At age 44, Adam Scott showing the young-uns how it’s done; after 63, Aussie leads BMW Championship at Castle Pines by 3; Denver native Wyndham Clark nearly makes ace and moves into top 10
By Gary Baines – 8/23/2024
CASTLE ROCK — Course record or not on Friday, this week has been one for the ages — or the aged (relatively speaking) — at Castle Pines Golf Club.
Adam Scott, at 44 the oldest player in the field, shot a 9-under-par 63 at Castle Pines to grab a three-stroke lead at the halfway point of the BMW Championship, the first PGA Tour event in Colorado in a decade.
Keegan Bradley, the fourth-oldest competing at Castle Pines (38), sits in second place. And Alex Noren, No. 2 on the age list at 42, is fourth on the leaderboard. The only one interrupting the flow is Ludvig Aberg, 24, who’s young enough to be Scott’s son.
“Adam for me is an inspiration,” Aberg said. “He’s been there for a long time, and what he’s doing with that longevity is amazing. I look up to him a lot. It’ll be fun to try to catch him this weekend.”
Is there any rhyme or reason to the eldest riding high at the 6,000 feet of elevation at Castle Pines?
“I have no idea,” Bradley said. “I really enjoy playing with Adam, so I’m excited to go out in the final group and play with him tomorrow. He’s a guy that I’ve always admired and looked up to and watched as a kid. When I came out on Tour, he’s was one of the better guys, so I look forward to playing with him tomorrow.”
PGA Tour Communications said the 63 shot by Scott and later matched by Aberg is the course record at Castle Pines Golf Club, even though Greg Whisman shot a 10-under-par 62 in the 1992 International — and putted everything out. But a Tour official said that since a Modified Stableford scoring system was used for The International, all the stroke-play scores for the event are unofficial. For the record, Whisman’s 10-birdie, 0-bogey round came on a 7,559-yard course. Castle Pines GC has since undergone some significant changes, and now plays to 8,130 yards.
Whatever the case, Scott’s nine-birdie, bogey-free day was very impressive at Castle Pines — as was the one-eagle, eight-birdie, one-bogey performance by Aberg — even if the course did receive considerable rain late Thursday afternoon, making it more receptive.
“It’s fun to shoot a low round,” said Scott, a 14-time PGA Tour winner. “It’s been a long time. I can’t remember the last time I shot a 63 out here. But it feels good to go low, that I’ve still got that in me. Hopefully there’s one more this week.”
Scott hitting his approach shot at No. 18 on Friday.
Scott — who played his first U.S.-based PGA Tour event at Castle Pines Golf Club, missing the cut in the 2000 International — was asked if he feels like the old guy out on Tour.
“Yep,” he said. “Most guys remind me every day.”
“I think it’s hard to get a lot better in your 40s, and there are a lot of 20-year olds getting better. I just think there are probably a lot of 40-plus guys dropping off the Tour. There are a lot of mid-20s coming on the Tour taking their place. Whether it’s just life or whether it’s physical at this age or mental, it’s hard to keep pace with what the younger guys are doing, from hitting the ball at a speed that’s competitive to practicing enough to having the motivation and the drive to do it. I think it’s harder for the older guys.”
Yet for this week, there Scott sits at the top of the leaderboard, at 13 under par through 36 holes of the second PGA Tour FedExCup Playoff event. His 63 on Friday was one off his PGA Tour career best.
“Leaving the range (Friday), I just kind of wanted to keep moving in the right direction, grind out and shoot under par and keep going that way,” Scott said. “Then by the middle of the round I was thinking of how many birdies can I make. It’s funny how that happens.
“But I feel like I really don’t have anything to lose this week. I can’t go out of the top 50 (in the FedExCup standings). I’m going to have a good schedule in the Signature Events next year. Of course I’d love to make it to East Lake (for the Tour Championship next week), but now I’d love to win this event.”
Scott came into the week No. 41 in the FedExCup standings — with the top 30 after Sunday’s final round advancing to the Tour Championship — but with his impressive two days at Castle Pines, he’s projected to jump to No. 4. Of course, there’s still a lot of golf to play at the BMW Championship, so the standings will continue to jump around considerably.
