CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — Keegan Bradley booked a flight home to Florida a week ago, convinced his season was complete, an opportunity missed.
Now he’s a tournament winner again, headed to the season-ending PGA Tour event in Atlanta, where he has a realistic chance to win the FedEx Cup title and a $25 million bonus.
It’s no more crazy than being on the outside looking in at the BMW Championship, getting the last spot in the field, and then winning the tournament to catapult up the standings.
MORE: Final results, prize money from the BMW Championship
“I know, that is a little silly; geez, I'll take it,” Bradley said in the aftermath of his victory at the BMW Championship on Sunday. “When I showed up here this week, honestly I didn't think I'd be going to Atlanta. Scottie (Vale), my caddie, asked me if I wanted to know where I need to finish, and I said no. I still don't know. But I knew it had to be really high.
“Playing this week—last week I was looking at the leaderboard the whole time, and this week that was never on my mind. I was just trying to win the tournament. Maybe I can. I'm playing great. I feel very lucky to be in Atlanta. To make the Tour Championship two years in a row is a big deal.”
With a final-round 72 at Castle Pines, Bradley, 38, won for the seventh time in his career and prevailed by a stroke over Adam Scott, Ludvig Åberg and Sam Burns, who shot a final-round 65.
The victory moved the 2011 PGA Championship winner from 50th in the FedEx Cup standings—only 50 players made it to the BMW Championship—all the way to fourth, which means he will begin play Thursday in Atlanta at East Lake Golf Club four strokes behind Scottie Scheffler in the staggered strokes format used to determine the FedEx Cup champion.
While nobody wants to spot Scheffler that kind of advantage, the No. 1-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking has gone to Atlanta the last two years and failed to come away with the top prize.
And this week, Bradley actually finished 13 shots better than Scheffler.
All this after a week ago in Memphis fretting about not making the BMW field. Finishing among the top 50 was the big prize as it means spots in all of the signature events next year.
The 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup captain was upset at the thought of not being in those tournaments next year.
“I was devastated,” Bradley said. “I finished my round on Sunday. 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 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. 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.
“Picturing now I'm not going to be playing, I'm going to have to travel to these tournaments. I want to be in the final groups with these guys. I want to be watching them make the cut on Friday. I want to see how they interact with their other players in the locker room, on flights to and from tournaments. Everything counts.
“I was seeing that slipping away, really. 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.”
Bradley said he played with a sense of calm all week, knowing that he had a schedule set for next year.
Then he took the lead on Thursday with a first-round 66 and was in the final group with Scott on both Saturday and Sunday.
Bradley made only two birdies on a tricky final day but Scott was unable to put enough pressure on him, making three straight bogeys to start the back nine. He still had a chance at the 18th if he could get a birdie putt to drop, but when it missed Bradley could two-putt for the win.
Both Bradley and Scott, who was 41st coming in, advanced to the Tour Championship along with Tommy Fleetwood and Chris Kirk. Brian Harman, Jason Day, Davis Thompson and Denny McCarthy were the four players who had been in the top 30 and were bounced out, seeing their seasons end.
“I'm disappointed not to have won today, but I'm pretty happy to be going to East Lake because that wasn't on the cards a couple weeks ago,” said Scott, who was bidding for his first win in more than four years. “I've played well. After a couple days of rest and getting my head into next week, it'll be fun to go and have a couple good rounds and kind of find my way up the leaderboard at East Lake.”
Bradley got plenty of support all week and was embraced by fans chanting USA at the Ryder Cup captain. He soaked it all up and make sure to enjoy it all after tapping in for his victory.
“When I'm playing golf, I'm always trying to push my emotions down, good or bad,” he said. “When I do have a chance to—winning on the 18th hole, I've only done it seven times, and so I always try to take a second to really enjoy it, not underreact to a situation like that. I really want to take everything in because I went a big stretch of my career not winning, and I took it for granted a little bit.
“To be able to let all that emotion out is what it's all about. It's all those hours of practice away from the family. That's what makes it all worth it.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Keegan Bradley Continues Surprise FedEx Cup Playoff Run With Win at BMW Championship.
