CASTLE ROCK — In seven days, Keegan Bradley went from sweating out whether he’d even qualify for the BMW Championship to putting himself in the conversation for being the first American player captain at the Ryder Cup since 1963.
Oh what a week it was.
The 38-year-old was named the American Ryder Cup captain in early July, but if there was any implication that he was on the down side of his playing career, he did his best to dispel that at the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club.
Bradley was near the top of the leaderboard all week and claimed the title while competing against a field that featured the top 50 PGA Tour players this season. It was the seventh victory of his Tour career, but his third in less than two years.
“I still feel like I’m in the prime of my career,” he said. “I feel like there’s a lot of parts to my game that are the best they’ve ever been, and I feel like I’ve got years ahead … I wanted to make this (2025) Ryder Cup team at Bethpage where I was the captain. That’s always a goal of mine. I feel like I can still keep playing at a high level for a while.”
The last time a American Ryder Cup captain has competed in the matches as a player was Arnold Palmer in 1963. There’s still a long way to go before the team is finalized — the matches are Sept. 26-28, 2025 at Bethpage Black in New York — but the BMW certainly helped Bradley’s cause.
“I would love to be a playing captain,” he said. “No one has really had the opportunity that I’ve had. I think you could have given Phil (Mickelson) or Tiger (Woods) a chance to be captain at my age and they would have played on the teams. But it’s never really had a chance to happen.
“It’s going to be really hard for me to make that team, but if I make the team, I’ll play. I don’t see myself being a captain’s pick. But I’ll be proud to just be the captain. If I have to go out there and play, I’d love to do that too.”
This victory, worth $3.6 million out of a $20 million purse, was Bradley’s second in the BMW Championship, which he previously won in 2018. Despite a bogey on his final hole, he ended up a stroke ahead of 36-hole leader Adam Scott of Australia, Ludwig Aberg of Sweden and American Sam Burns. Burns, who started the day eight out of the lead, closed with a 65 that included eight birdies, while Aberg had a 71 and Scott a 72 despite starting his round with an eagle. No one else made a serious run at the title on Sunday as the players who shared fifth place checked in four behind Bradley.
The Vermont native posted a steady even-par 72 on Sunday that included two birdies and two bogeys. He made 13 consecutive pars from hole 2 through 13. His 12-under-par winning total was the second-least under par for a BMW Championship winner since 2010.
A week before his victory, Bradley was on pins and needles as he was on the bubble to get into the BMW Championship, where only 50 players compete. Bradley ended up being No. 50, but not before enduring a lot of angst as the final round played out at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
“I’m in a bit of a state of shock because there was a time a week ago about this time that I didn’t think I was going to be coming here,” Bradley said. “I had to have a lot of magical things happen for me to just play in this tournament, and when I got here, I was so grateful just to be here. I played with a real sense of calm all week, which is not the norm for me. I’m really proud of the way that I played.”
Asked to provide more specifics on what he was going through in Memphis on Aug. 18, Bradley said, “I was devastated. I finished my round on Sunday (placing 59th in the event). I’m walking the range, looking at people that are warming up that are going to determine my future really. I packed up all my stuff. I got to the hotel. I booked a flight home. I didn’t think I was going to make it.
“I had the (TV) coverage on. I had my iPad on the featured holes. I had my phone watching — at two separate times I had to unplug my phone because it got too hot from me refreshing every second. I was picturing my next year of not knowing where I was playing (as the golfers who make the BMW Championship qualify for all the next year’s lucrative Signature Events). It was going to be tough on my family, tough on me. I was really disappointed that I wasn’t going to be out there with the guys with the Ryder Cup coming up. … I was seeing that slipping away. There was a point I was looking at the leaderboard late in the day, and I was like, ‘I’m going to make it,’ and it was just surreal. I rushed to the airport and came here.”
And then won the tournament, becoming the oldest BMW Championship winner since Stephen Ames in 2004.
Among those on hand to witness Bradley’s victory was his dad, Mark, a PGA professional based in Jackson, Wyo. Never before had Mark been present for one of Keegan’s PGA Tour victories.
