US golfer and Ryder Cup captain, Keegan Bradley, is currently leading the pack at the 2024 BMW Championship with the first round underway.
The top 50 players at the St. Jude Championship advance to the BMW Championship. Bradley was the 50th golfer in the FedEx Cup points table, hence making the BMW Championship. That meant he was the last-ranked golfer in the tournament at Castle Pines Golf Club.
In a plot twist of sorts, Keegan Bradley has moved up to being the leader at the current event, at least in the ongoing Round 1. He is currently enjoying a six-under-par score. Close behind him is South Korean Im Sung-Jae. The prize purse for the BMW Championship is a whopping $20 million, with the winner’s share a $3.6 million.
“It felt like being at Tour School or something” – Keegan Bradley on St. Jude Championship horror
Keegan Bradley had a difficult time at Southwind last week (IMAGE: Imagn)
Bradley had a bad weekend at the St. Jude Championship. He nearly missed out on qualifying for the BMW Championship and barely made the cut, having ranked 50th in the FedEx points table.
After playing the pro-am ahead of the BMW Championship, Bradley looked back on his performance at TPC Southwind. According to Sports Illustrated, he said:
“It was horrible, really horrible. It was one of the toughest afternoons I’ve had. This is my 14th year on Tour. It felt like being at Tour School or something.
“It was not very much fun. The disappointing thing was I haven’t had the best year, but I put myself in position to make the Tour Championship. I was 39th (in FedEx Cup points heading to Memphis). There was a lot of movement there. We all kind of thought I was in good shape. But that’s what the playoffs are about,”
Bradley spoke of the importance of playing in elevated events.
“This top 50 is becoming the most important thing we play for out here on Tour. Those elevated events have so many FedEx Cup points. It’s all the tournaments you want to play, forget about the points. It’s the tournaments with the most prestige, the most history. It’s really important,”
Keegan Bradley had suddenly found himself going down a spiral at the St. Jude Championship. However, he is not going to be adopting a more aggressive approach at the BMW Championship.
“You hold yourself to a standard of playing in those tournaments and being at that level. All of a sudden it was looking like I wasn’t going to be in those events. I want to go win Bay Hill and Memorial (two of the signature events). I want to have those on my resume. When you’re not playing them, it’s brutal.
“I don’t play very good when I do that. It’s going to be a regular week. I try to birdie every hole I play anyway, so if I try harder to make birdies, normally they don’t come. I won’t look at where I stand. Last week I tried not to look. This week I got to have a really high finish anyway. Hopefully I’m watching the leaderboard and have a reason to,”
At the BMW Championship, Bradley needs to have a higher position than he had last week. Since only the top 30 ranked players will advance to the Tour Championship, he has to finish in the first five if he wants to play at East Lake at the end of this month. Going by his performance in the first round of the championship, the newly crowned Ryder Cup captain is aiming for that qualification.
“I’m still in the prime of my career and can make this team” – Keegan Bradley on 2025 Ryder Cup
Keegan Bradley has been announced as the US Captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup (IMAGE: Imagn)
Bradley has been announced as the captain of the US side for the 2025 Ryder Cup. In the introductory press conference, the 38-year-old said he doesn’t just want to captain but wants to make the team.
“I’m still in the prime of my career and can make this team. I’m not going to pick myself. The only way that would happen is if the team was insisting it but even if they did I don’t see that happening. I want to make the team on points, otherwise I’m going to be the captain,” he said
If Keegan Bradley achieves his ambition, he would be the first US team captain since Arnold Palmer to qualify for the Ryder Cup.
“What’s personally important to me is I would like the vice captains to set up the future,” he added.
US golfer Tiger Woods was the initial choice for captaincy. The PGA Tour and he had been in talks for months regarding his availability for the Cup. He had also captained the US side in the 2019 Presidents Cup, which they won.
However, once Woods became an improbable choice, the PGA Tour picked Bradley to shoulder the responsibility.
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Edited by Rupin Kale
