CASTLE ROCK, Colorado (AP) — Keegan Bradley never thought he could win the BMW Championship, only because he didn’t expect to compete at all.

Bradley was a nervous wreck as he sat in a Tennessee hotel room last Sunday with his bags packed and his season seemingly over, and then in the final hour he squeezed into 50th place in the FedEx Cup and was the last man in Castle Pines for the next playoff event.

From nail biting in Memphis to holding the trophy in Denver. What a week.

“I just can’t believe it,” Bradley said after an even-par 72 gave him a one-stroke lead over Adam Scott, Sam Burns and Ludvig Aberg.

He doesn’t have much time to process his seventh PGA Tour victory, but it has created opportunities that Bradley couldn’t have imagined a week ago.

He heads to Atlanta for the Tour Championship at East Lake, where Bradley – who moved up from 50th to fourth in the overall standings – starts at East Lake four strokes behind Scottie Scheffler and has a good chance of winning the FedEx Cup and its $25 million prize money.

And that’s not the only trophy at stake.

Bradley was the first Ryder Cup captain – he was named U.S. captain just over six weeks ago – to win a PGA Tour event in nine years. He is the alternate captain for the Presidents Cup in Montreal next month.

The BMW title moved him up to 10th in the Presidents Cup standings. Only the top six qualified automatically on Sunday, but Bradley will surely be seriously considered when Jim Furyk makes his six captain’s picks after the Tour Championship.

“I don’t know where this will lead, but I’m happy to play the role they ask of me,” said Bradley, 38. “I hope I haven’t put a damper on anyone’s plans, but I’m proud to be considered.”

The win was crucial and this was a rock-solid performance in miles of air and a wind that had some players guessing how far the golf ball was flying.

Bradley got some help from Scott, who was tied for the lead going into the back nine with three easy bogeys, all with a wedge in hand. He missed par putts of seven feet, six feet and eight feet and fell three shots behind. But it was the approach shots that hurt him.

“Ten, eleven, twelve kind of messed it up for me,” Scott said after his 72nd. “I was in position with wedges on every hole and made three bogeys. That’s really almost unthinkable.”

Burns shot his best 65 on Sunday and nearly holed a bunker shot on the 18th. Aberg was able to close the gap until he hit a 6-iron on the par-5 14th until it splashed and led to a bogey from which he could not recover. He finished with a 71.

Bradley, who finished at 12 under par at 276, sealed the deal with a 227-yard 5-iron that aimed right at a back-left pin behind two bunkers and watched the shot land on the firm green 16 feet away, the closest anyone came all day.

“The purest golf shot I’ve ever made,” Bradley said.

He needed two putts for a birdie and a two-shot lead, giving him a head start and time to enjoy the chants of “USA! USA!” from the thousands who lined the 18th green paying tribute to the Ryder Cup captain for the 2025 Games. Bradley got plenty of that cheer this week.

Scott’s last chance actually ended on the 15th hole. Bradley was in deep trouble in a back bunker and had to play about 25 feet from the pin. Scott was on the fairway, 101 yards from the pin, and his wedge sailed off the green into deep rough. They ended up with the same bogeys.

The consolation for Scott was that he made it into the top 30 of those who qualified for East Lake.

Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ontario, finished tied for 13th at 5 under par, seven strokes behind the winner. Corey Conners of Listowel, Ontario, finished tied for 22nd at 4 under par. And Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, BC, finished tied for 41st at 3 over par.

Justin Thomas somehow made it to East Lake for the Tour Championship, even though he was already back home in Florida at the same exciting venue as Bradley a week ago.

Thomas needed a lot of help to reach 30th place, and it came from former British Open winner Brian Harman and Alex Noren. Harman needed a par on the final hole to stay in the top 30 and made double bogey.

Noren, who has never made it to East Lake, was close to breaking into the top 30 when he holed a 25-foot par putt on the 13th and made a birdie on the 14th. But he finished with three bogeys in a row, the worst of which was on the par-5 17th, the easiest hole at Castle Pines. He had to lay up after a drive in the rough and hit a wedge into a bunker. He shot 75.

Bradley earned $4 million for his second BMW Championship title. He also won at Aronimink in 2018, when he was No. 52 in a then-70-man field.

Bradley and Scott joined Tommy Fleetwood (69) and Chris Kirk (69) who moved into the top 30 and qualified for the Tour Championship, edging out Harman, Jason Day, Davis Thompson and Denny McCarthy.

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AP Golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Doug Ferguson, The Associated Press