CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — Adam Scott hit his opening tee shot out of bounds and it didn’t get much better from there for the Australian golfer looking for his first victory in four years.
Scott found the water on the third hole at Castle Pines, leading to a double bogey. He hit another ball out of bounds at the 15th hole, giving him a fourth “6” on his scorecard for the day.
But Scott somehow finds himself still in contention with one round to go at the BMW Championship, trailing Keegan Bradley by a stroke and paired with him again during Sunday’s final round.
A day after shooting 63, Scott shot 74.
“I didn’t feel like I did that much wrong,” said the 2013 Masters champion, who has won 14 times across his career on the PGA Tour. “A couple of drives were just not quite right, and a three-putt, and all of a sudden I’m kind of chasing.
“I really struggled mostly on the greens today. They were just so different from yesterday’s round speed-wise and firmness and look and everything. Felt like I was on a different course almost, and I just battled that most of the round. The good shots I hit, I didn’t really get the reward. I’m in a good spot in the end of it to be one back.”
And that, ultimately, is what matters. Scott has not won since the 2020 Genesis Invitational and needed a good week to make it to next week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta.
He’s presently projected to finish ninth in the FedEx standings and would easily make it to East Lake. He entered the week 41st and only the top 30 will advance to the season-ending event that offers a total of $100 million in bonus money, including $25 million to the winner.
Bradley entered the week facing long odds of getting to the Tour Championship, barely making the last spot in the field for the BMW Championship and feeling fortunate to be here.
But he put together rounds of 66, 68 and 70 and overcame a three-straight-bogey stretch on the back nine Saturday to birdie the last two holes and forge a one-shot lead over Scott. He holds a two-shot lead over Ludvig Åberg, who shot 71, and Alex Noren, who shot 70.
Xander Schauffele is five shots back after a 67 and tied for fifth with Wyndham Clark.
Bradley is at 204, 12 under par, through three rounds with Scott at 205 and Aberg and Noren at 206.
“It was tough out there today,” said Bradley, who is projected to land in fourth in the FedEx standings with a win. “It was really windy, a lot of elevated tees that were into the wind, which makes it really tough. Proud of the way I fought today. I played some brilliant golf but I hit also some terrible shots, too. I guess that’s the way of the world.
“But I’m proud of the way I fought there in the end… I told myself after those three bogeys in a row that I was either tied for the lead or maybe one back. I don’t even know. I would have been happy with that to start the week this late in the tournament. Kept trying to tell myself that.
“I really hit quality shots coming in after that.”
Bradley, 38, and Scott, 44, will be trying to hold off Åberg, 24, who turned pro in June of last year and already has a win each on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. He’s ranked fourth in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Although he’s cooled off a bit in the last few months after impressing early on, he remains a steady performer who led for a time on Saturday but settled for a 71 and will go into the final round playing with Noren, his countryman from Sweden.
“These are the situations we like to be in,” Åberg said. “We like to be close to the lead coming down the last couple of holes. If we can do that and keep up the aggressive part, I think we’ll be fine.”
Åberg entered this week seventh in the FedEx standings and is set for next week. But both Bradley and Scott have work to do Sunday. Were either player to fall out of the top five, they put their spot next week at risk, depending on how others fare.
“Look I love my position,” Scott said. “I feel like, again, a bit like yesterday, I’m playing on house money, and I’m right in this golf tournament. I don’t know how many times, too, this year I reckon I’ve been in contention going into Sunday, so I’m excited for tomorrow.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Adam Scott Struggles As Keegan Bradley Seizes Lead in Third Round at BMW Championship.
