The competitor competing in the final round of the BMW Championship was ranked number one in the standings when it was all over on Sunday.
Keegan Bradley won his seventh PGA TOUR victory on Sunday, shooting a final-round par 72 at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, Colo. Sam Burns closed with a 7-under-par 65, the lowest score of the day, to finish one stroke behind Ludvig Aberg (71) and Adam Scott (72) in second place.
“Yeah, I was shaking on that last putt,” Bradley said. “I got it done. It was a battle all day.”
Bradley called last Sunday’s final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship “one of the toughest afternoons of my PGA Tour career” after sliding into the BMW field as the 50th and final player to play in the second round of the playoff. After struggling to finish tied for 59th in the first round of the playoff, he returned to his Memphis hotel room, packed his bags and paced back and forth, updating the scores on his phone as he waited for his flight home. He described being in a “state of shock” about missing the BMW, his favorite tournament, one he had never missed in his 14-year career on tour.
“You never know how quickly things can change, so that explains why you have to work hard every week,” he said. “A lot of magical things had to happen to get to this tournament, and when I got here, I was just so grateful just to be here. I played really calm all week, which is not normal for me,” he added. “Now I go to Atlanta with a chance to win the FedExCup. It’s unbelievable.”
Bradley, who won at BMW in 2018, won for the second time and his first with his father, Mark, a PGA professional, in attendance.
Bradley started with a 66 to take the lead, but a 68 at the halfway point put him three strokes behind Scott. On Saturday, Bradley recorded eight birdies and six bogeys for a rollercoaster 2-under 70. He pumped his fist after sinking a 9-foot birdie putt on the 18th to take the 54-hole lead.
On Sunday, Bradley hit a wedge from 94 yards to three feet for birdie on the first hole, but Scott tied the score with an eagle and lost sole possession of the lead. But Scott, who was trying to end a four-plus-year winless streak, made three consecutive bogeys starting at the 10th hole to fall three strokes behind Bradley. Bradley recorded 13 straight pars before bogeying the 15th hole. With the lead cut to one, Bradley hit his second shot from 227 yards over a bunker in front of the green to 16 feet for birdie on the par-5 17th hole.
“I got a little excited,” Bradley said of the 5-iron. “It was one of the best shots of my life.”
He three-putted bogey on the final hole, but it didn’t matter: He finished the 72-hole round with a 12-under 276 total, moving him into fourth place in a playoff for next week’s Tour Championship.
Bradley, who was named U.S. captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup in July, has intrigued by the idea that he could become the first active U.S. captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963.
“It’s a weird feeling being named Ryder Cup captain and still being a full-time player. No one knows how to handle the situation,” Bradley said. “So I’m just doing the best I can. The only thing I can do is continue to play my best golf and play to make some of these teams.”
Bradley, who was named assistant captain of the U.S. Presidents Cup team in September, also made a compelling case as one of six captaincy selections.
“I hope I didn’t cause any major disruption to anyone’s plans, but I’m proud to have been nominated,” he said.
In the tournament-within-a-tournament, Bradley, Scott, Tommy Fleetwood and Chris Kirk have all climbed into the top 30 in the season-long FedExCup points standings and advanced to next week’s FedExCup Finals at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, while Brian Harman, Jason Day, Davis Thompson and Denny McCarthy were eliminated, ending their playoffs. Justin Thomas was the 30th-place bubble boy, 30 points behind Harman.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler shot 72 on Sunday to finish tied for 33rd but retain his spot in the FedEx Cup standings, meaning Scheffler will start next week at 10 under par for the third straight year in a staggered start to the tournament.
“Scotty’s the leader,” Barnes said. “He’s already good, so he doesn’t need any more help.”