Golf

Keegan Bradley rides the wave to capture BMW Championship

Rory McIlroy finishes six shots off the lead, while win catapults Bradley into fourth spot in FedEx Cup race

Keegan Bradley of the United States celebrates winning the BMW Championship with his caddie Scott Vail. Photograph: Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Keegan Bradley of the United States celebrates winning the BMW Championship with his caddie Scott Vail. Photograph: Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Sun Aug 25 2024 - 23:56

Keegan Bradley rode patriotic cheers to victory at the BMW Championship as he shot even-par 72 in the final round Sunday for a 12-under-par 276 at Castle Pines Golf Club.

It capped a dramatic resurgence for Bradley, who was named the 2025 US Ryder Cup captain last month and was the last man to qualify for the field this week.

Yet his seventh PGA Tour win means Bradley will enter the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta next week in fourth place at 6 under based on the staggered start used at the season’s final tournament.

Bradley, who was not selected as a captain’s pick on the 2023 Ryder Cup team, heard cheers from the gallery of “Let’s go captain” and “U-S-A” everywhere he went. He took a lead he would not relinquish with a par on the 537-yard, par-4 10th hole that broke a tie with Australian Adam Scott (72), who had a three-putt bogey on the hardest hole on the course.

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Rory McIlory shot a 71 on the final day to finish tied for 11th spot on -6, six shots behind Bradley. Shane Lowry was a shot further back after also shooting 71 on the day.

World number one Scottie Scheffler (72) tied for 33rd at the BMW, but he enters East Lake as the top seed and will start at 10 under par. Xander Schauffele (71, tied for fifth) will be second at 8 under par and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, who withdrew with a back injury from the BMW, will be third at 7 under.

Sam Burns shot a final-round-best 7-under-par 65 to finish tied for second with Scott and Sweden's Ludvig Aberg (71) at 11-under 277. It's the fourth career runner-up finish for Burns, who had eight birdies in his round and narrowly missed a bunker shot on the par-4 18th hole that would have tied the lead.

Burns’ lone bogey on the par-5 14th slowed his rally, but he bounced back with consecutive birdies on 16 and 17 to enter the Tour Championship ninth in FedEx Cup points.

Australian Cam Davis (66) led the field with 24 birdies on the week and tied for fifth at 8-under 280 with Tommy Fleetwood of England (69) – who played his way into the Tour Championship as he moved from 31st to 22nd in the FedEx Cup standings – plus Schauffele and South Korea’s Si Woo Kim (70).

Final scores from the PGA Tour BMW Championship

  • -12 Keegan Bradley (USA) 66 68 70 72
  • -11 Sam Burns (USA) 73 68 71 65 Ludvig Aberg (Sweden) 72 63 71 71 Adam Scott (Australia) 68 63 74 72
  • -8 Cam Davis (Australia) 72 70 72 66 Tommy Fleetwood (England) 72 69 70 69 Si Woo Kim (Korea Republic) 69 70 71 70 Xander Schauffele (USA) 69 73 67 71
  • -7 Chris Kirk (USA) 73 68 71 69 Alex Noren (Sweden) 68 68 70 75
  • -6 Sungjae Im (Korea Republic) 68 70 73 71 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) 70 71 70 71
  • -5 Tony Finau (USA) 70 73 72 68 Will Zalatoris (USA) 71 69 72 71 Byeong Hun An (Korea Republic) 72 69 71 71 Shane Lowry (Republic of Ireland) 75 67 70 71 Patrick Cantlay (USA) 71 68 72 72 Tom Hoge (USA) 72 68 71 72 Sepp Straka (Austria) 72 70 69 72 Taylor Pendrith (Canada) 72 65 73 73 Wyndham Clark (USA) 72 68 69 74
  • -4 Billy Horschel (USA) 71 74 68 71 Corey Conners (Canada) 68 70 73 73 Russell Henley (USA) 70 71 70 73
  • -3 Brian Harman (USA) 72 69 71 73
  • -2 Denny McCarthy (USA) 71 74 69 72 Viktor Hovland (Norway) 71 71 71 73
  • -1 Matt Fitzpatrick (England) 74 72 71 70 Max Greyserman (USA) 78 72 66 71 Collin Morikawa (USA) 70 70 73 74
  • Par Thomas Detry (Belgium) 72 70 72 74 Nick Dunlap (USA) 69 72 70 77
  • +1 Max Homa (USA) 74 75 73 67 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa) 74 72 74 69 Matthieu Pavon (France) 73 72 76 68 Jason Day (Australia) 78 69 71 71 Scottie Scheffler (USA) 71 72 74 72 JT Poston (USA) 70 74 70 75
  • +2 Justin Thomas (USA) 76 72 74 68 Stephan Jaeger (Germany) 76 69 73 72
  • +3 Adam Hadwin (Canada) 76 68 75 72 Davis Thompson (USA) 76 74 69 72
  • +4 Aaron Rai (England) 74 70 74 74 Cameron Young (USA) 75 71 69 77
  • +5 Akshay Bhatia (USA) 72 68 76 77 7 Eric Cole (USA) 77 68 78 72 Austin Eckroat (USA) 71 73 74 77
  • +11 Sahith Theegala (USA) 73 71 79 76