“He comes to a handful of tournaments a year,” Keegan said. “You just have to get lucky to be at one of these that you win at. You never know where you’re going to win. I’ve been fortunate enough to have my family at almost all of my wins. The only one I can think of that I was by myself was my first win at Byron Nelson and then Japan, which no one was there. But it was great to have him here.
“It’s a special thing to win on the PGA Tour, and it’s something that you really have to cherish, and to have him here makes it that much more special.”
Bradley and Scott were tied at 13 under at the turn, but when the Australian three-putted No. 10 — the first of three consecutive bogeys for him — Bradley led the rest of the way.
“Ten, 11, 12 kind of blew it for me there,” said Scott, who was looking for his first PGA Tour win since early 2020. “I was in position with wedges on every hole and made three bogeys. That’s almost unthinkable, really. It’s amazing it came down to one shot, but I felt like my bogeys on 10, 11, 12 gave Keegan a bit of breathing space, and the pressure wasn’t really on him, and he didn’t make any mistakes.”
Meanwhile, Aberg’s downfall came on the par-5 14th, where he hit his second shot in the water after a 430-yard drive and made bogey. He had carded eagles on that hole the previous two days.
As for Burns, he started his round 1 hour and 45 minutes before the 54-hole leaders had. And, improbably, he vaulted from middle of the pack to second place. And he nearly holed a bunker shot on his final hole, and when it just missed he playfully fell flat on his stomach just outside the bunker.
“I think overall it was a really, really good round” given the firm, fast and windy conditions on Sunday, Burns said. “The golf course is tricky.”
Bradley was a bogey-free 1 under par through 14 holes, but made a 5 on the par-4 15th after a difficult bunker shot. Both he (via a two putt) and Scott (via an up and down) carded birdies on the par-5 17th, leaving Bradley a two-stroke advantage going into 18. That afforded Bradley the luxury of two-putting for bogey from 4 feet for the victory.
Scott was left with his second runner-up showing in his last four PGA Tour starts.
Wyndham Clark Headed to Presidents Cup After Hectic Week: Denver native Wyndham Clark didn’t win in his first time competing in a PGA Tour event in the state in which he was born. He finished tied for 13th in the 50-man tournament at Castle Pines Golf Club.
Still, it was a notable day for the 2023 U.S. Open champion, for a couple of reasons:
— He officially landed a spot on the U.S. team that will compete against the International squad at the Presidents Cup, set for Sept. 26-29 in Montreal. The six automatic qualifiers for each team for the Presidents Cup were finalized at the conclusion of the BMW Championship, and Clark ended up No. 4 in the standings. This follows Clark representing the USA in the 2023 Ryder Cup and in this summer’s Olympic tournament.
“Anytime you can represent the red, white and blue, it’s amazing,” he said earlier in the week. “It’s an amazing feeling to put on those colors and represent your country. It doesn’t matter what level it’s at, it’s important and it’s awesome. It’s so much fun. I feel like it’s the most fun you have in golf — playing for something other than just your own personal accolades — playing for your country and your teammates.
“I think this one will be equally as challenging and great.”
— Clark posted on social media that in celebration of the week he’s had at Castle Pines, he will donate $50,000 to Colorado charities and cancer charities through his Play Big Foundation. And he noted that he hoped fans would wear pink on Sunday, which is Clark’s traditional final-round color. Clark’s mother, Lise, passed away in 2013 after battling breast cancer.
The donation “would be for local charities, mainly people dealing with breast cancer, families dealing with breast cancer,” Clark said after his Sunday round. “We’re going to do the research of which one we want to give it to, and we’ll announce where we’re going to give it, but I want to do it in the local Denver community.”
As for his golf at Castle Pines, Clark was tied for fifth place going into the final round. And with a considerable gallery rooting him on as the local favorite, he was still in contention for the title after birdies on the 10th and 11th holes — from 24 and 39 feet, respectively — had him at 8 under par overall. But he missed a 5 1/2-foot birdie try on the par-5 14th and made a double bogey on the par-5 17th, where he hit three different bunker shots and two from the rough. He ended up with a 2-over-par 74 in the final round, putting him at 5 under overall, seven back of winner Keegan Bradley.
“I’m bummed with my play,” Clark said. “I wish I would have played better.”
The par-5s didn’t treat Clark — one of the Tour’s longer hitters — very well at Castle Pines as he played the 16 par-5s in 2 under for the week.
