Keegan Bradley was the final man within the area this week in Colorado.
Clearly, that didn’t hassle him one bit.
Bradley, after beginning at No. 50 within the FedEx Cup standings, held on late on Sunday to seize a one-shot win on the BMW Championship at Citadel Pines Golf Membership outdoors of Denver. That marked his first win of the season and moved him up an unimaginable 46 spots within the standings — which was sufficient to earn a spot within the 30-man area subsequent week on the Tour Championship.
Bradley completed with an excellent par 72 on Sunday, which stored him at 12-under on the week. Bradley is now the primary lively U.S. Ryder Cup captain to win on the PGA Tour since Davis Love III did so in 2015. The one different golfer in historical past to drag that off was Jack Nicklaus. Bradley, who’s now at No. 4 within the FedEx Cup standings, will bounce to No. 11 on this planet rankings.
“I am in a little bit of a state of shock as a result of there was a time per week in the past about this time that I did not assume I used to be going to be coming right here,” he mentioned. “I needed to have a number of magical issues occur for me to simply play on this event, and after I bought right here, I used to be so grateful simply to be right here. I performed with an actual sense of calm all week, which isn’t the norm for me.”
Bradley began his last spherical with a one-shot lead over the sector after an up-and-down Transferring Day, the place he carded eight birdies however solely posted a 2-under 70. Nearly everybody else within the area was on tempo with him on Saturday. Solely eight golfers broke 70 within the third spherical.
Along with his lead in place, Bradley then principally simply held on all day on Sunday. He opened the spherical with a birdie on the first, although taking part in accomplice Adam Scott drained a deep eagle putt to stay with him and seize a share of the lead. Scott held tempo by way of the flip, although he lastly slipped and made three straight bogeys to all however fall out of the operating. As Scott stumbled, Bradley held sturdy. He rattled off an unimaginable 13 straight pars earlier than he lastly made a bogey on the fifteenth.
Whereas Ludvig Åberg utilized strain with a birdie on the seventeenth forward of him, Bradley simply barely left an eagle putt quick on the par 5. That left him with a tap-in birdie and pushed his lead again to 2.
Bradley, who walked as much as the 18th inexperienced with large “U-S-A” chants from the group, then three-putted for a bogey on the last gap to seal his even par 72 and the win.
Åberg, Scott and Sam Burns — who posted the spherical of the day with a 7-under 65 — completed tied for second at 11-under on the week. They have been three pictures away from the group in fifth, which included Xander Schauffele and Cam Davis.
Bradley has now gained seven instances on the PGA Tour in his profession. He has a pair of runner-up finishes this season, together with when he misplaced in a playoff on the Sony Open in January, and he completed T18 on the PGA Championship — which marked his greatest end at a significant this season.
Whereas he completed 1-over for the week on the again half of the leaderboard, Scottie Scheffler will nonetheless enter the Tour Championship at No. 1 within the standings. Scheffler, who has gained six instances this season, leads the sector within the FedEx Cup standings by greater than 1,000 factors. He’ll begin at 10-under on the leaderboard. Xander Schauffele, who gained each the PGA Championship and the British Open this 12 months, is safely in second and can begin at 8-under. Hideki Matsuyama, who withdrew this week resulting from a again damage, will likely be in third at East Lake if he’s in a position to play.
Bradley, who was practically out of the operating per week in the past, will now get to start out at 6-under at East Lake with an actual shot at claiming the FedEx Cup.
“After I confirmed up right here this week, actually I did not assume I would be going to Atlanta,” he mentioned. “Scottie, my caddie, requested me if I wished to know the place I would like to complete, and I mentioned no. I nonetheless do not know. However I knew it needed to be actually excessive.
“Enjoying this week — final week I used to be wanting on the leaderboard the entire time, and this week that was by no means on my thoughts. I used to be simply attempting to win the event. Possibly I can [win next week]. I am taking part in nice. I really feel very fortunate to be in Atlanta. To make the Tour Championship two years in a row is an enormous deal.”