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Keegan Bradley wins BMW Championship to cap PGA Tour return to Colorado

Vaseline August 26, 2024

CASTLE ROCK — The captain showed up in convincing fashion to close out the PGA Tour’s long-awaited return to Colorado.

After going into the final day of the BMW Championship with a one-stroke lead, Keegan Bradley played par golf at Castle Pines Golf Club on Sunday and finished at 12-under par for the tournament, one stroke ahead of Sam Burns, Ludvig Åberg and Adam Scott.

Bradley was the last man to qualify for the tournament and was ranked 50th in the FedExCup Playoffs standings. After becoming the 20th multiple winner in the event’s history, he shot up to 4th place.

Next up for America’s 2025 Ryder Cup captain: a chance to win the tournament at next weekend’s Tour Championship in Atlanta.

“I’ve been in these (nail-biting) situations a lot, and I kept telling myself that,” said Bradley, who also won the BMW in 2018. “There were a few guys on the GC who hadn’t done that in the Tour, and I knew it was going to be tough for them.

“…I’ve come from behind and won, I’ve been ahead and won, and I kept telling myself I’ve been in these situations before and I’ve won and I’ve done it. Today was one of those days.”

Keegan Bradley throws up some grass as he hits through the rough on the third hole during the final round of the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock on Aug. 25, 2024. Bradley won the tournament with a score of 12-under par. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

The 38-year-old Vermont native played steadily on a tough final day at the Castle Rock course, birdieing the first hole, then hitting 13 straight pars and working around bogeys on the 15th and 18th holes, including a birdie on the 17th, to close out his seventh career victory.

“I still feel like I’m in the prime of my career,” Bradley said. “I feel like there are a lot of parts of my game that are the best they’ve ever been, and I feel like I’ve got years ahead of me — I wanted to make this Ryder Cup team at Bethpage (Black) where I’m the captain. That’s always been a goal of mine. I feel like I can continue to play at a high level for a while.”

It was clear early on that Sunday would be another tough day at Castle Pines. It was dry over the weekend after many high scores were made on Friday following Thursday afternoon’s thunderstorm.

Both Bradley and Scott got into a groove as the final pair. Scott opened with an eagle on the par-5 first hole, capped by a 43-foot putt. Bradley also birdied the hole, and the two were off and running.

The gallery, as at all tournaments, continually cheered Bradley on with chants of “USA! USA!” as fans recognized the importance of his captaincy as an active player.

While Bradley made a series of pars, Scott missed several birdie putts that he would like to get back. The 44-year-old Australian missed from nine feet on the par-4 second hole, narrowly missed a long 31-footer on the par-4 third hole and then couldn’t make a 13-footer on the par-4 fifth hole.

Adam Scott reacts after missing a putt on the 18th hole during the final round of the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock on Aug. 25, 2024. Scott finished in a tie for second place overall in the tournament. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

After a bogey on the par-4 sixth and a birdie on the par-5 eighth canceled each other out, Scott struggled to start the back nine, bogeying three straight holes while Bradley hit pars to give the latter the lead on the leaderboard.

“Ten, eleven, twelve ruined it for me,” Scott said. “I was in position on every hole with wedges and made three bogeys. That’s almost unthinkable, honestly. And I definitely struggled on the greens over the weekend. I just didn’t have the confidence on some of those putts.”

Meanwhile, Sam Burns — who teed off nearly two hours ahead of Bradley and Scott — entered the clubhouse leading at 11 under after a round of 7 under. The 28-year-old made eight birdies and worked around a bogey on the par-5 14th for the day’s best round.

Burns nearly holed out from the pot bunker in front of the 18th green, but settled for a par. His polished round featured Sunday’s best drive, as he led the way in fairway accuracy, hitting 12 of 14, and elite putting. He was second with 133 feet of made putts.

After Burns hit his bunker shot on the 18th hole just wide of the hole and came to rest 11 inches from the cup, Burns fell facedown on the edge of the sand, his hat flying off and his club flying into the air.

