Bradley holds 1-shot lead at BMW Championship

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — A strong finish on Saturday has Keegan Bradley in the lead by one stroke after the third round of the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club.

The 2025 United States Ryder Cup captain birdied the last two holes to post a round of 2-under 70, putting him at 12-under 204 for the tournament heading into Sunday. The last man to secure a spot in the 50-player field, Bradley also led after the first round of the FedEx Cup playoffs’ penultimate event.

It was a wild, up-and-down round on Saturday for Bradley, who had eight birdies and six bogeys and hit only 50 percent of greens in regulation. But Bradley’s putter bailed him out, as he ranked No. 1 on the day with 1.11 putts per green in regulation.

“It was tough out there today,” Bradley said. “It was really windy, a lot of elevated tees that were into the wind, which makes it really tough. Proud of the way I fought today. I played some brilliant golf but I hit also some terrible shots, too. I guess that’s the way of the world. But I’m proud of the way I fought there in the end.”

Second-round leader Adam Scott (74 on Saturday) is in second, one shot back at 11 under. The Australian was 4 over through the first four holes and shot a 40 on the front nine, then bounced back with a 2 under on the back nine.

“I kind of felt like I made a meal of (the start), and I didn’t feel like I did that much wrong,” Scott said. “A couple of drives were just not quite right, and a three-putt, and all of a sudden I’m kind of chasing.”

Ludvig Aberg (71), in the hunt for his second career PGA Tour win, is tied for third with fellow Swede Alex Noren (70) at 10 under. Noren fired a bogey-free back nine and birdied his last three holes.

Noren’s tee shot on the 193-yard, par-3 16th was almost a hole-in-one, as it settled 9 inches from the cup for a tap-in birdie.

Xander Schauffele (67) posted the second-lowest round of the day and was second with 129 feet of made putts. He is tied for fifth place with Wyndham Clark (69) at 7 under.

A two-time major winner, Schauffele rode a hot putter to a bogey-free back nine that featured four birdies. He also had birdies at Nos. 2, 7, 8 and 9.

Clark, a native of nearby Denver, made a late move into the top five by eagling the 524-yard, par-5 17th. He estimated that he knew a “couple hundred” people in the gallery, one being fellow Colorado native Derrick White, fresh off an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics and a gold medal at the Paris Olympics. White hyped up the crowd on the 18th hole after Clark’s round.

“It’s pretty cool,” Clark said. “It’s great to see where Derrick has gone in his career. It’s honestly one of those pinch-yourself moments because we were third grade all the way to high school playing basketball against each other, and you would almost never think that he’d be at the highest level and I would be at the highest level at my sport, and two kids coming out of Colorado, it doesn’t happen very often.”

Si Woo Kim of South Korea (71) and Taylor Pendrith of Canada (73) are T7 at 6 under.

After a double bogey on the par-4 second hole, Sepp Straka (69) had four straight birdies at Nos. 7-10 to move up the leaderboard.

The Austrian is tied for ninth at 5 under with eight others, including 2021 FedEx Cup winner Patrick Cantlay (72).

Nelly Korda up 3 at St. Andrews, bidding for seventh win of season

(Field Level Media) — Nelly Korda surged into the lead at the Women’s Open at St. Andrews on Friday and is three shots clear of the field in a bid to win for a seventh time in 2024.

Korda had four birdies without a bogey and is 8 under with consecutive rounds of 68. Defending champion Lilia Vu and England’s Charley Hull, the local favorite and first-round leader, are tied for second place at 5 under at the course in Fife, Scotland.

“I’m just trying to stay very present and not think about anything other than one shot at a time,” said Korda, a two-time major winner who has never finished better than ninth in the Women’s Open. “And whatever golf and links golf throws at me, I’m going to take it head on.”

Korda took the lead at 6 under at the turn, playing the back nine first with birdies on 17 and 18, and capped her second round with a 3 on the par-4 ninth, where she nearly drove the green and putted from the fringe. She rolled in her second putt for the birdie, much the same as her long putts that found the cup on 17 and 18.

Hull shot even par and Vu had a 2-under 70 on Friday. Seeking her first career major title, Hull said she gave too many strokes back on the greens to keep pace with Korda.

“I left a lot of putts out there. I think Nelly had 30 putts and I had 36 putts,” Korda said. “So that’s six putts that I’ve lost to her on the greens.”

Winner of the Chevron Championship, Korda can add another major title and run up her season victory total by closing out the action in Scotland.

More grueling weather conditions are in the forecast at St. Andrews, where the temperatures have been chilly and the wind gusty.

“Only three shots behind — that’s nothing going into the weekend, especially on this golf course,” Hull said.