“I felt like I’ve been kind of a bubble boy all year, and now it doesn’t really matter,” Scott said. “It’s more about getting out there and playing. My game is in a good place, and that freedom is helpful.”
The Australian, winner of the 2013 Masters, hasn’t captured a PGA Tour title since the 2020 Genesis Invitational, just before the Covid pandemic took hold in the U.S. In fact, he has just one win in the last eight years. But his game has shown promise of late with a runner-up at the Genesis Scottish Open last month and a 10th place at the British Open.
And it’s amazing how well things can go for a Tour player when the flat stick gets hot. Through two rounds at Castle Pines, Scott ranks No. 1 in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting.
On Friday, he made 125 feet of putts, draining birdie putts of 10 feet or more six times.
“Putting a little better than average goes a long way out here,” he said. “… I putt well all the time. I don’t ever putt bad, actually. It’s really my iron play has been atrocious for two years, and that’s why I’ve been moving stuff around (equipment-wise, particularly with his irons), because I figured if I leave it the same, I’ll keep getting atrocious.”
Keegan Bradley muscles a pitch out of deep rough on No. 18.
Meanwhile, Bradley, the U.S. Ryder Cup captain for 2025, also continues to shine, standing at 10 under par after rounds of 66-68. He went bogey-free until his 36th hole of the week as he bogeyed No. 18 on Friday after leaving his approach on the par-4 in the heavy rough short left of the green, then failed to get his third shot on the green either. But otherwise in round 2, it was five birdies and the rest pars.
“I just have basically hit every shot the way I wanted this week,” Bradley said. “… The game feels really good. I feel really comfortable. It’s really fun to play in front of these fans. They’re excited. They’re passionate. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Meanwhile, Aberg, looking for his second PGA Tour victory, rebounded from an even-par 72 with his 63 on Friday to check in at 9 under, four back of Scott.
“It was funny, me and (my caddie) Joe, walking down one of the first couple of holes, we talked that we could see a low (round), and we were just fortunate that it was us today.
“Even though I shot even par yesterday. I was still very aggressive, which I like. I’m going to keep doing that and try to keep up and make a few birdies to catch Adam.”
Ludvig Aberg had reason to smile after his 63 on Friday.
The highlight of the day — on a day of many high points for Aberg — came on the par-5 14th. With the pin tucked in the back left corner, just beyond a lake, Aberg hit it near perfect fairway metal from 306 yards and left his ball a mere 6 feet from the cup and made the eagle putt.
“I was just trying to take it middle of the green,” he said. “It was a good number where I felt like if I hit it straight, it was going to stay short of that bunker, but if I tugged it it was still going to cover the water, which it did. Obviously I didn’t try to go that far left, but every now and then you get away with those.
“… I would rather make a 6 the aggressive way than a 5 with a bail-out swing.”
Noren, like Aberg a Swede, has yet to win in his PGA Tour career, but has posted back-to-back rounds of 68 at Castle Pines, leaving hime five out of the lead. Noren had a strong British Open last month, placing 13th.
Wyndham Clark acknowledges the fans after his birdie on No. 8 Friday.
Wyndham Clark Making Headway: Oh so close.
The first professional that makes a hole-in-one at the 16th hole at Castle Pines Golf Club during this week’s BMW Championship will win a car (a BMW M5 Touring), and a four-year Evans Scholarship — worth an estimated $125,000 — will be presented on his behalf to a teenage caddie.
It would have been quite a story for Denver native Wyndham Clark to be the first one to record an ace there this week. And he came ever so close from 229 yards, his ball finishing 11 inches from the cup.
The funny thing was, Clark seemed indecisive about his club selection on the tee, taking some time before hitting.
“We never actually changed our mind,” he said of himself and his caddie, John Ellis. “(Playing partner Rory McIlroy) just confused us because we thought it was 7-iron all day and then Rory hit 7-iron and barely covered (the water). So then we were questioning it.
