It should be easy to spot Brady Calkins at the U.S. Open this week.
He’ll probably be the one wearing a distinctive Hawaiian polo, courtesy of sponsor Oahu Golf, topped with a Steen Concrete hat, provided by close friend Keylen Steen.
Calkins sported that apparel combination Monday when he successfully navigated the 36-hole final qualifying at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla and during an interview on Golf Channel. Rich Lerner, host of the network’s coverage of Golf’s Longest Day, when 47 out of 732 competitors earned spots in the 125th U.S. Open, later applauded Calkins’ choice of headgear.
Ask Calkins about his hat and his excitement level soars with pride in Keylen Steen’s concrete business in their hometown of Chehalis, Washington.
“Team Calkins will all be decked out in Steen Concrete gear at Oakmont Country Club,” said Calkins, whose one season at Community Colleges of Spokane (now Spokane Colleges) resulted in NWAC individual and team titles in 2014. “He’s my best friend in the whole world. He’s been getting calls from out of state, all over the place.”
Calkins, not so much.
Media outlets have largely left Calkins alone after he became something of a media darling when he qualified for the 2022 U.S. Open. Articles centered on the minitour legend and his equally legendary late-night revelry. One recounted Calkins drinking until 3 a.m., showing up for his tee time six hours later shaking and hungover before winning a Dakotas Tour event.
Calkins absorbed the unexpected publicity but admitted “being a kid from Chehalis, it’s not a big place and not a lot of dreams come true here. For me to get there at that point in my life it was impossible to just focus on trying to win a golf tournament.”
Calkins hits the fast forward button.
“I’m 30 now,” Calkins said. “When I was 27, I was still having a lot of fun. I’m a different person. I have been able to play a lot of professional golf without much sleep or sobriety. Some people like it, some don’t. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea. I’m not like that anymore. I’m a lot more of a loner, more reserved and focused on things that are important to me. Golf is a game and I love it, but if I shoot 60 or 85, I’m going to have air in my walk.”
Calkins played fairly well (76-73) at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, but missed the cut because he couldn’t find narrow fairways with his driver.
The aftermath wasn’t pretty for the person or the player.
“After I got home I was in a really bad depression. I was not all right at all,” Calkins said. “I mean, like everybody loving me and I thought I had all these friends, the second it was over with and I’m no longer on TV it seemed like nobody cared. That really bothered me. Sometimes you have to cut people out.”
Calkins tightened up his circle and made significant life changes. He tried, but hasn’t kicked his penchant for dipping Copehagen and/or a cigarette. He has limited his alcohol intake for the most part.
He said he’s tired after most rounds and might consume one post-round beer – “I used to drink Jack and Cokes like they were going out of style” – or a rare shot of Fireball.
“It’s knowing who the real people are. It’s just part of life as you get older,” he said. “I really like to enjoy things more, laugh more, love more. Golf is great, I’m obviously really … good at it, but my happiness doesn’t revolve around golf. It’s about my mental health.
“I’m playing a lot more carefree. Bad shots, they don’t bother me as much. It’s just golf. I’m still an intense player, really psychotic on the course in terms of my methodicalness. When I’m out there it’s about me. It’s selfish, I don’t really care.”
There’s more maturity to his approach and his game, but his unique personality and playing style remain and stand out from fellow competitors. The first entry on his PGA player bio: Excellent at darts. The second: MVP of his baseball team at W.F. West High School in Chehalis. The third mentions his work history, including a bridge project that he spent his lunch hour in his boots smacking golf balls in a nearby field.
Calkins doesn’t have a personal chef, workout routine or group of coaches and advisors. He’s worked with Austin Abbott, pro at Riverside Golf Club in Chehalis, for years and Scottsdale, Arizona-based Andrew Welk for “fine-tuning, getting my alignment good.”
“I crack my back when I wake up. My stretching is loosening up with range balls. I’ll probably change that in the next couple years,” he said. “I feel like I have six or seven years of doing this, being able to hit the ball the way I’m capable of and I want to make sure I give it my best chance.”
After one season in Spokane, Calkins worked in construction, hydroseeding and at one point lived in his car. He struggled mightily in his initial foray into professional golf. He eventually regained his form and starting cashing paychecks consistently on the Dakotas Tour. He was the Midwest-based tour’s player of the year in 2018, 2019 and 2020 and finished second in 2021.
Calkins graduated to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2023 but made just four of 16 cuts and pocketed only $18,780. He’s won nine times on the Dakotas Tour with one first-place check reaching $25,000.
He’s bringing a few hard-earned lessons to Oakmont in Pennsylvania, one of the toughest tracks on the planet with tangly rough, inimitable bunkers and elevated greens. The first came from Wine Valley, where Calkins was positioned to quality for the 2019 U.S. Open before faltering late in the second round.
“I should have played in the 2019 Open and I three-putted it away,” he said. “I knew the pieces of the puzzle were falling in the right place (last week) because I play that course great. I adore it and it fits my eye, so I knew I had a great chance.”
The second came from missing the cut at the 2022 U.S. Open. His average drive traveled 305 yards, but only 36% settled on the short grass.
“I just hit it horrible off the tee, apart from that I played pretty solid,” Calkins said. “I’ll make sure I have the driver really dialed in. I know there’s no shot too hard in the world for me if I hit it in the fairway.”
So keep an eye out for No. 4,413 in the world golf rankings this week.
He knows his life would change with four magical days.
He knows he’s back on the Dakotas Tour this summer if Oakmont sends him packing after two rounds.
He also knows the U.S. Open tests every facet of a golfer’s mind and game.
“I’m living in the now, the present, and it’s been extremely eye-opening and humbling,” Calkins said. “I’ve got great advice from some MLB players, football players, PGA Tour players, the greatest swimmer of all-time, Michael Phelps, when I caddied for him. I’m a sponge and enjoy learning. I feel like it’d be ignorant if I didn’t listen to what they’re saying.
“I guess you could just say I’m listening a lot more and talking a lot less.”
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