CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — Adam Scott kept making birdies and changing his season outlook until he finished Friday with his lowest score of the year, a 9-under 63 at the BMW Championship, which gave him a three-stroke lead going into the weekend.

Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley did his best to stay within striking distance until he made his first bogey of the week on the 18th hole at Castle Pines. He still had a 68 and was in good position.

The 44-year-old Scott, who first played Castle Pines as a 20-year-old with a sponsor exemption for his first regular-season PGA Tour event, had a freedom he hasn’t felt all year. He’s ranked in the top 50 in the FedExCup, meaning he can play all $20 million signature events next year instead of relying on sponsor exemptions. That was a big relief.

The 36-hole lead is a steal, and a top finish would get him back to East Lake for the Tour Championship and secure his entry into all the majors next year.

“When I left the range, I just wanted to keep moving in the right direction, keep pushing and keep under par and keep going,” he said. “When I got halfway through the round, I was thinking about how many birdies I could make. It’s funny how that happens.”

“I feel like I really have nothing to lose this week,” he said. “I can’t get out of the top 50. I’m going to have a good schedule next year in the signature events. Of course I would love to make East Lake. But right now I would love to win this event.”

But they’re only halfway there, so much can still happen.

Rory McIlroy — 10 strokes behind after a 71 — was so frustrated he threw his 3-wood after a bad drive on the 17th and watched it bounce into the water. Denny McCarthy was doing what he had to do to move into the top 30 heading into East Lake until he double-bogeyed two of the last five holes.

The strangest thing about Friday was a scoreboard that contained no fewer than 20 participants, but still did not include the names of Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele.

‘How?!?’: Rory McIlroy slams 3-wood into water; Scottie Scheffler angry after hitting over green

Maybe it’s the altitude, maybe it’s the stakes, but there was a sense of frustration on Friday at the BMW Championship.

Scheffler opened with a pair of birdies and his round started to go sideways with a double bogey when he went from the rough into the water to the drop zone to get over the green. He shot a 72 and was 12 behind.

Schauffele also opened with two birdies and was 3 under par for his round until he made four bogeys on his last six holes for a score of 73. He was 11 strokes behind.

“I wasn’t hitting great and I was kind of pretending to do it on the range, but that got to me,” Schauffele said. “Scottie and I were just kind of boring.”

Scheffler said his back felt normal, as he expected, unlike the opening round when he said he had to work hard to turn shots. And as for the golf?

“We started off really well, and then I was the first to do badly and Xander came along,” he said.

Both teams were virtually certain to hold onto the top two spots going into East Lake.

Scott was at 13-under 131 with a lead.

Ludvig Åberg also had a 63 and was four strokes behind. Scott played early, before the wind picked up, and posted his score early. It was a pretty daunting target for Åberg, who was already 11 strokes behind when he teed off.

“It was funny to walk down one of the first few holes. We were talking about it yesterday too, that we could see a low one,” Åberg said. “We were just lucky that it was us today.”

Alex Noren had a 68 and was five points behind. There was still work to be done to catch Scott, but he was able to break into the top 30 and reach East Lake for the first time in his career.

Players at the bottom with little chance of winning now have other concerns when it comes to the top 30. Justin Thomas opened 76-72 and was projected at No. 31 for the weekend. Jason Day tried to recover from his opening score of 78. His score of 69 was still projected outside the top 30.

Scott is more forward-looking, with good iron play and exceptional putts. Only three of his nine birdies were inside the 10-foot range, and he had only one problem on the par-3 fourth. He hit a great flop shot to 6 feet to save par.

Scott played so well that he was tempted to take the pin on the 18th hole for a 62.

“Ten under sounded like it had a nice ring to it,” he said. “But the old wise head on the shoulders said, aim a little to the left and see if you can make a long putt. It’s fun to hit a low round. I can’t remember the last time I hit a 63 here.”