“Then the wind quickly switched. So we thought of going to the 6-iron. Then I just felt like it was too tough to fit a 6-iron back there, and then the wind went back to the predominant southwest wind, and then John and I just said, ‘Just hit it hard and it should be good.’ I didn’t think it was going to get that far. Then to walk up there and have it be only 6 inches was a nice delight.”
The subsequent birdie — one of five the 2023 U.S. Open champion made on Friday — led to a 4-under-par 68, which left him 4 under for the tournament and tied for 10th place. He trails leader Adam Scott by nine strokes.
But Clark’s shot on 16 wasn’t even his best of the round, by his own reckoning. That came on 17, after a tee shot in which he went where he’d never gone before on the par-5.
“That was definitely the shot of the day. I’m kind of bummed it didn’t result in a birdie (rather, he made a par),” he said. “But I was really pissed off I hit it over there. Of all the times I’ve played here, I’ve never been that far right.
“It was a challenging shot because I couldn’t ground my club. Upslope, but I had to go either below or (above) a tree. If you pull it, it goes in the water. There’s so many variables. Just to pull it off and not hit a tree was something great, and then to not be in the rough was even greater.”
Clark advanced his second shot 136 yards to the intermediate cut, then wedged to 11 feet but missed the putt, settling for par.
Overall, a day after making four 6s on the back nine and recording only one par on that side, Friday was the complete opposite as Clark as he carded one birdie and eight pars on the back nine.
“Yesterday (72) was more of a bummer than today,” the three-time winner on Tour said. “I thought I played better yesterday. I had (three) water balls yesterday and I shot even par. Take those away, it’s probably a 5-, 6-under round and we would be at 9-, 10-under. All in all, I’ve played really good. I’ve handled the pressure pretty well. It’s not always easy coming home and being the hometown kid and all the expectations on me. I feel like I’ve done a good job thus far.”
One thing Clark hopes to improve on in the remaining two rounds is taking advantage of the par-5s. Despite being one of the longer hitters on Tour, he’s only 1 under par on the eight par-5s he’s played so far at Castle Pines.
“I unfortunately haven’t taken that much advantage of them,” he said. “Yesterday I was kind of on pace to do that and then hit it in the water; I bogeyed two of them. Today not birdieing 14 and 17 was not good. One of my goals tomorrow would be to try to play them 3- to 5-under, which would be huge. If you can birdie them or make three out of the four, it would be really good.
“If there’s any holes out here that are — I wouldn’t say easy but at least really scoreable — it’s the par-5s because you hit it so much straighter at elevation and you’re going to have most likely an iron into all these par-5s, so you should make birdies.”
Clark has posted seven top-10s on the PGA Tour this year, including a victory in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He’ll be paired with Patrick Cantlay for Saturday’s third round as they’ll tee off at 10:55 a.m.
Rory McIlroy ponders a bad lie next to the 18th green Friday.
McIlroy Ends Up with Wet Club After Giving It a Toss: Wyndham Clark was paired Rory McIroy for the first two rounds, and on Friday the Ulsterman let frustration get the better of him on the 17th tee. After a three-putt bogey on 16, McIlroy hit his tee shot into the rough right on 17. He then — somewhat half-heartedly — tossed his club, which skipped off the turf and into the water to the front left of the tee box. He then slowly walked over, retrieved the club from the edge of the lake and handed it to his caddie.
Asked if he’s ever thrown a club into the water, playing partner Clark said, “I’ve done it many times.”
Clark and McIlroy chatted quite a bit during their pairing on Thursday and Friday.
“Rory and I have probably played I’d say a total of 14, 15 rounds together,” said Clark, who won his U.S. Open last year when McIlroy finished second. “Rory is a nice guy, and I typically like to talk to my playing partners. It helps me get into a better place. So I guess if that’s the case, we struck up some good conversations, had some good laughs. It kind of just makes the day a little bit more enjoyable and go by quicker.”
Collin Morikawa played as a onesome after Hideki Matsuyama withdrew early Friday.
