Keegan Bradley captures BMW, leaps to fourth in FedEx Cup race

 

[August 26, 2024]  CASTLE ROCK, Colo. -- Keegan Bradley rode patriotic cheers to victory at the BMW Championship as he shot an even-par 72 in the final round Sunday for a 12-under-par 276 at Castle Pines Golf Club.

It capped a dramatic resurgence for Bradley, who was named the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup captain last month and was the last man in the field this week.

Yet, his seventh PGA Tour win means Bradley will enter the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta next week in fourth place at 6 under based on the staggered start used at the season's final tournament.

"Oh, man, it just shows why you've got to grind it out every week because you never know how fast it can switch," Bradley said. "Now I go to Atlanta with a chance to win the FedEx Cup. I can't believe it. I'm so excited."

Bradley, who was not selected as a captain's pick on the 2023 Ryder Cup team, heard cheers from the gallery of "Let's go captain" and "U-S-A" everywhere he went. Bradley took a lead he would not relinquish with a par on the 537-yard, par-4 10th hole that broke a tie with Australian Adam Scott (72), who had a three-putt bogey on the hardest hole on the course.

"I definitely struggled on the greens on the weekend," Scott said. "I just didn't quite have the confidence in some of those putts. I generally played fairly well. I thought I played well off the tee today, which was nice. But I just didn't take advantage from there."

Bradley had one birdie and bogey through 16 holes before he came to the par-5 17th. From 227 yards away, he stuck his second shot to 16 feet of the pin to set up a crucial two-putt birdie.

That got Bradley to 13 under, rendering his closing bogey a moot point.

"I had 222 (yards) adjusted hole, which is altitude and everything, so I hit a 5-iron," Bradley said of the approach on No. 17. "I was a little jacked up. One of the best shots of my life."

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (72) tied for 33rd at the BMW, but he enters East Lake as the top seed and will start at 10 under par. Xander Schauffele (71, tied for fifth) will be second at 8 under par and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, who withdrew from the BMW with a back injury, will be third at 7 under.

Sam Burns shot a final-round-best 7-under-par 65 to finish tied for second with Scott and Sweden's Ludvig Aberg (71) at 11-under 277. It's the fourth career runner-up finish for Burns, who had eight birdies in his round and narrowly missed a bunker shot on the par-4 18th hole that would have tied the lead.

Burns' lone bogey on the par-5 14th slowed his rally, but he bounced back with consecutive birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 to enter the Tour Championship ninth in FedEx Cup points.

"We had a good number with the wind being down, and it kind of switched and came off the left when I hit it," Burns said about his shot on No. 18. "We're trying to hit it close there, so you're playing pretty small margins, just trying to cover the bunker and keep it underneath the hole. I hit the bunker shot, I knew it was a good line and I knew it was a pretty good weight. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't."

Australian Cam Davis (66) led the field with 24 birdies on the week. He tied for fifth at 8-under 280 with Tommy Fleetwood of England (69) -- who played his way into the Tour Championship as he moved from 31st to 22nd in the FedEx Cup standings -- plus Schauffele and South Korea's Si Woo Kim (70).

"It's just a nice challenge mentally going out there and playing when you know you've got something on the line," Fleetwood said. "I was happy with that. I felt like it was tough, and yeah, I played really well and putted well."

Chris Kirk (69) played his way into East Lake as he rose from 32nd to 26th after a tie for ninth with Sweden's Alex Noren (75).

--James Nokes, Field Level Media

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