2008-2010: early years Bradley turned professional in 2008 and began playing on the
NGA Hooters Tour, where he won at Southern Dunes in his fifth and final start of the year. Bradley won a second Hooters Tour event in 2009 at the Texas Honing Open. He made 22 cuts in 26 events that season and earned $84,000. Bradley won his first PGA Tour event at the 2011
HP Byron Nelson Championship. He defeated
Ryan Palmer on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff. The victory gained him entry into the
2011 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, where he shared the 36-hole lead and led midway through the final round before finishing T-15.
PGA Championship The week after the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Bradley played in his first
major, the
2011 PGA Championship. A second-round 64 propelled him into a share of the lead at the halfway stage, and Bradley remained only one shot out of the lead after 54 holes. In the final round, he triple-bogeyed the 15th hole to fall five shots behind
Jason Dufner with three holes to play before recovering with back-to-back
birdies on 16 and 17 which, combined with three consecutive bogeys for Dufner, left Dufner and Bradley tied after 72 holes of regulation play. Bradley won the three-hole playoff with a birdie and two pars, while Dufner went par-bogey-birdie to finish one stroke behind. Bradley became only the third player after
Francis Ouimet (1913) and
Ben Curtis (2003) to win a major in his first attempt, and was the first golfer to win a major with a long putter. He also became the seventh consecutive first-time major winner and the first American major champion since
Phil Mickelson won the
2010 Masters. With the victory, Bradley moved from number 108 to number 29 in the
Official World Golf Ranking. In December, he was named the
PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.
2012 At the 2012
Northern Trust Open, Bradley and
Phil Mickelson each made long birdie putts on the 72nd hole to force a three-man playoff with
Bill Haas, who made a 45-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to win the tournament. Bradley held a two-stroke lead during the final round of the
2012 WGC-Cadillac Championship but dropped four shots over the final four holes, including a
double bogey on the 18th, to finish T-8. He started the season with nine consecutive top-25 finishes, then had just one in his next ten outings. In June, Bradley played in Europe for the first time at
The Irish Open at Royal Portrush and missed the cut.
WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Bradley won his third PGA Tour event at the
2012 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by a stroke over
Jim Furyk and
Steve Stricker. Entering the final round trailing
Jim Furyk by four strokes, Bradley narrowed the deficit to one going to the final hole. Bradley converted a 15-foot par putt while Furyk made double bogey to lose by one stroke. Bradley became the 11th player to win a major championship and a
World Golf Championship. The win elevated Bradley to 15th in the world rankings. He moved up to a career high of 12th the next week, when he finished T3 at the
2012 PGA Championship. For the season, Bradley finished 10th on the PGA Tour's money list. Bradley qualified for the
2012 Ryder Cup, marking his first appearance in any cup competition.
2013 Bradley had two second-place finishes in 2013. The first occurred in May at the
HP Byron Nelson Championship where he shot a course-record 60 at the TPC Four Seasons in the first round. Bradley had a one-shot lead going into the final round but was overtaken by
Sang-Moon Bae. In August, Bradley finished second again, this time by seven strokes, to
Tiger Woods at the
WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone. For the season Bradley had seven top-tens and finished 11th on the PGA Tour's money list. Following the season, Bradley was a member of the winning United States team at the
Presidents Cup played at Muirfield Village in Ohio.
2014 Bradley's highest finish in 2014 was a second place at the
Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
Adam Scott faltered during Sunday's final round but it was
Matt Every rather than Bradley who won a come-from-behind victory. For the season Bradley had six top-tens and finished 28th on the PGA Tour's money list. Following the season, Bradley was a captain's pick for the
Ryder Cup played in Scotland.
2015 In 2015, Bradley had his worst season since joining the PGA Tour. Playing 24 events Bradley only had three top-tens and finished 64th on the PGA Tour's money list. For the first time in four years Bradley did not represent the United States in a year-end international competition.
2016–2017 These were two down years for Bradley. He didn't win a tournament and finished 114 and 51 on the PGA Tour money list.
2017–2018 In 2018, Bradley won the
BMW Championship. This event was part of the
FedEx Cup Playoffs. He qualified for the season-ending
Tour Championship and finished 8th in the season-long
FedEx Cup.
2018–2019 In June 2019, Bradley shot −13 for the week at the
Travelers Championship and finished tied for second with
Zack Sucher. The winner that week was
Chez Reavie.
2022 In October 2022, Bradley won the
Zozo Championship for his fifth PGA Tour victory and his first since the 2018 BMW Championship.
2023 In June, Bradley won the
Travelers Championship for his sixth PGA Tour victory. Bradley broke the tournament's scoring record with a score of 23-under 257.
2024 In August, Bradley won the
BMW Championship for the second time, becoming the first Ryder Cup captain to win a PGA Tour event since
Davis Love III in 2015.
2025 In June, Bradley won the
Travelers Championship for the second time in three years. Bradley rallied from three shots behind with four holes to play and birdied the 18th hole to win by one over
Tommy Fleetwood and
Russell Henley. In November, Bradley won the
Skins Game with 11 skins worth $2.1 million. ==Personal life==