“I knew it was a good line and I knew it was a pretty good weight. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t,” Burns said. “Yeah, (my reaction) was a little dramatic.”

Bradley’s birdie on the par-5 17th gave him a two-shot lead heading into the final hole. To make it four on the 17th, Bradley hit a 232-yard five-iron to set him up for eagle. His caddie, Scott Vail, called it “the best shot I’ve ever seen … right on the flag and it came down like a pitching wedge. It was so soft.”

His golfer agreed, saying the pressure-packed shot to win the tournament was “the purest golf shot I’ve ever hit.” It’s a grandiloquent statement considering Bradley has one major victory on his resume: the 2011 PGA Championship in his debut season.

“It was a little bit downwind, but on the previous hole I hit a 7-iron for 195 adjusted and it just kept going,” Bradley said. “I guess I was a little bit upset. So we just decided to rip that 5-iron. … It’s one of those moments where you realize you can hit those shots in the fight when it matters most, and to be able to hit that shot — I mean, for me, that was the shot of the tournament and a shot I’ll never forget.”

After Åberg finished with a par and Scott missed a birdie putt on the 18th that would have put pressure on Bradley, the captain made two putts from five feet to secure the win. Then Bradley threw his arms in the air and hugged Vail and his father, Mark Bradley, the director of instruction at Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis Club in Wyoming. It was the first time Mark had seen his son win in real life.

Now the man who packed his bags and booked a plane ticket back to Jupiter, Florida, last week — thinking he wouldn’t make the top 50 — is in position to potentially win the FedExCup Playoffs. He’s also put himself in the conversation for one of the captain’s picks for the Jim Furyk-led U.S. Presidents Cup team.

“The goal for next week? Win,” Vail said. “Take advantage of it while you’re playing well … it’s only six, eight times a year that you’re really at your best. Go out there, win and do some work next week.”

Bradley’s achievement from ‘bubble boy to champion’ capped the Tour’s triumphant return to Colorado for the first time since 2014 – and professional golf at Castle Pines since the end of The International in 2006

The tournament proved that the extensive renovation of the course was effective in keeping some of the world’s best golfers in check.

“We’ve done everything we can to make this golf course PGA Tour-ready,” said George Solich, president of Castle Pines Golf Club. “We’ve redesigned five holes on the front course and five holes on the back course. We’ve rebuilt every green, every bunker complex, every tee complex. We’ve redone or added all the water features.

“And we added about 650 yards to bring it (a PGA Tour record) to 8,130. So we were ready. You don’t know what it’s going to be like until Sunday… some people said guys might go 20-under, but I said no.”

Solich said earlier this summer that he predicted the BMW Championship winner would finish at 15-under.

Keegan Bradley holds the BMW Championship trophy on the 18th hole after winning the BMW Championship on Aug. 25, 2024, at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock. Bradley made a bogi on the final hole but still managed to hold on to his lead. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

Bradley’s winning score came three strokes under that, while the four-day average score for the field was 71.430, less than a stroke under par. Even world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler struggled to reach 1-over par.

According to the Castle Pines organization, more than 125,000 fans showed up.

“We have a lot of real golf fans in this state and it showed all week,” Solich said. “Starting Tuesday, we broke all records for the BMW Championship in terms of attendance. So to say we were a little golf hungry is an understatement. Cherry Hills was a huge success, but this is an even bigger success.”

For Castle Pines, this year’s BMW Championship was a bull’s-eye and is worth putting the tournament, or another PGA event, on the calendar again in the near future.

“We’re built for championship golf,” Solich said. “That was (late founder) Jack Vickers’ dream, and he’s got a big thumbs up on us. We’re getting the PGA Tour back — we don’t know in what form or when, but it’s too good a place for golf and too good a theater not to do it.”

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Originally published: August 25, 2024 at 7:05 PM

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Keegan Bradley wins BMW Championship to cap PGA Tour return to Colorado

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