Golfbet recap: Keegan Bradley takes BMW Championship title as last man in the field

The last man in was the last man standing.

Keegan Bradley was the 50th and final player added to the field at the BMW Championship, which hosted the top 50 players in FedExCup points this week at Castle Pines Golf Club outside Denver.

When he tapped in for bogey on the 72nd hole on Sunday, Bradley was the last man standing with a winning score of 12-under, one better than Ludvig Åberg, Adam Scott and Sam Burns. It was the seventh PGA TOUR victory of Bradley’s career.

Round-by-round odds on Keegan Bradley to win BMW Championship (via BetMGM)

• Pre-tournament: +10000
• After Round 1 (led by 1): +1400
• After Round 2 (2nd, trailed by 3): +550
• After Round 3 (led by 1): +275

The day began with Bradley in the lead at 12-under, followed by Scott at 11-under. The penultimate pairing was made up of Åberg and Alex Noren, both at 10-under. Noren was a +600 underdog to win it at BetMGM Sportsbook. Åberg and Scott were both at +333 and Bradley was the favorite at +260.

The tournament took shape on the back nine, as Scott made three consecutive bogeys on Nos. 10-12 to cede control to Bradley. With six holes to go, the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup captain was -250 to win the title.

Åberg’s run ended on the par-5 14th, a hole that he had eagled each of the past two days. After a birdie on the previous hole, he mis-hit his approach into the water, leading to a bogey.

Just behind, Bradley found trouble off the tee at No. 14 but was able to salvage yet another par. After making birdie on the very first hole of his round, Bradley had made 13 straight pars and that was good enough to still be on top.

Results for outright picks from Golfbet Experts:

• Will Gray: Xander Schauffele (+600) T5
• Ben Everill: Xander Schauffele (+600) T5
• Chris Breece: Viktor Hovland (+1800) T26
• Matt DelVecchio: Patrick Cantlay (+1800) T13
• Rob Bolton: Tony Finau (+2800) T13
• Mike Glasscott: Scottie Scheffler (+333) T33

Both Bradley and Scott made bogey on No. 15, bringing Sam Burns and his clubhouse total of 11-under into the mix. But Bradley authored the shot of the tournament on the par-5 17th, hitting his approach from 232 yards to 16 feet for eagle. A two-putt birdie from there gave him a two-shot lead playing the final hole.

As I noted in this week’s Prop Farm article on Wednesday, I was on Åberg to win this pre-tournament. He ended up finishing runner-up. This is the second time that Bradley has beaten me at the BMW Championship – I was on Justin Rose at Aronimink in 2018 when he lost to Bradley in a playoff.

With the win, Bradley moved from 50th to fourth in the FedExCup race. He also becomes just the third player to ever win a TOUR event after having been named the Ryder Cup captain. Oddly enough, like Bradley, the other two are also PGA Championship winners: Jack Nicklaus and Davis Love III.

Next week it is on to the newly-restored East Lake Golf Club for the TOUR Championship, where Andrew Green was brought in to try to recapture much of Donald Ross’ original design. Fairways have been reshaped, bunkers have been moved and added, and the turf has been changed in the fairways and on the greens.

The field is reserved for the top 30 players on the FedExCup points list, which of course, has been reshuffled following the conclusion of the BMW Championship. For the third straight season, the man atop that list is Scottie Scheffler. With the FedExCup Starting Strokes, Scheffler will begin Thursday in the lead at 10 under. Xander Schauffele will begin in second at 8 under and Hideki Matsuyama, hoping to return healthy after withdrawing earlier this week, starts in third place at 7 under. Bradley begins at 6-under par.

Schauffele has been the best horse for the course at East Lake for the last decade. We’ll see if the changes change anything for Schauffele, but I have been saying for a month that he would be my bet to win the FedExCup.

Four players were in line for a spot in the top 30 prior to the BMW Championship but were edged out over the course of the last four days. Davis Thompson, Jason Day, Denny McCarthy and Brian Harman all went from on the inside to the outside looking in. It’s a really tough blow for Harman, who began the week in the 29th position but ended up 31st. He had made four birdies on the inward nine on Sunday to climb up the leaderboard and get himself a spot in the field next week but ultimately double-bogeyed the 18th hole and missed what would have been his fourth trip to East Lake.

Another four players began the week outside of the top 30 but played their way in: Chris Kirk, Tommy Fleetwood, Adam Scott, and your BMW champion, Keegan Bradley.

Results from Rob Bolton Sleeper Picks and Golfbet Insider

• Corey Conners to win (+4500) T22
• Will Zalatoris Top 5 finish (+750) T13
• Austin Eckroat Top 10 finish (+500) T46
• Alex Noren Top 20 finish (+125) T9
• Cam Davis Top Australian (+300) T5
• Wyndham Clark Top 20 finish (-150) T13
• Aaron Rai Top 10 finish (+250) T43
• Max Greyserman Top 20 finish (+140) T28
• Patrick Cantlay and Hideki Matsuyama both top 10 (+475) T13/WD
• Ludvig Åberg and Hideki Matsuyama both top 20 (+138) T2/WD
• Akshay Bhatia and Adam Scott both top 20 (+300) 45th/T2
• Nick Dunlap and Will Zalatoris both top 20 (+375) T31/T13
• Aaron Rai Top English (+188) T43

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