Keegan Bradley put on an incredible show at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday.
This year’s Ryder Cup captain holed out for eagle on the par-5 6th and added five more birdies on the front nine to go out with a 7-under 29 — the first sub-30 score recorded at Bay Hill during PGA Tour competition.
His par-breaker on the 9th hole may have been the most impressive. Bradley tugged his drive left off the tee and his ball settled behind a few trees and on the edge of the cart path. After taking relief and dropping beside the path, Bradley hit a low, spinny wedge around the trees. His ball stopped four feet short of the hole, as he made a challenging shot look rather benign. Bradley then tapped in for his birdie three, his 29th stroke on the front nine.
Bradley’s 29 is the seventh sub-30 score recorded on the PGA Tour in 2025, although six of those 29s came on par-35s. Bay Hill’s front nine plays to a par of 36, and is also one of the more challenging layouts on the PGA Tour, which makes Bradley’s 29 more impressive.
The only other 29 shot on a par-36 this season came back at The Sentry in January, when Adam Scott shot a 29 on Kapalua’s front nine during the third round.
Remarkably, all seven sub-30 scores this season have come on the front nine, three of which came last week at PGA National during the Cognizant Classic. Jake Knapp fired a 29 on the front nine en route to his record-setting 59 during the opening round.
As for Bradley, he added another birdie on the par-4 10th on Sunday to get to 8-under on the day and 7-under for the championship. He has played 11 holes as of this writing. Perhaps he can post a number and threaten the lead, which is held by Collin Morikawa at 10-under.
If Bradley continues to play like this for the foreseeable future, he will likely become a playing captain on this year’s Ryder Cup team. He would be the first American to do so since Arnold Palmer played and led the U.S. team at East Lake in 1963.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