“Altitude golf is very hard to control the ball,” he said. “Sometimes it gets a little goofy trying to control your distance.” As for the final-round double bogey on No. 17, “Obviously I really screwed up the tournament on that hole.
“I just need to score the ball better. It’s very frustrating because my game is really good. I’m just not getting much out of it. It would be nice next week to time that correctly and start scoring on the par-5s, and when I have putts inside 10 feet, make them.”
Still, the golf aside, Clark enjoyed all the support he received from fans at Castle Pines, and the time he got to spend with family and friends. Among them was NBA and Olympic basketball champion Derrick White of Parker, a buddy of Clark who the golfer used to compete against in basketball as a kid and in high school. White was a fixture in Clark’s gallery all week.
“It’s been amazing,” Clark said of the week. “Denver showed out great. I had tons of support. It was all in all an amazing week with all the support and friends coming out and all the love I felt.”
Clark advanced to next week’s Tour Championship as the No. 8 seed. That means he’ll start the tournament six strokes behind leader Scottie Scheffler in the tournament’s unusual format. The winner of the FedExCup will earn a whopping $25 million.
400 Club: It’s an odd thing to say, but there was no lack of 400-yard shots this week. It wasn’t unexpected, given that Castle Pines Golf Club sits in the thin air between 6,000 and 6,400 feet above sea level. But still …
Among the shots that traveled more than 400 yards (this is not meant to be a complete list):
— Byeong Hun An 431 yards on No. 10 in round 1
— Ludvig Aberg 430 yards on No. 14 in round 4
— Taylor Pendrith 418 yards on No. 1 in round 1
— Aberg 418 yards on No. 10 in round 1 (with a 3-wood)
— Aberg 414 yards on No. 14 in round 3
— Aaron Rai 409 yards on No. 14 in round 1
Unusual Week for Scottie Scheffler: World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, winner of six PGA Tour events plus an Olympic gold medal in 2024, turned out to be an also-ran at Castle Pines for one of the few times this year. His 33rd-place finish was his second-worst of his PGA Tour season, better only than his 41st place at the U.S. Open.
“I haven’t had many off weeks this year, so this was definitely one of them,” Scheffler said after ending up at 1 over par (71-72-74-72). “So it feels good to at least put a decent round together today. A few breaks go my way, it looks a little bit different.
“But it’s just one of those weeks where sometimes the ball bounces your direction, sometimes it doesn’t. This was definitely a week in which the ball was not bouncing the direction that I was hoping it was going to.”
For much of the week, Scheffler seemed a little baffled by how his ball reacted at altitude.
“It’s frustrating when you feel like you’re doing stuff that’s good and it’s not turning out the way you’re intending it to,” he said.
“Overall it was a pretty frustrating week. I felt like today I played quite nice. My back felt a little off the first day. Last two days I was kind of battling my swing and wasn’t holing a bunch of putts. But today I went out there and played what I felt like was a really good round of golf. I hit a lot of good shots. It’s just I had trouble with the wind and the elevation.
“It can be so challenging coming from those large downhill shots into the wind. No. 9 is an example of a shot where I had 149 adjusted pin, and my 9-iron goes 176, and it flew 140 yards, and I flushed it. Maybe even less than that, short in the water. It’s one of those things that it’s challenging, and I could have been better at it this week, and there’s a lot of things I could have done better.”
The good news is that the Texan built such a large lead that went to the Tour Championship in Atlanta with the FedExCup lead. That allowed him to start the tournament at 10 under par under the FedExCup rules, two better than the next-best player. (See chart above.)
Snap Goes the Shaft: Rory McIlroy, he of 26 PGA Tour victories in his career, was a bit tough on his clubs this week at Castle Pines. On Friday, he skipped a club into the water near the 17th tee before retrieving it out of the edge of the pond.
Then on the ninth tee on Sunday, after pushing his tee shot just right of the stream that runs along the right side of the hole, he leaned on his driver as he bent over to pick up his tee. Snap the shaft went.
McIlroy played his approach on the par-4 while standing in the water, but still put his ball on the green and two putted from 27 feet for a not-so-typical par. He finished at 6 under par for the week, in 11th place.
For all the scores for the BMW Championship, CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com