Keegan Bradley created a level of insanity as the Travelers Championship wound down. And better yet for the U.S. Ryder Cup captain, he knew how to handle it.
Bradley birdied the final hole and catapulted past England’s Tommy Fleetwood to win the tournament in a stunning conclusion Sunday in Cromwell, Conn.
Bradley shot 2-under-par 68 for a four-round total of 15-under 265 to win by one stroke over Fleetwood (72) and Russell Henley (69).
“It was insane, the crowd and the atmosphere and the scene there,” Bradley said. “And I just did a great job of like staying present, because that could have got me out of my routine, out of what I was doing, but I did a good job of staying in my little zone.”
Bradley, a native of New England and playing in what he considers his home tournament, thrilled the huge crowd on the final hole at TPC River Highlands by sinking a 6-foot birdie putt. Fleetwood, who left an approach shot short, had just missed a par putt from inside 7 feet for a two-shot swing.
“Still feel like from where I was, I should at least be in a playoff,” Fleetwood said. “So, yeah, it’s a crappy way to finish.”
Fleetwood, who began the day with a three-shot lead, appeared to have recovered after a ragged opening stretch. Instead, Bradley won for the first time since last year’s BMW Championship. Bradley also was the Travelers Championship winner in 2023.
After the final putt dropped, Bradley chest-bumped his caddie and the celebration was underway. It was quite a scene.
“He just plays with so much passion,” Henley said of Bradley. “He wants it, he wants to compete, he wants to win. It just means so much to him. That was a really, really cool moment on 18.”
And now Bradley has played his way into contention for an automatic spot on the Ryder Cup team.
“I’m going to do whatever I think is best for the team,” he said. “Whether that’s me on the team — this certainly changes a lot of things. I was never going to play on the team unless I had won a tournament, and so that’s changed, but we’ll see.”
Fleetwood has won seven times on the DP World Tour, but he’s still without a victory in 159 PGA Tour events.
Harris English (65) and Australia’s Jason Day (68) tied for fourth place at 13 under.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, the tournament’s defending champion, recovered from Saturday’s 72 to shoot 65 and finish in a sixth-place tie at 12 under with Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, who also posted 65.
Fleetwood recorded three bogeys and a birdie across the first four holes Sunday after registering only one bogey during the entire first three rounds. He got some juice from a birdie putt of about 14 1/2 feet on the par-3 11th hole.
Fleetwood and Bradley were all even through nine holes, with Bradley’s 64-foot putt on the ninth giving him a birdie and seemingly all sorts of momentum as the gallery roared its approval.
“I felt like I was just too far behind the whole day,” Bradley said. “I was just chasing, chasing.”
When Bradley rolled in a 37-foot birdie putt on No. 15, he moved to two strokes back. The margin was one shot when Fleetwood bogeyed No. 16, and it stayed that way until No. 18.