Jacob Bridgeman started the final day of the Genesis Invitational with a six-shot lead and he needed every one of those shots to claim his first PGA Tour victory.
Bridgeman shot a 1-over-par 72 to hold off Rory McIlroy and Kurt Kitayama for a one-shot victory at Riviera Country Club.
With playing partner McIlroy watching, Bridgeman had to sink a 3½-foot par putt on the 18th hole to secure the title. The 26-year-old earned $4 million for winning the signature event with an 18-under total.
“This is way, way better than I’ve ever dreamt it,” Bridgeman said. “I thought it was going to be a lot easier. It was honestly easy until I got to about 16 (which he bogeyed) and then it got really hard.
“I made it about as hard as I could have made it at the end, making it one shot and having to make a three-footer.”
Bridgeman Survived Challengers’ Charges
Bridgeman had at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds when he shot 66, 64, 64 to get to 19 under. He got off to a good start Sunday with birdies on the first and third holes to extend his lead to seven shots. But he bogeyed the fourth and seventh holes. He had no birdies on the back nine and that bogey on the 16th after he hit his tee shot on the par-3 hole into a greenside bunker, blasted out 36 feet from the hole and sank a 5-footer for bogey.
While Bridgeman was making pars, Kitayama went out in 3 under and had four birdies coming home to shoot 64 and finish at 17 under. McIlroy had four birdies on the back nine, including a hole out from a bunker on the par-4 12th hole and birdie putts at the 17th and 18 holes, to shoot 67.
“I thought Jacob did really well to hang on and play the way he did coming down the stretch,” McIlroy said. “Even though he was a little shaky coming down the stretch, he held it together when he needed to. He holed a clutch comeback putt on 13 for par, he played smart on 16 when he missed it in the bunker. That putt on the last isn’t easy. I give him all the props, he did what he needed to do and I’m happy for him.”
With the crowd roaring behind him, Jacob Bridgeman breaks into a jubilant smile, celebrating his breakthrough victory at the Genesis Invitational
A Solid Season So Far
The win was Bridgeman’s third top-10 finish in five starts this season: He tied for fourth at the Sony Open in Hawaii and tied for eighth at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
At the 18th, Bridgeman hit a good drive and a solid approach to 20 feet. When he left that putt well short, McIlroy had a glimmer of hope for a playoff with Bridgeman and Kitayama. But Bridgeman rolled his winning putt straight into the hole.
“However long my birdie putt was, 20 feet or so, I thought it was dead straight and I hit it not near hard enough but it was still rolling dead straight,” Bridgeman said. “And the 3-footer was nothing different, it was just hit the ball somewhere in the hole and hope it falls.”
In addition to the trophy and the big check, Bridgeman’s other reward was having tournament host Tiger Woods waiting to congratulate him atop the steps overlooking the 18th green.
“Knowing he was the one to be waiting to shake the winner’s hand made it definitely a little bit more nerve-racking just because when I was growing up, my youngest golf memory was watching him on TV,” Bridgeman said of Woods. “When he was in his prime, I was learning to talk and walk and play golf.”
Adam Scott, who played on a sponsor exemption, shot 63 with eight birdies to finish alone in fourth at 16 under.
Scottie Scheffler, who had to make a 7-foot par putt on Friday to make the cut, had a 66-65 weekend and wound up tied for 12th. That ended his streak of 18 consecutive top-10 finishes.
Koepka, Lowry Headline Cognizant Classic
Bridgeman withdrew from this week’s Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches on the Champion Course at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He tied for second there last year, his previous best finish. Also withdrawing were Scott, who won the 2016 tournament when it was the Honda Classic, and Ben Griffin, who was the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 11.
Defending champion Joe Highsmith, who shot 64-64 on the weekend after making the cut on the number, is back. He’ll be joined by local favorite Brooks Koepka and Shane Lowry as well as past winners Austin Eckroat (2024), Chris Kirk (2023), Keith Mitchell (2019), Camilo Villegas (2010) and Matt Kuchar (2002).
