CASTLE ROCK, Colorado – Keegan Bradley is still getting used to his new title as U.S. Ryder Cup captain. He still feels like a player who should be competing to win and competing in the Games.

He certainly looked good at the BMW Championship on Saturday, and with the occasional cheer of “USA! USA!” he powered his way across windswept Castle Pines to a wild round of 2-under 70 that put him one stroke ahead of Adam Scott.

“To be named Ryder Cup captain and still be a full-time player is strange,” said Bradley, at 38 the youngest U.S. captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963. “I don’t know anyone who knows how to handle this situation, so I’m doing the best I can. The only thing I can do is keep playing my best golf and maybe play my way onto one of those teams.”

A victory would make him the first captain to win on the PGA Tour since Davis Love III was 51 when he won the 2015 Wyndham Championship. It would also move Bradley up to 11th in the world rankings.

One lap, but given Saturday’s developments, that may feel like a long time.

Bradley had eight birdies but still managed just 70, a round that included three consecutive birdies on the front, three consecutive bogeys on the back and four birdies in the final five holes (the exception being a bogey on the par-3 16th). He finished at 12-under-par 204.

That was the case for almost everyone.

Adam Scott hit a tee shot out of bounds and another into the water after just three holes and had to play catch-up to limit the damage to 74, leaving him just one stroke behind.

“I felt like I used that to my advantage, and I didn’t feel like I did that much wrong — a couple of drives just weren’t quite right, and a three-putt, and all of a sudden I’m kind of behind,” Scott said. “I ended up in a good position to be one point behind.”

Ludvig Åberg began his day with a nosebleed at high altitude. He wiped the blood away and sank a 50-foot birdie putt to start. The super-Swede was able to reduce a four-stroke deficit to a three-stroke lead after just five holes. And then he made two bogeys in a row, hitting a tee shot into the water on the par-3 11th hole for double bogey, and three holes later he had an eagle. He shot 71 and was two shots behind.

Åberg was tied with fellow Swede Alex Noren, who was six shots back at one point and finished with three birdies in a row, the last from 35 feet over the 18th green for a score of 70.

Most telling on that windy day in miles of air was Xander Schauffele. When told Friday how unusual it was to see neither his nor Scottie Scheffler’s name in the top 20 on the leaderboard, Schauffele smiled and said, “Give it one more time. One of us will be there.”

In the end, he was. He started the weekend 11 shots behind. He shot a 67 – despite a double bogey on his card – and heads into Sunday four shots behind. The same goes for Denver native and former US Open champion Wyndham Clark, who shot a late eagle for a 69.

Bradley, Scott and Noren are not yet certain of a trip to East Lake next week for the Tour Championship. The top 30 will advance to the FedEx Cup final and have at least a chance at the $25 million prize money.

Those three were all outside the top 40 heading into Castle Pines. Bradley was the last man to make the 50-man field for the BMW Championship. A win would put him in fourth place, but if he falls too far back, he could fall out of the top 30.

Scott and Noren are not out of the woods yet either.

They are all thinking more about the trophies that are at stake on Sunday – one from the BMW Championship, one from the Western Golf Association, which has organized this elite tournament for 125 years.

Scott had a three-shot lead at the start of the third round, but he quickly lost it. His first tee shot went wide right, over three holes and over the white outposts. He had to fight for a bogey.

Two holes later, he hit an aggressive tee shot and was just feet from where he should be. He could see the ball splash into the pond from the tee, and a three-putt from 20 feet contributed to a double bogey. A bogey from the bunker on the next hole followed, leaving the Australian reeling.

He only managed a birdie on the 11th hole, and on the par 5 14th hole he hit another tee shot out of bounds, where he suffered another bogey. And yet he was only one stroke behind and in the last group.

The 48 players – Hideki Matsuyama withdrew on Friday and Robert MacIntyre on Saturday, both citing lower back problems – combined for 22 double bogeys, two triple bogeys and one quadruple bogey in never-ending gusts.