Jon Curran and Keegan Bradley are close friends. Really. An examination of the text messages they send to each other, however, would suggest they should ride in different carts on the golf course.

“I’m better than you.”

“I work harder than you.”

“I’m the best in the world.”

“I’ll kick your (butt).”

And so on. The taunting messages never really stop.

“They are so outrageous,” Curran says. “In most circumstances, they’re completely inappropriate.”

But the texts will stop this week at Chattanooga’s Council Fire Golf Club for the NCAA East Regional. But don’t think Curran and Bradley, former high school teammates, will be too considerate of the other’s emotions during such an intense event.

Why text when you can challenge each other in person?

Curran, whose Vanderbilt team didn’t qualify for the postseason, earned an individual invitation to the East Regional. So did Bradley, a star at St. John’s University.

Two high school teammates from little Hopkinton, Mass., a town of about 15,000 located 35 miles from Boston, making the NCAA field. Both as individuals. In the same region. Bradley will play one group ahead of Curran when the tournament starts Thursday.

“It’s pretty unbelievable,” Bradley says, noting that yet another high school teammate, Duke’s Kim Donovan, qualified for the women’s tournament. “Two guys from Hopkinton, Mass., at the same regional. I’d be surprised if something like that has ever happened before.”

And here’s the best part: They won’t change their treatment of each other this week, even in such an event as the NCAA championship. The continual teasing, needling and boasting helped make Curran and Bradley two of the nation’s top golfers. They force each other to improve. They motivate each other. How can you take time off when the text, “I work harder than you” appears on your phone?

It worked in high school. During Bradley’s senior year at Hopkinton High — Curran’s junior year — they won the state tournament by 27 strokes.

Curran and Bradley were so good, so dominant in high school, they would invent competitions against each other even while playing a different opponent. So, for instance, during one tournament, they would see which one could beat their opponent the fastest.

Both players remember the time Curran shot a 30 on the front nine at a tournament and Bradley shot a 31.

“Yeah, and I had a 6-foot putt to shoot 30 and it lipped out,” says Bradley, the nephew of LPGA Hall of Famer Pat Bradley.

The NCAA tournament selection call is probably the only time one showed restraint. Bradley’s coach at St. John’s, Frank Darby, phoned his star senior and said his name was the first one called. Bradley had not heard from Curran, so he waited before calling. Curran called him and said they were in the same region. Until that point, it was a pretty normal conversation.

“Can I ask you a question, Jon?” Bradley said he asked his friend. “Who was picked first in the East Region?”

Curran’s quick response: “Keegan, it doesn’t matter.”

Ah, normalcy.

And it will continue this week, much to the delight of both players. As individual qualifiers, Curran and Bradley will be without their teams. But each will be with his nemesis and close friend, trash-talker and inspiration. Both admit to experiencing some quiet, tense moments in the golf cart while competing against each other.

“But it’s great we’re in Chattanooga together,” Curran said. “We’ll push each other with those stupid comments. We’ll fire each other up. He’s a good guy to have around when you’re competing at this level. I definitely want to make it through to regionals, but if anybody else makes it, I want it to be him.

“It’s a strange relationship. We give each other the most crap you can imagine giving somebody. But we’re really close friends. I guess it’s strange looking at it from the outside. But we understand it.”

Perfect example: I tell Bradley that I’m about to call Curran. Any message I should pass along? Like, good luck? See you in Chattanooga?

“Yeah,” he said, “tell him I’m going to kick his (butt) this week.”

Feeling like I was passing a note in class, I delivered the message to Curran.

“He said that?” Curran asked, chuckling. “If you talk to him again, well, actually, I don’t know if I want to say it.”

Don’t worry, Jon. We get it.

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