CROMWELL, Conn. – Like every other athlete, hockey players want the lead, but they’ll also tell you a 2-0 lead is the worst lead to have because it can make you complacent. You’re winning, but without realizing it, you might ease up or relax. That’s when the other team scores, gains momentum, and suddenly, you’re in a dogfight.
Tommy Fleetwood started Sunday’s weather-delayed final round at TPC River Highlands with the golf equivalent of a 2-0 hockey lead — a three-shot cushion at the 2025 Travelers Championship — but there was no chance he was going to consciously take his foot off the pedal. Fleetwood, who entered the week with 41 top-10 finishes in PGA Tour events, including five runner-up results, was chasing his first career PGA Tour win.
But in less than an hour, after playing just four holes, that three-shot lead was gone. He was in a dogfight with Keegan Bradley, the 2023 Travelers champion and a Vermonter who is New England’s favorite golfer. Russell Henley, winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in March, another PGA Tour signature event, was also in the mix.
Coming down the stretch, it was Bradley — the United States Ryder Cup captain, riding a wave of momentum from a crowd that chanted “USA! USA! USA!” on every hole — who seized an opportunity and won the Travelers on the final hole.
“It was insane, the crowd and the atmosphere and the scene there,” Bradley said, referring to the final hole. “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.”
For fans of Tommy Fleetwood, and there are many, the last 15 minutes of the tournament played out like a horror movie they’ve seen before. For Bradley’s supporters, it was a fairytale.
Fleetwood, at 15 under, took a one-shot lead to the 18th tee after making a clutch 5-foot, par-saving putt on 17. After Bradley found the middle of the fairway with his tee shot, the Englishman matched him and found the short grass too. Fleetwood’s approach from 148 yards, however, came up 50 feet short of the hole and left him in the fairway in front of the green.
The crowd moaned, and chants of “USA! USA! USA!” created a Ryder Cup-like atmosphere.
Bradley then stepped in and hit his approach shot.
“I had 139 and it was a 9-iron, and I played it 146, which is an ear-to-ear swing that I practice, I don’t know, about 100,000 times,” he said. “It was just a shot that I’ve hit so many times in practice at The Grove and it was a perfect number.”
Indeed, it was, because his ball landed and stopped 6 feet from the cup.
The crowd exploded, and the pressure shifted squarely to Fleetwood. His third short rolled out but came up short, leaving him just outside Bradley’s ball on nearly the same line.
Fleetwood’s 8-foot putt missed on the left, and suddenly, after not having led the Travelers at any point during the week, Bradley had an opening.
“It was really strange, actually, because I didn’t really expect to have it to win,” Bradley admitted Sunday evening. “All of a sudden, I had a putt to win the tournament. I hadn’t led ever until the last putt. It’s really what dreams are made of.”
His putt rolled straight into the cup, the crowd erupted, and then so did Bradley. He and his caddie, Scott Vail, chest-bumped. Bradley turned to the crowd on the hill and roared, letting all the energy and emotion that he’d work to keep inside bellow out.
“After I did it I was like, oops, my mom’s going to be upset,” he said, laughing, Sunday evening.
Will Keegan Bradley play on the 2025 Ryder Cup team?
Bradley has now jumped from No. 21 to No. 7 in the Official World Golf Ranking with the win and has become a serious candidate to either qualify for his own Ryder Cup team or warrant a captain’s pick.
“Listen, this changes the story a little bit. I never would have thought about playing if I hadn’t won,” Bradley said. “This definitely opens the door to play. I don’t know if I’m going to do it or not, but I certainly have to take a pretty hard look at what’s best for the team and we’ll see. It’s still June, so we still got a long ways to go. This definitely changes things a little bit, and we’ll all get together and figure out the best way to do this.”
While Bradley basked in the glow of victory, Fleetwood showed enormous class, fielding questions from the media after yet another lost opportunity to win.
“I said yesterday, I haven’t been in this position all year, so it’s been awhile, felt like I did a lot of good things, but there was things that I definitely can do better, and I have to do better,” he said, looking stunned moments after signing his card. “I did plenty of things well enough this week to win, but I didn’t do that, it hurts. The most stupid thing to do, and the worst thing to do, would be make a week like this a hindrance to what you do going forwards. I obviously played great, I put myself in a great position, I was leading the tournament for 71 holes. I just want to make sure that I can put myself in this position as soon as possible again and try and correct what I did this time.”
Bradley was the most popular player on the course Sunday, but Fleetwood would have been a popular winner too, and Bradley would have been there to congratulate him.
“I know how hard it must be for him. He’s just an unbelievable player, and he’s fighting so hard to get his first win,” Bradley said. “It’s a weird thing to be on the other side of that. I do feel bad for him, but I’ve got to go out and do what I need to do. But, you know, he battled today, and I really hope that he gets his win soon.”
After chipping in for birdie on the 18th hole, Henley finished at 14 under, tied with Fleetwood for second.
Just behind the leaders, several big names made noise Sunday. Harris English (65) and Jason Day (68) both finished at 13 under. Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy closed with matching 65s to finish at 12 under.
But what people are going to remember about this day is how Bradley stole the show on the final hole after Fleetwood missed his chance to win his first PGA Tour title.
Rematch at Bethpage Black in September, anyone?
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Keegan Bradley birdies 18th hole to win 2025 Travelers Championship
