Captain shows he's still got it

Bradley overtakes Scott for lead on a wild and windy day at Castle Pines

- DOUG FERGUSON

Keegan Bradley hits from the 17th fairway on Saturday at the BMW Championship in Castle Rock, Colo. He had eight birdies in the round, but also had three straight bogeys.

Keegan Bradley is still getting used to his new title as U.S. Ryder Cup captain. He still feels like a player who should be competing to win and thinking about playing in the matches.

He certainly looked the part Saturday in the BMW Championship, all while hearing the occasional “US-A! U-S-A!” cheer as he made his way across windswept Castle Pines for a wild round of 2-under 70 that gave him a one-shot lead over Adam Scott.

“To be named Ryder Cup captain and still be a full-time player is strange,” said Bradley, 38, the youngest U.S. captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963. “I don’t know anyone who knows how to handle this situation … The only thing I can keep doing is playing my best golf and maybe play my way onto some of these teams.”