After finishing 59th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, newly crowned Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley had no idea whether he would advance to the FedEx Cup playoffs.

He was hovering around 50th in the standings, the threshold that sends the top 50 players to this week’s BMW Championship and, more importantly, all eight signature events next season. That’s a big deal for the PGA Tour pros, especially Bradley, who has a daunting task over the next 12 months.

“The top 50 is one of the most important numbers for us as players to be able to compete in these big tournaments and earn FedExCup points,” Bradley explained.

“I want to be with the guys and the Ryder Cup team. I want to play with them, with them on the course, in the locker room, in the tournament.”

Tom Kim’s heartbreaking collapse on the final three holes on Sunday ended his season and gave life to Bradley, who finished in the top 50 despite his poor play in Memphis.

“Sunday afternoon was one of the toughest afternoons of my PGA Tour career. It was really brutal,” Bradley said.

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

“I had the FedExCup booth, the coverage, the featured holes, my phone. I had everything under control. But it was hard.”

On Monday, Bradley flew to Colorado. As soon as he reached Castle Pines, he began to put together his numbers and acclimate to the altitude. A sense of calm came over him.

“It’s a huge relief to be here. I just felt a lot calmer today,” Bradley said.

“But I played really, really well.”

In fact, Bradley shot 6-under-par on Thursday, a round that included six birdies and no bogeys. He led the field in strokes gained approaching the green, which historically has not been his strong suit. Finding fairways, however, always helps with finding greens. One thing always leads to another, as Bradley hit the short grass 12 of 14 times on Thursday. He then hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation time to lead the field in the first round.

“On this course, you have to hit the ball on the fairway,” Bradley said.

“When you hit the ball down the fairway, you have to use a lot of clubs that will score points. You have to have a good handle on your numbers at that level. We did a good job of that today. You just have to hit as many fairways as possible.”

If Bradley continues to play well, he will undoubtedly make it to the Tour Championship in Atlanta. Only the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings make it to East Lake. But he still has 54 holes to go before he gets there.

On the other hand, Bradley has already achieved his goal – namely, being here at all.

Jack Milko is the golf editor at SB Nations Playing Through. Be sure to check out: @_Playthrough for more golf reports. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well as.