[PHOTO: Christian Petersen]

Keegan Bradley isn’t just enjoying a career renaissance; he’s also flipping the script on his reputation as a closer. After starting his career a rocky 0-for-4 when holding 54-hole leads, Bradley has now converted two of his past three: the 2023 Travelers Championship and the 2024 BMW Championship, grabbing the second leg of the PGA Tour Playoffs for the second time in his career (he also won in 2018).

Not that Bradley did anything spectacular for the first 16 holes on the final day at Castle Pines Golf Club. Adam Scott sputtered and Ludvig Aberg found the water at the par-5 14th when it looked like he might catch Bradley. For his part, Bradley simply avoided the big mistake, birdieing the opening hole and then going on a parade of pars (making par on 14 of the final 17 holes, a bogey at 15 the lone blemish until a meaningless bogey at the last) that proved to be enough after the Ryder Cup captain smoked a 5-iron from 208 metres at the par-5 17th to 16 feet that led to a clinching two-putt birdie.

Bradley converted 21 birdies using an Odyssey Versa Jailbird mid-length mallet, a club designed to improve alignment via its alternating black and white stripes on the clubhead. While his work with the putter was useful, Bradley’s game into the greens was the catalyst.

For the week, Bradley ranked second in strokes gained/approach and second in greens in regulation. He uses a split set of irons with the more forgiving Srixon ZX5 model in his 3 through 5-irons and the blade-like ZX7 in his short irons which helps Bradley flight the ball down with more control on shorter approach shots.

Ironically, Bradley, just as he did at last year’s Travelers, won while shooting progressively higher scores in each round. This time, 66-68-70-72.

Bradley made it interesting but finished the job, nonetheless.

What Keegan Bradley had in the bag at the 2024 BMW Championship:

Ball: Srixon Z-Star Diamond

Driver: Ping G430 LST (Fujikura Ventus Black 6X), 10.5 degrees

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10, 16.5 degrees

5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10, 19 degrees

Irons (3-5): Srixon ZX5 Mk II; (6-PW): Srixon ZX7 MK II

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore (52, 58 degrees)

Putter: Odyssey Versa Jailbird Midsize