Phil Mickelson, Keegan Bradley withdraw from BMW Championship

Phil Mickelson has withdrawn from the BMW Championship, just three days after saying it was the one FedEx Cup playoff event he wanted to play.

In a release early Saturday from his management company, Mickelson says his goal is to rest and prepare for the Ryder Cup on Sept. 26-28 in Scotland.

Mickelson shot 76 on Friday at Cherry Hills and was 14 shots out of the lead. He needed to finish fourth to have a chance to advance to the Tour Championship next week. Mickelson says without a chance to contend at East Lake, it was more important to be ready for the Ryder Cup.

Mickelson won the 1990 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills. He has said he did not like the PGA Tour going four straight weeks of FedEx Cup events. Typically, there is a one-week break.

Mickelson failed to win a PGA Tour event this season for only the third time since his first full year in 1993.

Mickelson wasn’t the only U.S. Ryder Cup player to withdraw from the tournament.

Keegan Bradley also withdrew because of uncertainty over whether he took a legal drop at the end of his opening round Thursday.

The decision could cost him a spot in the Tour Championship and a chance at the $10 million first prize that goes to the FedEx Cup champion.

Bradley’s approach shot to the 18th green landed in the grass near a bunker and Bradley took relief and finished the hole. A PGA Tour rules official told him he had taken the correct drop.

But Bradley said he had lingering doubt about whether the ball came to rest in its own pitch mark, and that led him to withdraw. He was 34th in the standings early in the third round. The top 30 qualify for the Tour Championship.