Keegan Bradley Wins the Travelers Championship With a 72nd-Hole Birdie as Fleetwood Falters

Keegan Bradley never led the Travelers Championship until the very last putt of the week. That turned out to be the only time that mattered.

Bradley rolled in a birdie putt of just under 6 feet on the 72nd hole to shoot 2-under 68 and win at 15-under 265, one shot clear of Tommy Fleetwood (72) and Russell Henley (69). Fleetwood, who started Sunday with a three-shot lead and still led by one on the 18th tee, came up short with his approach and three-putted for bogey. It was a two-shot swing on the final hole, and it handed the U.S. Ryder Cup captain his second Travelers title in three years.

The Wobble Early

Fleetwood's chase for a first PGA TOUR title got complicated fast. After a bogey-free Saturday and a 21-fairway streak, he made three bogeys in his first four holes, and by the turn Bradley had pulled even. The equalizer was a beauty: Bradley holed a birdie putt of roughly 65 feet at the ninth.

To Fleetwood's credit, he steadied. He birdied the 11th from about 14 feet and the 13th, the par 5 he had owned all week, and pushed back in front. When Bradley's approach at 14 one-hopped over the green into a plugged lie in the bunker, blasted out to 40 feet and turned into a bogey, Fleetwood was three clear with four to play. It looked like the story everyone had been waiting on for years.

The Back-Nine Turn

It was not. Bradley answered his own bogey immediately, draining a birdie from 35-plus feet at the 15th to get within two. Fleetwood sent his drive at 15 well right and settled for par, then went long at the par-3 16th, chipped about 20 feet past and could not save it. The lead was one.

Fleetwood also missed a pair of 6-footers over his final five holes, including the wedge he stuffed at 14, putts that would have changed the math. Nobody on the property needed a scoreboard to feel what was happening.

Two Shots at 18

The final hole decided everything. Fleetwood, playing the 18th from the middle of the fairway with a one-shot lead, switched from 9-iron to pitching wedge for a 148-yard approach. The ball came up in the front fringe, about 50 feet away. Then Bradley stuck his approach to just under 6 feet.

Fleetwood's first putt finished about 7 feet short, and his par putt slid by. Bradley, with the read in hand, buried his.

"Of all the shots and all the putts I hit, I think I'm going to remember that one the most," Bradley said.

Henley nearly crashed the party, chipping in for birdie at 18 to finish at 14 under. Bradley said afterward that the crowd and the scene around that green were insane, and it is easy to believe. This is the same property where he lifted the trophy in 2023, and the gallery was firmly in his corner.

Fleetwood's Long Wait Continues

There is no soft way to frame Fleetwood's afternoon. The seven-time DP World Tour winner finished runner-up for the sixth time in 159 PGA TOUR starts, per the PGA TOUR, and he did it from a three-shot overnight lead.

"I'm upset now, I'm angry," Fleetwood said.

He also said he wanted to look at what he did well once the sting faded and get back into this position as soon as possible. Per Field Level Media, he added that from where he stood, he felt he should have at least made a playoff. That is honest, and it is fair. Fleetwood led for most of the week. The 72nd hole is the one everyone will remember.

The Captain's Dilemma Gets Louder

This win does more than pad Bradley's résumé. It was his eighth PGA TOUR title, his first in a Signature Event and his first since the 2024 BMW Championship. It was worth $3.6 million and 700 FedExCup points, lifting Bradley to No. 8 in the standings, and it came on the one-year anniversary of his being named Ryder Cup captain.

It also pushed him to No. 9 in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings and a career-best No. 7 in the world, per the AP, which makes the playing-captain conversation impossible to ignore heading toward Bethpage Black. Asked on the 18th green whether he should be playing, Bradley kept it simple: "Go USA!"

The Rest of the Board

Harris English (65) and Jason Day (68) tied for fourth at 13 under. Scottie Scheffler bounced back from Saturday's 72 with a 65 to tie Rory McIlroy, who also shot 65, for sixth at 12 under. Justin Thomas shot 67 to tie for ninth. U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun, who opened the week with a 73, closed with a 63 to finish at 7 under. Viktor Hovland withdrew before the final round with a neck problem.

For Bradley, the week ended with a trophy, a check and a question only he can answer: whether the captain belongs in his own lineup.

Relive the week in our recaps of Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3. Final results are on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's final-round recap (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (final-round recap, Fleetwood feature, points and payouts, leaderboard), AP, Field Level Media, Golf Channel, NBC Sports, GOLF.com. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.