CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — Keegan Bradley went from last in line to winner at the BMW Championship on Sunday, closing with an even-par 72 to claim victory by one stroke, opening up opportunities he wouldn’t have thought possible a week ago.

Bradley broke away from the mistake-prone Adam Scott early on the back nine and hit a decisive shot on the par-5 17th hole to all but secure his seventh PGA Tour victory, and the most unlikely.

A week ago, he was biting his nails, needing help to finish 50th in the FedEx Cup and qualify for the second postseason event. And then he overcame the mile-high air, wind and pressure of Sunday to win at Castle Pines.

“It shows you why you have to keep going, because you never know how quickly things can change,” Bradley said on the 18th green, standing next to his father. Mark Bradley, a club pro from the very beginning, had never seen his 38-year-old son win in real life.

With the win, Bradley moved from 50th to 4th in the FedEx Cup, which will send him to the Tour Championship, where he will start four strokes behind Scottie Scheffler in a 72-hole race for the $25 million top prize.

There’s another trophy at stake, too. Bradley, the first Ryder Cup captain to win a PGA Tour event since Davis Love III nine years ago, rose to No. 10 in the Presidents Cup rankings. The top six after the BMW Championship qualify automatically, and Jim Furyk gets six captain’s picks.

Bradley will undoubtedly be in the conversation, as he has won for the third year in a row.

Bradley heard countless cries of “USA! “USA!” as he walked the back nine at Castle Pines. The chants were loudest on the 18th, when thousands of spectators were allowed to gather around the green for the final touches to a great week.

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

He finished with a 72, but that also put him in the top 30 that qualified for East Lake.

Sam Burns finished with a career-best round of 65 on Sunday, including a bogey on the par-5 14th, to share second place with Sweden’s Scott and Ludvig Åberg, who again squandered a good chance with too many mistakes on Sunday.

Aberg 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, despite already being back home in Florida, in the same nerve-wracking spot as Bradley a week ago.

Thomas needed a lot of help to secure 30th place, and that came from former British Open champion Brian Harman and Alex Noren. Harman needed a par on the final hole to stay in the top 30 and made a double bogey.

Noren, who has never made it to East Lake, was on track to finish in the top 30 when he hit a 25-foot par putt on the 13th hole and birdied 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 a drive into the rough and hit a wedge into a bunker. He shot 75.

On the 17th round, Bradley, who finished at 12-under 276, nearly decided the match.

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

And though he missed a 4-foot par putt that would have decided the margin, he responded with the energy you’d expect from the 38-year-old New Englander, throwing his arm in the air and soaking up the “USA! USA!” cries.

Bradley earned $4 million for his second BMW Championship title, having also won in Aronimink in 2018, where he was seeded 52nd in a field of 70 at the time.

Bradley and Scott joined Tommy Fleetwood (69) and Chris Kirk (69) in finishing in the top 30 to qualify for the Tour Championship, knocking out Harman, Jason Day, Davis Thompson and Denny McCarthy.