s all you can control. He can win it again, absolutely.”

And what does the young Bonacker think of his chances of repeating?

“It’s tough. No matter how good the player is, to win back-to-back, mentally it’s tough. Not only do you have the expectation of winning, but now everyone else is expecting you to win it,” Bradley explained. “But I know what my game is, and I know what my potential is, so there’s no reason why I shouldn’t win it. But it’s no doubt tough, not only to win it, but to have one good round is tough, to have two good rounds is really, really difficult. But that’s what makes golf the game that it is.”