Scott’s Atlanta bid gets off to hot start at BMW

Keegan Bradeley and Adam Scott both came into this week’s BMW Championship, the second event of the FedExCup Playoffs, needing a top-30 finish to qualify for the season finale Tour Championship in Atlanta.

The duo moved to 44th and 45th respectively on the FedExCup points list last week with Scott pulling off a final round 4-under 66 at the FedEx St Jude Championship to leap from 77th to safely inside the top-70 needed to move forward.

Adam Scott (Credit: PGA Australia)

And the Queenslander hasn’t stopped there after carding a 6-under 65 this morning on day one of the BMW Championship to sit in outright second place and one shot behind leader Bradley.

Harold Varner III, Shane Lowry and Justin Thomas lie in third place on 5-under with Thomas the only one of the trio safely qualified for next week’s Tour Championship.

Scott hasn’t played in the Tour Championship since a 6th place in 2019, a year that saw him also rack up two runner-up placings at the Memorial Tournament and Farmers Insurance Open in a total of 9 top-10 finishes.

“There was a lot of good solid stuff. I’m very pleased, really. I watched Keegan, he played beautifully today, and I was really just trying to follow his lead. He kind of had everything going the way he wanted, and most of the time he was teeing off first and I was just trying to follow,” said Scott about his opening round.

“One of the beauties of the Playoffs is that there is enough volatility that you can have a couple of good weeks and get yourself right in the mix. No matter where, if I was at East Lake starting 10 back or five back or six back, I’d be there thinking I’ve got a chance to win the whole lot. I think that’s a fun thing to think about. But in three more days.”

Also looking at an outside chance of pulling off a last minute miracle is Marc Leishman. The Victorian needs at least a 6th place result this week to make it through to the season finale and is off to a encouraging start sharing 13th place alongside Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay and Rory McIlroy with a 3-under round one total.

Cam Davis (T24) and Lucas Herbert (T35) are the only other Aussies in the field and need to finish well inside the top-15.