East Lake, Presidents Cup hopeful Keegan Bradley playing with end in mind at Wyndham Championship

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- There's a reason that Keegan Bradley is playing the Wyndham Championship for the first time in seven years.

He knows that a few points can make all the difference.

At No. 43 in the FedExCup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List, Bradley is firmly within the top 70 bubble advancing to Memphis for the first event of the Playoffs, the FedEx St. Jude Championship. But his positions in the final two Playoffs events, the BMW and TOUR Championship — where the field whittles down to 50, then 30 players — are by no means guaranteed.

In his past 13 years on TOUR, the New England native has made it to five different TOUR Championships. For a six-time winner on TOUR and major champion, it's a testament to how difficult sustaining consistency at the highest level is.

In fact, until a resurgent 2023, the 38-year-old Bradley went five years without teeing it up at East Lake, home of the TOUR Championship. Although he was well outside of the top 30 in the FedExCup standings in some of those misses (No. 66 in 2019, No. 112 in 2020), the close calls are a risk he's not willing to take. In 2021, he entered the BMW at No. 32 and moved to No. 39 with a T60 finish. In 2022, he moved from No. 45 to No. 54 with a T58 finish.

"I think everybody's main goal to start the year is to make it to the TOUR Championship because that means you've done a lot of great things," Bradley said after a second-round 64 put him firmly in contention at the Wyndham Championship. "That's one of my No. 1 goals to start the year and when you do that, there's a real sense to the ending of the season. So often we're out here and the season ends and you want it to keep going. (At the TOUR Championship), everybody's done and it's a good feeling.

"It means everything."

Bradley has mediocre results at Sedgefield Country Club: T46 and T52 finishes in 2016 and 2017, with an average score of 68.25. But on the heels of a first-round 69 marked by weather delays and a suspension for darkness, Bradley carded seven birdies to just one bogey to finish at 7-under and four shots back of clubhouse leader Chad Ramey.

Despite being "exhausting," Bradley was "very, very happy" with his play.

"Just another chance to get some points," he said. "You never know in a few weeks or whenever it is when one or two points matters. Hopefully, I can go earn a lot of points this week."

Playing well puts the 2025 Ryder Cup captain, who was also recently announced as a 2024 Presidents Cup captain's assistant for the U.S. Team, in a unique position: He could serve as both a captain's assistant and player in the upcoming Presidents Cup in September.

Bradley has campaigned a steady, yet unspectacular, season, with two top-two and six top-25 finishes in 18 starts. At 17th in the Presidents Cup standings (where the top six earn an automatic spot on the team), and with three more weeks to earn points, a run in the Playoffs could warrant a captain's pick.

"I've got to go out and do something great to get on the team, which I'm trying to do," said Bradley. "Either way, I'm looking forward to being there and helping team USA win."