US Ryder Cup captain Bradley celebrates BMW birdie feast
Colorado Springs, CO. — Keegan Bradley was nervous at first, waiting anxiously to see if he would advance in the PGA Tour postseason, but on Thursday he had a glorious day of birdies from miles high that put him at 6 under par and 66 strokes ahead of the BMW Championship.
Bradley, the newly appointed captain of the US Ryder Cup, was the last man standing in the 50-strong field at Castle Pines and had to give it his all on Sunday. He sat in his hotel room, the TV on, another screen showing the FedEx Cup standings and his phone buzzing.
“One of the toughest afternoons of my PGA Tour career,” Bradley said. “It was really brutal. It’s a huge relief to be here. I just felt a lot calmer today. But I played really, really well.”
This was evident on a course that could dish out penalties without warning. Bradley missed only two fairways and two greens, took advantage of the par 5s and made it look relatively easy on the 8,130-yard course, the longest in PGA Tour history.
The opening round was suspended for just over three hours due to thunderstorms, a common late-afternoon phenomenon when The International was played at Castle Pines during its two decades on the PGA Tour schedule.
Hideki Matsuyama, winner of last week’s playoff opener, was at 5 under par when play was suspended. He returned to his approach shot on the 18th hole and landed just 2 feet. He missed the birdie putt and had to settle for 67.
Rory McIlroy was about to make a 20-foot par putt on the 18th hole when he heard the horn to stop play, smiled and marked his ball. Three hours and two putts later, he had a 70.
Adam Scott, one of two players to have played at Castle Pines during his two-decade PGA Tour career, shot a long, par-saving putt on the 18th hole for a 68, joined by Sungjae Im, Alex Noren and Corey Conners.
Two-time major winner Xander Schauffele opened with a 69 while playing alongside Scottie Scheffler, who shot a 71 despite dealing with some back pain. Scheffler is certain to be the No. 1 seed at the Tour Championship next week unless Schauffele wins.
Castle Pines is all about numbers, and it’s not just the math involved in figuring out how far the ball will go at 6,300 feet above sea level. The simple math is to subtract 10% from the yardage, which is pretty easy except when there’s a pond protecting the front of the green.
The other number is 30. These are the players who will move on to East Lake next week to compete for the $25 million FedEx Cup title. The higher the ranking, the better the chance.
Bradley had reason to believe he could keep up with them with his style of play with three rounds to go. The key was playing in the BMW Championship, which gives him a schedule that puts him in the same position as players hoping to make the Ryder Cup team.
“I want to be out there with the guys on the Ryder Cup team,” he said. “I want to play with them, with them on the course, in the locker room, in the tournament. It was really important for me to be in that top 50.”
It was a good start for Noren, who has never played in the Tour Championship and is ranked 45th in the FedEx Cup. The same goes for Scott, who is ranked 41st.
The Australian’s experience at Castle Pines is somewhat overrated. Scott was a 20-year-old who received a sponsor exemption to play his first regular PGA Tour event in 2000. He remembered some of the holes, the elevation changes, the grueling trail and the beauty.
“I remember being surrounded by all the players I looked up to my whole childhood and honestly not feeling really prepared for it,” he said. “But it inspired me to get better and work on my game and make sure I was good enough to be out here.”
Scheffler craned his neck to the side a few times, but then he appeared to grab his lower back on a long iron shot on the par-5 17th hole. His last two full shots looked good, as did most of the rest of his round. Scheffler said it was nothing to worry about.
“I woke up this morning with a little bit of pain. I was having trouble kind of loosening it up,” he said. “I’ve been struggling most of the day to get the ball through. On 17, I was trying to hit a high draw, and that’s a shot where I really have to make a big turn, a big move. I really just felt it a little bit. But other than that, everything’s good.”
Scheffler had neck problems at the Players Championship and almost gave up midway through the second round. Two days later, he came back from five shots behind to win. Three weeks later, he won the Masters.
“He was stiff at the Masters and the Players and needed constant coaching,” Schauffele said. “I guess that’s a bad sign for everyone else.”
Women’s British Open
St. Andrews, Scotland — Golf balls wore large ear muffs and neck warmers and pulled on oven mitts between shots. American star Rose Zhang said she lost her balance just standing up.
Gusts of up to 64 km/h caused problems for the world’s best golfers at the Women’s British Open in St. Andrews on Thursday.
Charley Hull coped with it best.
The English player, ranked 10th in the world, sank a 6-foot putt on hole 18 for the last of her six birdies at the home of golf, reaching a score of 5-under 67 and taking a one-stroke lead after the first round of the fifth and final major of the year.
Hull are aiming for their first major title and have plenty of high-profile company at the top of the rankings.
Last but not least, her playing partner, the top-ranked Nelly Korda, who played a birdie on hole 17 – the famous Road Hole – and also on hole 18, thus drawing level with major winner Ruoning Yin, also from China, on 4 under par.
Defending champion Lilia Vu was also one stroke behind, making two monster birdie putts in her round of 69 on the first nine holes of the Old Course, which is hosting the Women’s British Open for the third time.
Some were just glad to have survived it.
“These were definitely the toughest conditions I’ve ever played in,” said England’s Georgia Hall, the 2018 champion, who made an eagle on her final hole – No. 9 – and shot a 71.
Hall is the last British player to win her home major and now her close friend is aiming to do the same.
As Hull walked down the final hole, the wind had died down and she looked cool in her sunglasses as she waved to spectators on the fairway. She would be a popular winner, not least because of her approach and attitude.
Not to mention her aggressive style of playing golf.
Hull was regularly the one who hit the longest driver in the top group, which also included Korda and Vu; one tee shot – on the 14th – went 304 meters.
After a bogey on the eighth hole, she made par and made five birdies in her final 10 holes. She hit a 12-foot putt on the 12th hole and an 8-foot putt on the 15th to join Yin in the lead before Hull played the last one – that glorious hole back to town – perfectly, driving to the front of the green, hitting the second to 6 feet and making no mistake on the putt.
Hull was a little worried as he watched the early starters on television in the worst of the wind.
“I told my coach it feels like they could call it off at any moment because I don’t know how the balls are going to stay on the green,” said Hull, who finished second at last year’s British Open, six strokes behind Vu.
“You know what it’s going to be like before the round starts, so you prepare yourself mentally beforehand.”
That was half the battle on a tough day.
Korda, who won his second major title with the Chevron Championship while the American had a dominant year in 2024, enjoyed the hard work in the end.
“It’s fun to play under these conditions,” she said, adding, “Not that I would do it every time.”
Yin, ranked number 6 in the world and winner of the Women’s PGA Championship last year, took the whole thing in her stride.
“The conditions were tough, but that’s the same for everyone,” she said. “You just have to try to make the wind your friend.”
Vu tied for fourth place with Jenny Shin and Mi Hyang Lee from South Korea, Andrea Lee from the USA, Patty Tavatanakit from Thailand and Mao Saigo from Japan.
