Keegan Bradley saved his shot at the FedExCup with a pressure-built finale at the BMW Championship. Entering the tournament, Bradley only had two top 10 finishes in 2024 and was the last player to make the top 50 cut after the St. Jude Championship. His impressive 12-under par finish was one shot better than those chasing him, including Sam Burns, Adam Scott, and Ludvig Aberg, who is ranked fifth entering the TOUR Championship. With the win, he gains 2,000 points which rockets him up the standings from #50 to #4 heading into the TOUR Championship. Bradley was seen emotional after the win with his father celebrating alongside him on the hole 18 green. “It just shows why you’ve got to grind it out because you never know how fast it can switch,” he said.

With only six career wins going into the BMW Championship, Bradley’s momentum might deliver golf fans one of the biggest upsets in FedExCup history.

Leading the field

Scottie Scheffler, ranked No. 1 in the world, struggled to find his rhythm all tournament and finished with an uncharacteristic score of 1-over par this weekend. Despite placing T33 at the BMW Championship, he will begin the final weekend holding onto the top position in the standings and is the obvious front-runner entering the TOUR Championship.

Holding his position, Scheffler will have a two-stroke advantage over the #2 ranked competitor Xander Schauffele in the final tournament. However, Schauffele has two majors this season and he already added one TOUR Championship to his resume in 2017. With the fellow American tailing Scheffler, raising the cup won’t be an easy task.

Dark Horse Contenders

All signs may point to the top two competitors taking the FedExCup, but could fans witness an upset? Absolutely—Hideki Matsuyama sits #3 in the standings and has been phenomenal in the latter half of the season. After claiming an Olympic bronze medal and the Genesis Invitational Open, he was forced to withdraw from the BMW Championship after shooting 5-under in his first round of the tournament due to lower back pain.

Matsuyama’s back pain has been a nagging issue over the past three years causing him to withdraw from five tournaments in that span. “We have good days, and we have bad days,” he says. If his back can make it through the weekend, the Japanese golfer is poised to be in the mix.

Ludvig Aberg will round out the top five after gaining two positions with a T2 finish at the BMW Championship. He ranks fourth off the tee this season which could play a massive role in success at the Tour Championship. East Lake Golf Club is 7,346 yards making it a lengthy par-70 course for the players. However, he will need to be more consistent on his approach to climb the leaderboard.

Moving further back in the standings, golf fans should keep an eye on Collin Morikawa. Although he is outside the top five, let’s not forget who broke Tiger Woods record for the best score through the first two rounds of the TOUR Championship when he shot 15-under par last year at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. Following his first two rounds, Morikawa struggled with back-to-back over-par rounds. If he can perform consistently through the tournament, he may just find himself climbing the ranks from #7 into the mix as an unlikely underdog.

Lone Canadian moves into the final cut

Canada’s Taylor Pendrith narrowly made the cut into the TOUR Championship after a T13 finish at the BMW Championship. Pendrith found success on his second round of the tournament where he shot 7-under that carried him through the cut despite not being under par in any of the other three rounds. As the only Canadian moving into the final championship, Pendrith not only has an opportunity to play for the league title but also help him secure a spot on the Presidents Cup International Team roster. He will enter the TOUR Championship holding the #25 ranking.

Fellow Canadian Corey Conners looked like he may make waves and move into the top 30 when he sat 6-under after the first two rounds, but shooting 1-over in back-to-back rounds pushed him down the leaderboard keeping him outside of the cut.