Reinvented Bradley captures BMW title
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Keegan Bradley had bottomed out, crashing from the high of winning the PGA Championship to tumbling out of the top 100 in the world.
His chances to represent U.S. teams in international play had dried up, his preferred putting method was banned, and the confidence that once put him on the cusp of greatness was shot.
“It’s scary when I look back, because I didn’t know I needed this much improvement,” Bradley said.
He was like a scientist in the lab, changing his swing, his putting stroke, his fundamentals — investing in the work needed to get to where he was Monday on soggy Aronimink: going head-to-head in a sudden-death playoff against the new No. 1 player in the world, Justin Rose.
For a player who had to reinvent his game, the clutch moment didn’t seem so scary.
Bradley topped Rose with a par on the first playoff hole to win the rain-plagued BMW Championship for his first PGA Tour victory in six years.
Bradley’s fourth career win meant a bit more than the others — yes, even the major he won in 2011 — because he held more than a trophy and a $1.62 million check. He also got to give his young son Logan a victory toss in the air on the 18th green for the first time. Bradley, who shot a final round 6-under 64 to finish at 20-under 260, thrust his arms toward the gray sky and drizzle in celebration and waved his family toward him to bring them in for a lengthy embrace.
Rose left Aronimink with a new reality as well. Though he was runner-up at the FedEx Cup playoff event, he didn’t come up short in the world ranking. Rose moved No. 1 in the world ahead of Dustin Johnson and became the 22nd player to reach the top spot since the ranking began in 1986.
Tiger Woods caused some more noise — he’s been doing that a lot in recent months before the largest galleries at every course — and got within one shot of the lead when he birdied the par-5 ninth to go out in 31.
But he missed the green on 10 and made bogey. He found a bunker on the par-3 14th for another bogey. And this was the kind of day when more than one mistake was going to be costly. Woods wound up with a 65 and finished three shots back.
Such was the scoring at Aronimink that Woods had a 72-hole score of 263 for the sixth time of his career. The other five times he won; this one got him a tie for sixth.
“I thought I needed to shoot something around 62 today to have a chance,” Woods said. “And I don’t think that would have been good enough.”
Turns out, a 62 would have put him in the playoff.
RYDER CUP: Tony Finau has been named to the Ryder Cup team, the final pick by U.S. captain Jim Furyk.
Finau joins Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods as Furyk’s four wild-card selections. Finau has 11 top-10s this season, including three in majors.
The matches are Sept. 28-30 outside Paris.