A week in golf can be a long time and one man who will testify to that is Keegan Bradley. Having been resigned to missing out entirely on a place in the top 50 after the St Jude Championship, a Tom Kim bogey on the final hole was enough for Bradley to sneak into this year’s BMW Championship in 50th place.
Given an unlikely lifeline, Bradley arrived at Castle Pines clearly with nothing to lose and after four gripping rounds, Bradley was able to pull off the impossible and would go onto win his biggest tournament since winning the PGA Championship back in 2011.
Bradley’s victory not only gave him yet another signature payday, but also moved the recently appointed Ryder Cup captain from 50th in the FedEx standings to fourth, and he will head to this week’s Tour Championship with high hopes.
Let’s look back on a memorable final day.
Whilst others flounder, Bradley remains solid
It was a week of contrasting scoring at the BMW Championship. The first two rounds yielded plenty of birdies but with the winds picking up and the altitude wreaking havoc, scoring across the final 36 holes was tricky.
Starting the final round with a one stroke lead, Keegan Bradley knew that a solid final round would see him go close and that’s what Bradley was able to deliver.
Able to draw on all of his experience, Bradley got his round off to the best start when finding a birdie on the first hole. From here Bradley would go onto hit plenty of fairways and greens and despite drama going on all around him, he would par every hole from the second all the way to the fourteenth.
Closing in on a memorable victory, Bradley started to feel the pressures of leading and would let a shot slide by on the 15th. With Ludvig Aberg breathing down his neck, Bradley was able to find a vital par on the 16th and took full advantage of the accessible par 5 17th when notching a vital birdie.
His birdie on the 17th ensured that he would head up the last hole with a two stroke lead. Sensing victory was close, Bradley would get into trouble off the tee but would be able to scramble onto the green. Just missing his par putt, he had three feet for the win and would make no mistake.
When seeing his ball drop into the hole, Bradley soaked up the adulation from the crowd and celebrated wildly. A dogged competitor, those watching got a sense of what Bradley will bring to the Ryder Cup job.
A hugely talented ball striker, Bradley will move onto Eastlake this week hoping to build on his terrific week. Although fourth in the overall standings, he once again will have nothing to lose and could be one to watch with real interest.
Aberg proves class yet again. A big title is just around the corner
With his laid back demeanour and world class game, it’s easy to forget that this is Ludvig Aberg’s first full season on the PGA Tour and the first time that he has ever played in the FedEx Playoffs.
The best player in college, when Aberg made the decision to go pro many expected him to be a force at the top of the game, but few would have anticipated that it would have happened so quickly. Now the world number four, Aberg looks at ease on the biggest stage and although he has already won on both the PGA And DP World Tours, a first major or signature event seems just around the corner.
A devastating ball striker, Aberg can drive the ball a mile but his driving and approach play can at times get a little wild. Needing to be consistent, the Swede would match three birdies with bogeys on his back nine and when he needed to play his best, his radar was slightly off.
A similar thing happened at the Masters when he found himself in contention and it’s clear that if he is to win the game’s biggest tournaments, he will need to eliminate the mistakes.
Even though he would have been disappointed not to have won last week, Aberg will still head to Eastlake in fifth place. Although he won’t win the FedEx, he will hope to land the biggest title of his career at EastLake this week.
For the third year in a row, Scottie Scheffler will head to Eastlake as the number one ranked player in the Playoffs
For the third year in succession, Scottie Scheffler will head to Eastlake as the FedEx’s top ranked player.
Despite finishing well down the field, Xander Schauffele was unable to overthrow his lead at the top of the standings ensuring that Scheffler will head to Eastlake as the top dog.
It’s a remarkable effort to finish as the best player in the playoffs for a third successive year and shows what a dominant force Scheffler has become. However, he will want to put things right this time around. Having been denied in each of the last two years by both Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland, the only man who can deny him this week is Schauffele.
The two have been head and shoulders above the rest of the competition but for Scheffler this means more. A winner of six tournaments, it would be a real shame if Scheffler’s tremendous year wasn’t capped off by a FedEx victory.
As for the Texan, he has spoken of his disdain over the format of the playoffs. With the points so heavily weighted in the playoffs, they don’t really reward the best player of the year, but instead often reward those who play the best over the playoffs.
Despite his poor showing at the BMW Championship, the huge lead that he has been able to build up over the year has meant that he still finds himself in a commanding position as the race to be crowned the FedEx Champion heats up.
Scheffler has reached the stage where he has dominated all before him in the regular season, he will feel that now is his time to finally cap all that good work off by winning the FedEx for the first time.
Jack Hartman
A keen golfer and huge fan of the game, Jack has been covering golf for the last five years. Bringing you all the latest coverage and news from the PGA, LIV, LPGA and DP World Tours, never before has golf been so popular and Jack can’t wait to bring all the excitement to his readers.
