CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (AP) — Keegan Bradley went from the last man in the BMW Championship to a winner Sunday, closing with an even-par 72 for a one-shot victory that opened up all sorts of possibilities he never imagined possible a week ago.
Bradley pulled away from mistake-prone Adam Scott early on the back nine and delivered a clutch shot into the par-5 17th that all but sealed the seventh victory of his PGA Tour career, and the most unlikely.
He was biting his nails a week ago, needing help just to finish at No. 50 in the FedEx Cup and qualify for the second postseason event. And then he managed the mile-high air, the wind and the Sunday pressure to win at Castle Pines.
The victory moved the 38-year-old Bradley from No. 50 to No. 4 in the FedEx Cup, sending him to the Tour Championship where he will start four shots behind Scottie Scheffler in a 72-hole chase for the $25 million prize.
There’s also another cup in play. Bradley, the first Ryder Cup captain to win a PGA Tour event since Davis Love III nine years ago, moved to No. 10 in the Presidents Cup standings. The top six after the BMW Championship automatically qualified, and Jim Furyk gets six captain’s picks. Bradley will surely be in the conversation after winning for the third straight year.
Scott, a runner-up at the Scottish Open last month, was tied for the lead until starting the back nine with three soft bogeys, two of them with a wedge in his hand from the fairway. He birdied the closing par 5s, but lost a big chance when he overshot the 15th green from 101 yards.
He closed with a 72, though it also moved him into the top 30 who qualifying for East Lake.
Sam Burns finished with a Sunday-best 65, including a bogey on the par-5 14th, and shared second place with Scott and Ludvig Aberg of Sweden. Aberg closed with a 71.
Bradley finished at 12-under 276. He earned $4 million for his second title in the BMW Championship, also winning at Aronimink in 2018.
LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) — Lydia Ko won her third major championship by breaking free from a logjam of world-class talent to win the Women’s British Open by two strokes at St. Andrews, capping a summer that included her Olympic gold medal in Paris.
Ko rolled in a 4-foot birdie putt at the storied 18th hole on the Old Course for a 3-under 69, and then had to wait to see if Nelly Korda, defending champion Lilia Vu and two-time champion Jiyai Shin could catch her.
All four players — former world No. 1s — shared the lead at some point down the stretch.
Korda had the lead until a double bogey on the par-5 14th, and she took bogey from the Road Hole bunker at the 17th to lose her bid. Shin also make bogey on the 17th. Vu had a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th to force a playoff. She came up short, and then missed a short par putt to tie for second.
Ko finished at 7-under 281. It was her first major in eight years.
European Tour
AARHUS, Denmark (AP) — Frederic LaCroix of France played bogey-free for a 6-under 65 that allowed him to track down the mistake-prone leaders and win the Danish Golf Championship for his first European tour title.
LaCroix started the final round four shots behind Lucas Bjerregaard of Denmark and closed the gap quick as the Dane took three bogeys and a double bogey on the front nine and never caught up. He closed with a 73.
Romain Langasque could only manage a 71 with two birdies and two bogeys and tied for second with Bjerregaard, four shots behind.
Lacroix finished at 14-under 270.
British Amateur champion Jacob Skov Olesen of Denmark closed with a 72 and tied for fifth.
PGA Tour Champions
GRAND BLANC, Mich. (AP) — Stewart Cink won The Ally Challenge for his first PGA Tour Champions title, closing with a 6-under 66 for a four-stroke victory.
The 51-year-old Cink, the 2009 British Open champion, won in his 10th career start on the 50-and-over tour. He became the 22nd player to win on each of the PGA Tour’s three tours — the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions and Korn Ferry Tour.
Cink finished at 17-under 199 at Warwick Hills to match the tournament record set by Joe Durant in 2021. The eight-time PGA Tour winner has made 14 starts this season, the best a tie for 24th in the Sony Open in Hawaii.
K.J. Choi was second after a 67. Mike Weir (64) was another stroke back.
Other tours
Jinichiro Kozuma, who plays for LIV Golf, closed with a 7-under 65 and won on the second playoff hole with a par to beat Yuwa Kosaihira and win the Sansan KBC Augusta on the Japan Golf Tour. … John Keefer won the CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open for his first PGA Tour Americas title. He shot 63-61-71-67 to finish at 26 under, a stroke ahead of Joey Savoie (64) and Neal Shipley (67). … Joakim Lagergren rallied from four shots behind with a 4-under 68 to win the Indoor Golf Group Challenge in Sweden, his second victory this season on the Challenge Tour. … Thriston Lawrence, who challenged at the British Open at Royal Troon, closed with a 5-under 67 for a five-shot victory in the SunBet Challenge Times Square Casino on the Sunshine Tour. … Shiho Kuwaki closed with a 2-under 70 for a one-shot victory in the Nitori Ladies on the Japan LPGA. … Ji Young Park won the Hanwha Classic on the Korea LPGA by closing with a 4-under 68.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
