The scenes late Saturday afternoon at Castle Pines were hair-raising, just as they were 12 years ago at the 39th Ryder Cup in Medinah. There was Keegan Bradley, looking only slightly older, waving his hands to a huge Colorado crowd to orchestrate chants of “USA! USA!” as he mounted a late rally to take an improbable lead in the BMW Championship.

Outside of Chicago in 2012, Bradley was a Ryder Cup rookie playing under mentor Phil Mickelson, electrifying the gallery with his electric youthful verve, pumping his fists in the air with wild abandon. He would tie for the most American points in those matches, 3-1, though the Americans would ultimately lose to Europe in a crushing Sunday.

Bradley, 38, is now captain of the U.S. team hosting the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. He says he wants to take every opportunity to spend time with potential members of his team. That’s why he was so pleased to be the 50th and final player in the penultimate PGA Tour play-off event, the BMW, after a thrilling experience in Memphis on Sunday.

Bradley had no idea he would be the center of attention this week for his own play.

Bradley overcame three straight bogeys in the middle of his back nine on Saturday and made back-to-back birdies on holes 14 and 15. He gave up a stroke with a bogey on the par-3 16th but closed with two more birdies, including an 8-footer on the 18th that drew such a loud cry you’d think he had won the tournament.

“I really didn’t expect this,” said Bradley, likely speaking for both his results and the crowd after his third round of two-under-par 70 put him alone on top, one stroke ahead of the 54-hole leader, Adam Scott (74). “But I love it when we come to play in markets that we don’t go to, and you can just tell the fans are really excited.

“For now, I feel like I need to take over the torch for the US Ryder Cup team, and I hope that works out.”

He could have done better if he had waved an American flag, as gold medalists did at the Olympics.

It wasn’t until early July that Bradley was named US Ryder Cup captain, a year after he was devastated not to be on the American team that ultimately lost the 2023 matches in Italy. The top spot usually goes to players who are on the downward side of their careers, but the New Englander has enjoyed a resurgence, winning once in the past two seasons and finishing runner-up twice this year.

Still, Bradley, a FedEx Cup Playoffs bubble boy, had to watch the standings nervously last week after finishing 59th. “One of the toughest afternoons of my PGA TOUR career,” he said. “It was brutal.”

He entered this week ranked 50th in the standings. If Bradley wins the BMW, which would be his seventh career title, he will climb all the way to fourth place ahead of next week’s Tour Championship in East Lake.

Bradley, who is ranked 22nd in the world, was asked on Saturday whether he doesn’t feel a little overlooked as a player.

“A little bit, but that’s how I’ve lived my whole career. So I’m fine with it,” he said. “It’s strange to be named Ryder Cup captain and still be a full-time player. I don’t know if anyone knows how to handle that situation. So I’m doing the best I can. The only thing I can do is keep playing my best golf and maybe play my way onto one of these teams.”

Oh yeah, “those teams” include this fall’s Presidents Cup in Canada, and while Bradley has already been named assistant captain of U.S.-based Royal Montreal, he wouldn’t mind if captain Jim Furyk considered playing the Internationals with a late, strong playoff run.

After all, Bradley already gives the Americans something to be happy about.