CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — The BMW Championship is another tournament that Keegan Bradley never thought he would win, only because he never thought he would play.
Bradley was a bundle of nerves last week on Sunday as he sat in a hotel room in Tennessee with his bags packed and his season seemingly over. He then finished 50th in the FedEx Cup in the final hour, the last man at Castle Pines in the next playoff event.
From biting nails in Memphis to holding a trophy in Denver. What a week.
“I can’t even wrap my head around it,” Bradley said after a 72 gave him a one-shot victory over Adam Scott, Sam Burns and Ludvig Åberg.
Bradley doesn’t have much time to let his seventh PGA Tour victory sink in. This creates opportunities that he could not have imagined a week ago.
He heads to Atlanta for the Tour Championship at East Lake, where Bradley — who moved from No. 50 to No. 4 in the standings — who will start four shots behind Scottie Scheffler at East Lake with a reasonable chance to win the FedEx Cup. and its $25 million prize.
And it’s not just the cup that’s at play.
Bradley became the first Ryder Cup captain — he was named American captain six weeks ago — to win a PGA Tour event in nine years. He is the assistant captain for next month’s President’s Cup in Montreal.
The BMW title moved him up to number 10 on the President Cup list. Only the top six qualified automatically on Sunday, but Bradley will be heavily considered when Jim Furyk selects six captains after the Tour Championship.
“I don’t know where that’s going to go, but I’m happy to play whatever role they want me to play,” said Bradley, 38. “I hope I didn’t throw a huge wrench in everyone’s plans, but I’m proud to be considerate.”
The assumption came with the win, and it was a solid performance in the mile-high wind and wind that left few players guessing how far the golf ball was flying.
Bradley had help from Scott, who was tied for the lead until he started the back 9 with three soft bogeys, all with a wedge in hand. He missed par putts of 7 feet, 6 feet and 8 feet to fall three shots behind. But it’s the approach shots that hurt him.
“Ten, 11, 12 hit me right there,” Scott said 72 years later. “I was in a position with wedges on every hole and I made three bogeys. That’s almost unthinkable, really.”
Burns had a Sunday-best 65, nearly missing a shot on the 18th. Aberg was in position to close the gap until he hit a 6-iron on the par-5 14th up until it splashed into the ground, resulting in a ball from which he never recovered. He closed with 71.
Bradley, who finished at 12-under 276, closed it nicely with a 5-iron from 227 yards where he took a dead aim from two fairways to the left back pin and watched it land on the firm green 16 feet away, anyone close a lot. it was a whole day.
“As good a golf game as I’ve ever hit,” Bradley said.
He birdied twice and took the lead by two, allowing him a cushion and time to sing chants of “USA! USA!” from the thousands around the 18th green and honored the Ryder Cup captain for the 2025 games. Bradley got a lot of that fun this week.
Scott’s last chance actually ended on the 15th. Bradley was in deep trouble in the backcourt, forcing him to play 25 feet from the pin. Scott was in the fairway, 101 yards from the pin, and his sword sailed into the deep. They combined bogeys.
Scott’s consolation was going up to 30 to qualify for East Lake.
Justin Thomas somehow made it to East Lake in the Tour Championship, although he was at home in Florida in a nail-biting situation like Bradley was last week.
Thomas needed a lot of help to get to the 30th spot, and it came from former British Open champions Brian Harman and Alex Noren. Harman needed a par on the final hole to stay in the top 30 and made a double bogey.
Noren, who has never been to East Lake, was poised to finish in the top 30 when he holed a 25-foot par putt on the 13th hole and birdied the 14th. But he finished with three straight, most damaging bogeys on the par-5 17th, an easy hole at Castle Pines. He had to lay off the drive in the rough and hit a wedge into the bunker. He shot 75.
Bradley earned $4 million for his second BMW Championship title, winning again at Aronimink in 2018 when he finished 52nd in what was then a field of 70.
Bradley and Scott joined Tommy Fleetwood (69) and Chris Kirk (69) who moved into the top 30 to qualify for the Tour Championship. They took out Harman, Jason Day, Davis Thompson and Denny McCarthy.
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