Keegan Bradley, Collin Morikawa eyeing FedExCup and more ahead of Ryder Cup selections

ATLANTA – In Keegan Bradley’s mind, good golf this week could check a lot of boxes.

The best FedExCup finish of his career, millions in bonus money, the potential for his first three-win season on TOUR and, of course, a Ryder Cup bid.

It’s a sentiment shared by several near the top of the leaderboard. Making and winning the TOUR Championship is a goal for everyone. The monetary stakes have never been higher, with historic prize money on the line.

But for a select few Americans, there’s also a deadline looming. Less than 48 hours after a FedExCup champion is crowned, Zach Johnson will make his six captain’s picks for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

What a double-dip could mean – winning the TOUR’s top prize and parlaying that into an elusive spot in Rome – is not lost on those with a possibility of doing both.

“I think about it every second,” Bradley said Friday. “... I'm sort of trying to embrace it.”

He’s done what was required to contend through 36 holes. A Thursday 63 erased the entire seven-shot deficit he entered the tournament with because of the FedExCup’s Starting Strokes format. Then he followed with a second-round 68 to remain within three of leaders Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa.

It was a much more difficult round on Friday. He managed just one birdie on the front nine and bogeyed the par-4 13th to fall back to even, momentarily five shots back of the lead. Three birdies in the last five holes kept his round and tournament chances afloat.

“I feel better about today's round,” said Bradley, who poured in a pair of mid-range putts on Nos. 14 and 15 to make back-to-back birdies. He added a birdie on 18 to finish 13 under.

Pressure has mounted for Bradley over the last month. When he leaves one tournament, the stress hasn’t displaced; it has only built. He hadn’t made it to East Lake since 2018, and while two wins earlier this season all but guaranteed that would change, he didn’t want to squander the opportunity once he got there. He wants to improve his career-best eighth finish in 2018, especially if that could also aid his Ryder Cup efforts.

Neither of the first two Playoffs events did anything to relieve his nerves. He finished T43 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and a T29 at the BMW Championship.

“It's tough, man. When you get down to the end of the year, when you're in this sort of atmosphere, this is important to us and every shot's important,” he said, adding he isn’t sure whether a good performance will be the difference between making the Ryder Cup team or missing, but “it certainly can't hurt.”

Others in the field are in the same position but haven’t taken advantage like Bradley. Lucas Glover (-6), Russell Henley (-7) and Sam Burns (-8) all need miraculous weekends to jump into contention and the Ryder Cup spotlight. Burns has played the best, carding back-to-back rounds of 66, but remains five shots behind Bradley.

The same can’t be said for Morikawa, who shares many of the same motivations as Bradley and has seized his opportunity this week with bogey-free rounds of 61-64.

While his spot on the Ryder Cup seems more secure, Morikawa would like to put an emphatic cap on his resume. More importantly, though, the 26-year-old would like to end his winless drought that extends back to the 2021 Open Championship.

“Hopefully, my record speaks for itself. Hopefully the golf speaks for itself,” Morikawa said of a potential Ryder Cup pick. “... But look, at the end of the day, I want to win this tournament. I really do. It's been too long.”

Morikawa has come close twice this season. He led The Sentry by six shots after 54 holes but was caught by Jon Rahm on Sunday. He was the chaser six months later at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in June, pushing himself into a playoff with Adam Hadwin and Rickie Fowler before losing to Fowler on the first playoff hole.

He’s gone through tweaks to his swing, looking to capture the control that elevated him to the top of the sport in 2021 with two majors before he turned 25. Finally, his swing feels right again. Now’s the time to capitalize with a win in Atlanta – potentially in Rome a month later, too.

“We got to get ready,” Morikawa said. “It's not going to be a breeze to just finish this off.”