Bradley outlasts the field to capture 2nd BMW

Writing from Castle Rock, Colorado

Sunday, August 26, 2024

This one was for Pops.

Because of his work, golf professional Mark Bradley had never been on site when son Keegan had won a professional tournament. Not even the 2011 PGA Championship. There was always a tournament to run or a lesson to give at Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis in Wyoming.

Sunday, that changed. Mark, who had been on hand numerous times when Bradley hadn’t won, was inside the ropes at Castle Pines Golf Club as Keegan, pressed by Adam Scott and sundry others all the way, captured the BMW Championship for the second time in six years. Bradley, the last man to make the BMW field last week in Memphis, now is not only $3.6 million richer, but has a chance to win the Tour Championship and the circuit’s playoff title next week at East Lake Golf Club.

Bradley’s closing even-par 72 for 12-under 276 beat Scott, Sam Burns and Ludvig Aberg by a stroke. A quartet including Xander Schauffele tied for fifth at 8-under 280.

Bradley’s week was the stuff that dreams are made of. He made the most of being the 50th and final player in the field, leading after the first round, then hanging close enough to 36-hole leader Scott to be in the last pairing with him on Saturday, then taking a one-stroke lead into the final round, then playing gritty golf – his only birdies were on the first and 17th holes, both par 5s – to grasp the J.K. Wadley Trophy for the second time.

“Last Sunday (after finishing early), I walked the range looking at people who were going to determine my future,” Bradley said. “Then I went to my hotel, had the coverage on, had the iPad on the featured holes, and had to unplug my phone twice it had gotten so hot from me refreshing it.”

In the end, Tom Kim’s 6-6-6 finish in Memphis vaulted Bradley into 50th. Then it was off to the airport, and to Denver rather than home to Jupiter, Fla. Now it’s on to Atlanta, where winning isn’t out of the question.

“Maybe I can,” Bradley said. “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.”

Scott hung with Bradley like a hunting dog pursuing a pheasant on the front nine, beginning with a 43-foot eagle putt at the first that brought him even with Bradley at 13-under and wowed the gallery of about 32,500. But three straight bogeys to open the back nine and too many visits to Castle Pines’ deep bunkers cost him a chance at the title. But his joint second placed him 14th in the playoff standings, so he goes to East Lake as well.

“Ten-11-12 kind of blew it for me there,” Scott admitted. “I was in position with wedges on every hole and made three bogeys. That's almost unthinkable, really. I definitely struggled on the greens on the weekend. Just didn't quite have the confidence in some of those putts.

“I thought I played well off the tee today, which was nice, but just didn't take advantage from there.”

Scott’s unraveling began with a pulled 9-footer on No. 10, continued with a failed bunker save on No. 11, and accelerated with another failed save from the rough on No. 12. He played the final six holes 1-under, but couldn’t catch Bradley.

Aberg tried to charge but three back-nine bogeys negated an equal number of birdies, while Burns, whose 7-under 65 was the round of the day, finished nearly two hours before Bradley and Scott, and watched the play with hope that fortune would fall in his favor. It did not.

“Overall it was a really, really good round,” Burns said before the wait.

Bradley, who held the lead outright on the final eight holes, had a really, really good week, and at the best possible time, to annex his seventh career victory.

“In the pro-am on the 3rd hole, I hit this 6-iron,” he recalled. “It was blowing harder than it blew all week, and I just absolutely flushed it, and it came out right in my window, and it just flew exactly the way I wanted it to. I was like, geez, that felt really good. To be honest with you, from that point on, I didn't really mis-hit a shot for four days, which doesn't happen a lot. I didn't putt that great this week, and I just struck the ball perfectly.”

Bradley putted fine, with nary a three-putt and 31 one-putts in a 113-putt week that featured 21 birdies. He hit 41 of 56 fairways and 53 greens, right near the average for recent BMW champions.

He called the shot of the tournament his 227-yard 5-iron to 16 feet on the par-5 17th, setting up a two-putt birdie and a two-stroke lead going to the last.

“That 5-iron was as pure of a golf shot as I've ever hit,” Bradley said. “I had 222 to the hole adjusted with the 10 percent, and I hit my 5-iron about 212 yards. It was a little downwind, but on the previous hole I hit 7-iron for 195 adjusted and it just went forever. I think I was a little jacked up.

“So we just decided to rip that 5-iron, and I hit it – I was aiming at the tongue of the bunker, and I hit it right there. It's one of those moments when you realize you can hit these shots in contention when it matters most, and to be able to pull that shot off – I mean, for me that was the shot of the tournament and a shot that I'll remember forever.”

It certainly beat his tee shot on the par-5 14th, which he sliced well to the right. It was a couple of steps from going out of bounds and a couple of yards from behind dead behind a tree. Instead, he got a break champions often get, a window to punch out from the trees and scramble for a par.

“Worst shot I hit all day,” Bradley said. “That was a relief to get down there and see I could get it onto the fairway. That was a big moment in the day.”

