Bradley, Castle Pines and Colorado golf all come away winners

2024 BMW Championship showcased Centennial State golf at its finest

By Jim Bebbington

Keegan Bradley got the $3.6 million winners check Sunday, but fans of great golf and people who are proud to show off Colorado golf all were winners after the 2024 BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club.

Bradley held off a full-on assault by the best golfers in the game Sunday to claim his seventh career victory. He slept on the lead – something he admitted later is always difficult for him – and played steady golf Sunday doing just enough to fend off the competition.

As his bogey putt fell on 18, leading to a one-stroke win at 12-under, a massive crowd that surrounded the green on all sides exploded. More than 120,000 people had come through the gates of Castle Pines Golf Club during the tournament last week, officials estimated.

Bradley shared a long hug on the green with his father, Mark, a club professional in Wyoming who had driven to Denver to attend the tournament. Mark had been to see his son compete before, but had never been on hand for any of his wins before Sunday.

“I’m in a bit of a state of shock because there was a time a week ago about this time that I didn’t think I was going to be coming here” Bradley said. “I had to have a lot of magical things happen for me to just play in this tournament, and when I got here, I was so grateful just to be here. I played with a real sense of calm all week, which is not the norm for me.”

Bradley qualified for the BMW Championship last Sunday, barely earning enough FedEx points with a T-59 at the St. Jude Championship to finish in 50th place on the FedEx points list – the last slot that entitled a player to move on to the BMW Championship. With Sunday’s win, however, he is now in 4th place on the FedEx race overall, and a strong performance next week at the TOUR Championship would put him in the running to win the $25 million first place bonus.

“I can’t even wrap my head around it,” he said. “I really was in my hotel room in Memphis, I had a flight booked home to Jupiter, bags packed, and just in a state of shock that I wasn’t going to be able to play in my favorite tournaments that I’ve played in every year of my PGA TOUR career.”

Sam Burns, the seven-year pro from Louisiana, had the round of the day, firing a 7-under par 65 to get to 11-under for the tournament. Joining him in the end at 11-under were Ludvig Aberg, who is quickly gaining a reputation for excellence, and Adam Scott, the 14-time PGA Tour winner from Australia.

Colorado’s Wyndham Clark was near the top of the leaderboard all day Sunday before a double-bogey on No. 17 – a short par 5 that the pros consider a must-birdie – derailed his round. He finished with a 2-over 74 round Sunday and 5-under for the tournament, tied for 13th place.

“I mean, altitude golf is very hard to control the ball. Sometimes it gets a little goofy trying to control your distance. That’s all I’ve got to say on that,” he said after his round. “I didn’t make many putts. It’s tough to play at altitude.”

Organizers of the tournament described the week in ecstatic terms. The weather was largely a non-event, with the exception of one brief rain-delay late Thursday. Castle Pines Golf Course was widely praised as more-than holding its own against the modern technology and astonishing skill of today’s best golfers.

There were numerous drives of more than 400-yards throughout the week, but the winning score of 12-under par left the club’s operators proud to have provided a good canvas on which the players could be tested.

“I think the thing I’m most happy about is the golf course withstood the best players in the world,” said Keith Schneider, the general manager of Castle Pines Golf Club and one of the club’s first employees. “12-under was a great number for us and I think the course showed that it could stand up to the best players in the world.”

The course has been ranked as one of Jack Nicklaus’ best designs, second only to Jack’s home course of Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. The layout had been heavily retrofitted over the past 10 years in order to be able to prove a test for the modern pro.

The thick rough provided a lot of challenge and the greens were described as fast one day, forgiving the next, and then would change as each day went on.

“We knew what to expect and we really worked hard on improving the areas that we felt like needed some teeth added to it,” Schneider said.

The chairman of the BMW Championship, club member Duffy Solich, standing on the 18th green surrounded by fans, golf media, and watching Bradley celebrate his win, said he felt numb.

“What a great finish; it went down to the wire, the whole weekend went great, the course held up – 12-under,” he said. “I don’t think anybody expected at this elevation for the scores to be that, so the course really held up. The fans were great. (Course and club founder) Jack Vickers is looking down on us with a big smile on his face. He would love this.”

Vickers, who died in 2018, was a long-time promoter of Colorado as a venue for champion golf. He hosted The International for 21 years at Castle Pines Golf Club.