Aug 24, 2024; Castle Rock, Colorado, USA; Keegan Bradley reacts as his putt for birdie comes within one foot of the hole on the 17th hole during the third round of the BMW Championship golf tournament at Castle Pines Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — A hot finish has Keegan Bradley in the lead by one stroke after the third round of the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club.
The 2025 Ryder Cup captain birdied the last two holes to post a round of 2-under-par 70 and stand at 12-under 204 going into Sunday. The last man into the 50-player field, Bradley had led after the first round of the FedEx Cup playoffs’ penultimate event.
It was a wild, up-and-down round on Saturday for Bradley, who had eight birdies and six bogeys as he hit only 50 percent of greens in regulation. But Bradley’s putter bailed him out as he ranked No. 1 on the day with 1.11 putts per greens in regulation.
Second-round leader Adam Scott (74 on Saturday) is in second, one shot back at 11 under. The 44-year old Aussie was 4-over par through the first four holes and shot a front-nine 40, then bounced back with a 2 under on the back nine.
Ludvig Aberg (71) is in the hunt for his second PGA Tour win, tied for third with fellow Swede Alex Noren (70) at 10 under. Noren fired off a bogey-free back nine and birdied his last three holes.
Noren’s tee shot on the 193-yard, par-3 16th was almost an ace, as it settled 9 inches from the hole for a tap-in birdie.
Xander Schauffele (67) posted the second-lowest round of the day and was second with 129 feet of made putts. He is tied for fifth place with Windham Clark (69) at 7 under.
A two-time major winner, Schauffele rode a hot putter to a bogey-free back nine that featured four birdies. His run started with birdies on Nos. 7, 8 and 9.
Clark, a native of nearby Denver, made a late move into the top five when he eagled the 524-yard, par-5 17th.
Si Woo Kim (71) of South Korea and Taylor Pendrith (73) of Canada are tied for seventh at 6 under.
After a double bogey on the par-4 second hole, Sepp Straka (69) had four straight birdies on holes 7 through 10 to move up the leaderboard.
The Austrian is tied for ninth at 5 under with 2021 FedEx Cup winner Patrick Cantlay (72), Nick Dunlap (70), Tommy Fleetwood (70) of England, Rory McIlroy (70) of Northern Ireland, Russell Henley (70), Tom Hoge (71), Corey Conners (73) of Canada and Sungjae Im (73) of South Korea.
–James Nokes, Field Level Media