His victory was notable for several reasons. First, he joined Jack Nicklaus and David Love III as the only American Ryder Cup captains to win on the modern PGA Tour after being named to head the American squad. Second, he became the fourth multiple winner of the Western Open in the BMW Championship era, joining Tiger Woods (2007, 2009), Dustin Johnson (2010, 2016), and Patrick Cantlay (2021-22), and 20th going back to the start of the championship in 1899. Third, it might convince U.S. Presidents Cup captain Jim Furyk, who had already named Bradley an assistant captain, to put him on the 12-man team.

“We’ll see,” Bradley said with a smile.

Mark Bradley, of course, couldn’t have been prouder to see his son triumph. And Keegan was tickled that he finally won with Mark there to give him a bear hug.

“You just have to get lucky (for him) to be at one of these that you win at,” Bradley said. “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.”

“This is very, very special day,” Mark Bradley said, beaming on the 18th green.

“What a day,” Keegan Bradley answered.

What a week.

Onward to East Lake

Along with Bradley (from 30th to fourth) and Scott (from 41st to 14th), Tommy Fleetwood (31st to 22nd) and Chris Kirk (32nd to 26th) jumped into the Tour Championship field.

The four knocked out: Brian Harman (29th to 31st), Jason Day (25th to 33rd), Davis Thompson (26th to 34th) and Denny McCarthy (30th to 35th).

Two close calls stood out. Alex Noren, whose closing 75 placed him in a tie for ninth and ended his chance to advance, as he needed to at least tie for fourth. And Justin Thomas just squeezed in at the No. 30 spot after being in and out of the final field all day. His closing 4-under 68 for 2-over 290 was just enough to send him to East Lake.

Tour leader Scottie Scheffler starts at 10-under in the Tour’s “Starting Strokes” gambit. Bradley starts at 6-under. He beat Scheffler by 13 this week.

It doesn’t Fitz

Matt Fitzpatrick was more than a bit annoyed when he discovered a crack in the face of his driver and was told he wasn’t allowed to replace it. He spotted the crack before he played the eighth hole, called a rules official over, and was told no replacement was allowed.

His drive on No. 8 went 288 yards instead of the 326 yards he belted it on Saturday. Another rules official was brought in he concurred with the first official, but took it to the chief referee, Stephen Cox, and he also said no.

“There's an obvious crack there that's causing a defect in the ball flight,” Fitzpatrick said in a discussion caught on PGA Tour Live. “It's outrageous. It's a disgrace. It couldn't be more obvious."

Replied the official as they moved down the eighth fairway: "That's not part of the local rule.”

The officials used USGA Model Local Rule G-9 in making the decision, ruling the damage wasn’t severe enough to allow an in-round replacement. The PGA Tour doesn’t have a local rule covering damaged equipment.

“The rule details a number of situations where the club would be allowed to be replaced, but the rule states that a crack in and of itself does not meet the threshold of being significantly damaged,” Cox explained to PGATour.com.

Cox added later, “Although there was a small crack in the face, there was no separation in the metals, and on that basis, that (damage) threshold wasn’t met, so his only choice in that case was to continue using that club.”

Scottie Scheffler, who was playing with Fitzpatrick, was flabbergasted.

“There’s a crack down the middle of the driver,” he told the official. “You can feel it but apparently it’s not ‘significant enough.’ The damage to the club is making the club non-performing."

Said Fitzpatrick when he was handed the club back, “It's the most obvious crack I've ever seen.”

He pulled the club out of play and used his 3-wood on the tee the rest of the round, scoring 2-under 70 with four birdies on the inward nine.

Fitzpatrick wasn’t the only player with driver trouble. Rory McIlroy snapped the shaft of his driver by leaning on it after hitting his tee shot near the stream on No. 9. He took his shoes and socks off and stood in the stream, left foot on a rock, to play a brilliant recovery en route to saving par, but like Fitzpatrick, was such with a 3-wood for driver the rest of the way.

Around Castle Pines

Keegan Bradley’s winning total of 12-under 276 is the second-highest score relative to par since 2011, with only the 4-under 276 of Jon Rahm at Olympia Fields in 2020, when COVID-19 prevented galleries from attending, higher in relation to par. … He jumped to ninth on the Tour money list with $ 6,879,454.71. … It’s the first time in 11 attempts that Bradley has won having had the lead after 18 holes. … Sunday’s play also locked in the automatic qualifiers for the Presidents’ Cup teams. For the U.S.: Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay and Sahith Theegala. For the hosting International squad, Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Adam Scott, Tom Kim, Jason Day and Byeong Hun An. … Bradley, 38, is the oldest player in the current top 30 of the world rankings and the oldest Western Open/BMW winner in 20 years. Stephen Ames was 40 when he won at Cog Hill in 2004. … Bradley plays a mix of clubs, starting with a Ping G430 LST 10.5-degree driver. He uses TaylorMade Qi10 3- and 5-woods, Srixon ZX5 Mk II 3-, 4- and 5-irons, ZX7 Mk II 6-iron through pitching wedge, a pair of Cleveland RTX ZipCore wedges, and an Odyssey Versa Jailbird Midsize putter to maneuver a Srizon Z-Star Diamond ball about. .. Disproving his age, Bradley has won three straight years, capturing the Travelers last year and the ZOZO in 2022.

– Tim Cronin