CROMWELL, Conn. — Sooner or later, the sun begins to set, the crowd gathers, but falls silent and the storylines fade to irrelevance. And then all that remains are those few precious feet and inches of real estate between the ball and the 18th hole.

The Travelers Championship has long been known for moments like these, just after 6 p.m. ET on a Sunday. The grandstands, balconies and hills surrounding and overlooking the green were all packed with people craning to see if their guy, Keegan Bradley, “Captain America” could be Captain Clutch again.

Bradley’s brilliant putting all day kept the pressure on leader Tommy Fleetwood, and his terrific approach shot left him with a makeable putt for birdie and a potential tie. Fleetwood’s miss of an 8-foot putt for par then gave Bradley a layup, a pocket-hanger, a fastball down the middle, depending on your sport of choice, a very similar putt for birdie and the $3.6 million Travelers Championship first prize.

And, seasoned veteran that he is, and as much as this tournament in his backyard means to him, Bradley didn’t miss.

He rolled it in, and the celebrations began.

“It was insane, the crowd and the atmosphere and the scene there,” Bradley said, “and I just did a great job of, like staying present, because that could have got me out of my routine, out of what I was doing, but I did a good job of staying in my little zone.”

Then it was time to circle back to the storylines. Fleetwood, an international star, had never won on the PGA Tour despite 41 top-ten finishes, a record for such close-without-the-cigar finishes. Make that 42. He came into Sunday with a 3-stroke lead, the Travelers was his to lose and, obviously, he lost it, going 2-over par on the final day. Three bogeys on the first four holes, his putter deserted him, and he spent the increasingly tense afternoon hanging on as the world’s best made their pushes from far back.

Bradley, born in Vermont, lived in Massachusetts, the winner of the Travelers in 2023, would not go away. He made a 64-foot putt for birdie on the ninth hole, the longest putt he’s made all year. Then a 37-footer for birdie on 15 to pull within a stroke and set up the dramatic finish.

When Fleetwood hit the fairway on 18, he seemed to be in control, but his second shot was far short. Bradley had the opening he needed.

Adding to the drama, Bradley is the captain of the U.S. Ryder Cup team that will face Europe in September, and he has carried himself perfectly in that role, without selfishness, vowing not to put himself on the team unless he qualified on points. A respected player to begin with, he has only earned more.

So chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A” have followed him everywhere, replacing the old “Kee-gan, Kee-gan” heard the first time he won in Cromwell. Calls of “Captain America,” too. The U.S. hasn’t had a playing captain on the Ryder Cup team since 1963, but this captain has won his eighth tournament, his first of his season. He has the prerogative to pick six of the 12 players on the U.S. team. Fleetwood is likely to be on Team Europe when play gets underway at Bethpage Black on Long Island.

“My whole life, every year I was out here I wanted to play on the Ryder Cup team,” Bradley said, “and then this would be the first year where maybe I didn’t want to. I just wanted to be the captain and, of course, you know, this is what happens. But we’ll see. I’m going to do whatever I think is best for the team. Whether that’s me on the team, this certainly changes a lot of things. I was never going to play on the team unless I had won a tournament and so that’s changed, but we’ll see.”

Bradley’s captaincy superseded the normal instinct of the golfing fan to root for the underdog, the player who has never won, the player trying to loosen an onus around his neck. That player was the U.K.-born Fleetwood, a gracious competitor.

“Keegan made birdie, so fair play to him,” Fleetwood said. “But still feel like from where I was, I should at least be in a playoff. So, yeah, it’s a crappy way to finish. Like, 16 and 18, just disappointing and sort of hitting pretty decent shots, really, that left myself with work to do and didn’t clean it up, either of those really. There was a number of them.”

Bradley, though, has a special bond with the fans at the Travelers, who again gathered by the tens of thousands at the TPC River Highlands once the morning rain drifted away for the final round.

“If there’s one guy around here that you’re going to go against, obviously, Keegan’s going to get the majority of support,” Fleetwood said. “I felt like the crowd was great with all week. I always feel like I’m very lucky with how the people are with me and how they warm to me. I enjoyed playing — it was a great atmosphere to play in. It really was. I enjoyed that side of it.”

The Travelers has had to go to playoff holes 25 times in its history. Four years ago, it took eight playoff holes before Harris English outlasted Kramer Hickok just before darkness set in. Scottie Scheffler, the No.1 player in the world, won in a playoff in 2024.

This time, the playoff was averted, but he exciting finish was encased in drama, and unforgettable it was. And Keegan Bradley left another memory. He is the eighth to win multiple championships at this event, and those folks become royalty around here.

“Well, I’m proud of the way I’ve been handle these situations over the past, say, five years,” Bradley said.

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