Keegan Bradley goes from last man in to BMW Championship winner, on to East Lake

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (AP) — Keegan Bradley went from the last man in the BMW Championship to a winner Sunday, closing with an even-par 72 for a one-shot victory that opened up all sorts of possibilities he never imagined possible a week ago.

Bradley pulled away from mistake-prone Adam Scott early on the back nine and delivered a clutch shot into the par-5 17th that all but sealed the seventh victory of his PGA TOUR career, and the most unlikely.

He was biting his nails a week ago, needing help just to finish at No. 50 in the FedExCup and qualify for the second postseason event. And then he managed the mile-high air, the wind and the Sunday pressure to win at Castle Pines.

“It just shows why you've got to grind it out because you never know how fast it can switch,” Bradley said on the 18th green, where he stood alongside his father. Mark Bradley, a longtime club professional, had never seen his 38-year-old son win in person.

The victory moved Bradley from No. 50 to No. 4 in the FedExCup, sending him to the TOUR Championship where he will start four shots behind Scottie Scheffler in a 72-hole chase for the $25 million prize.

There's also another cup in play. Bradley, the first Ryder Cup captain to win a PGA TOUR event since Davis Love III nine years ago, moved to No. 10 in the Presidents Cup standings. The top six after the BMW Championship automatically qualified, and Jim Furyk gets six captain's picks. Bradley will surely be in the conversation after winning for the third straight year.

Bradley heard plenty of “U-S-A! “U-S-A!”” chants as he went along the back nine at Castle Pines, the loudest coming on the 18th when thousands of spectators were allowed to encircle the green for the final touch of a big week.

Scott, a runner-up at the Genesis Scottish Open last month, was tied for the lead until starting the back nine with three soft bogeys, two of them with a wedge in his hand from the fairway. He birdied the closing par 5s, but lost a big chance when he overshot the 15th green from 101 yards.

He closed with a 72, though it also moved him into the top 30 who qualified for East Lake.

Sam Burns finished with a Sunday-best 65, including a bogey on the par-5 14th, and shared second place with Scott and Ludvig Åberg of Sweden, who let another good chance get away with too many Sunday mistakes.

Åberg was 12 under on the par 5s going into the final round, and he played them at even par. He closed with a 71.

Justin Thomas somehow made it to East Lake for the TOUR Championship, even though he was already home in Florida in the same nail-biting spot as Bradley was a week ago.

Thomas needed plenty of help to get the 30th spot, and it came from former British Open champion Brian Harman and Alex Noren. Harman needed a par on the last hole to stay in the top 30 and made double bogey.

Noren, who has never made it to East Lake, was poised to finish in the top 30 when he holed a 25-foot par putt on the 13th hole and made birdie on the 14th. But he finished with three straight bogeys, the most damaging on the par-5 17th, the easiest hole at Castle Pines. He had to lay up from a drive in the rough and hit wedge into a bunker. He shot 75.

The 17th is where Bradley, who finished at 12-under 276, all but sealed it.

Burns had posted at 277. Åberg and Scott remained close. Bradley hit a 5-iron between two bunkers to a back left pin on a firm green to 16 feet, the closest shot of the day. He missed the eagle chance, but it gave him a two-shot lead going to the 18th.

And while he missed a 4-foot par putt that only determined the margin, he reacted with energy that has come to be expected from the 38-year-old New Englander. He thrust his arm in the air and soaked up the “U-S-A! U-S-A!” chants.

Bradley earned $4 million for his second title in the BMW Championship, also winning at Aronimink in 2018 when he was the No. 52 seed in what was then a 70-man field.

Bradley and Scott joined Tommy Fleetwood (69) and Chris Kirk (69) who moved into the top 30 to qualify for the TOUR Championship. They bumped out Harman, Jason Day, Davis Thompson and Denny McCarthy.