Bad Back Leads to Matsuyama’s Exit: Steve Sands, the Colorado State University graduate who has long been a broadcaster on the Golf Channel and NBC, was doing an interview on KOA radio on Friday morning, and he noted that he felt that Hideki Matsuyama was a good pick to win the BMW Championship. It was a perfectly logical pick given that Matsuyama won the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Sunday and was in second place after round 1 at Castle Pines.
It was very shortly thereafter that the PGA Tour announced that the former Masters champion — and 10-time Tour winner — from Japan withdrew from the tournament prior to round 2 due to lower back pain. He had shot a 5-under-par 67 on Thursday, despite missing a 2-foot birdie try on the last hole.
“I am disappointed to have to withdraw from the BMW Championship after experiencing lower-back discomfort while warming up this morning, which made it impossible to play,” Matsuyama said in a statement released by the PGA Tour. “Thank you to BMW and the Western Golf Association for a great experience here at Castle Pines.”
Matsuyama has dealt with back issues in recent years, withdrawing five times over the three seasons prior to this one.
Because Matsuyama came into the BMW Championship third in FedExCup points, he’ll advance to next week’s Tour Championship despite the WD.
With Matsuyama out, Collin Morikawa played as a onesome on Friday.
Quotable: Ludvig Aberg, on his evaluation of Castle Pines Golf Club: “If you play well and you hit the shots, you get rewarded. But as soon as you start missing fairways it gets really tricky. The rough is up, and all of a sudden you’re playing away from the pins that you can be a little bit more aggressive with from the fairway. But I can definitely say it’s a great golf course. It’s very true, and it’s very fair.”
Shane Lowry took a little chip out of the cartpath on No. 8 after a shot that didn’t go his way.
Notable: Xander Schauffele, winner of two major championships this year, was near the top of the leaderboard through 12 holes on Friday as he stood at 6 under par. But he played his last six holes in 4 over to shoot 73 and sits at 2 under par, in 23rd place. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, paired with Schauffele, hit it in the water at No. 10 and took a double bogey. He shot 72, leaving him at 1 under. … Sam Burns went eagle-double bogey on his last two holes Friday to shoot a 68 that included two 6s. He’s in 15th place overall (-3).
For the scores and pairings for the BMW Championship, CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com
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BMW CHAMPIONSHIP: THE ESSENTIALS
What: The BMW Championship, the second of three PGA Tour FedExCup Playoff events in 2024.
When: Saturday and Sunday remaining championship rounds. Note: Gates open at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For Saturday tee times, CLICK HERE.
Where: Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, opened in 1981 and designed by Jack Nicklaus. Castle Pines GC hosted the PGA Tour’s International from 1986 through 2006. Colorado Sports Hall of Famer Jack Vickers founded Castle Pines GC and The International.
Purse: $20 million, with the winner receiving $4 million.
Beneficiary: All the net proceeds from the BMW Championship benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation for caddies. Evans Scholarships, worth an estimated average of $125,000, are awarded by high-achieving teenage caddies with significant financial need.
Defending Champion: Viktor Hovland.
Course Setup: A PGA Tour-record length (since at least 1983) of 8,130 yards (Par-72). Green speed on Stimpmeter: 13. 77 bunkers and 10 water hazards.
History of Event in Colorado: The BMW Championship has been held once before in the Centennial State, in 2014 at Cherry Hills Country Club.
Tickets/Military Honors: For information, CLICK HERE. Note: Kids 15 and under receive complimentary grounds admission when accompanied by a ticketed adult (2 juniors per adult). Also, active-duty military, along with military retirees, active reserves and veterans can also be admitted free to the tournament after obtaining passes at bmwchampionship.com .
Format: 50-player field. No cut. The top 30 in the season-long point standings after the BMW Championship will advance to the Tour Championship.
TV Schedule: Saturday and Sunday: 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Golf Channel; 1-4 p.m., NBC. Dan Hicks, Kevin Kisner, Terry Gannon and Brad Faxon will call the action at different times from Castle Pines.
General Information about BMW Championship: CLICK HERE.