Jacob Bridgeman is officially a winner on the PGA TOUR, having weathered a storm of nerves and a charging field to secure his maiden victory at the Genesis Invitational. But if you want to understand how the 26-year-old managed to close out a Signature Event at one of the most storied venues in the sport, you have to look back seven days at the last hole Bridgeman played before teeing it up at Riviera.
Turning Disaster Into Resilience
Bridgeman entered the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am just three strokes off the lead. By the time he reached the 18th hole on Sunday, however, he had lost ground and was no longer in contention for the win. Still, he kept his foot on the pedal and played aggressively to the green in increasingly strong winds, going for one last eagle.
From 207 yards out in the fairway, Bridgeman pressed for that eagle, only to see his approach find the rocks to the left of the green. He attempted to play from the rocks, but his ball ricocheted off the cliffs and back into the Pacific Ocean. Forced to take a penalty drop, he played his 5th shot from 156 yards out, stuck it to just over five feet, and calmly drained the putt.
In total, the sequence of events took 20 minutes and resulted in a bogey. He turned a nightmare situation into a best case scenario, securing a top-10 finish (T8). Had Bridgeman made double bogey, he would have fallen to a tie for 14th. That one-shot-at-a-time mindset was the resilience he would need just one week later at Riviera, when he found himself in an even higher-stakes scenario: nursing a shrinking lead and needing to close out the tournament on the 72nd hole.
Retested at Riviera
Bridgeman started the final round at the Genesis Invitational with a massive six stroke lead on the field, an almost “let’s see what else is on” size lead that could have led to a total blowout. But despite his lead actually growing to seven at one point on Sunday, it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park for Bridgeman. With a star-studded field in front of him, including a playing partner who owns a career Grand Slam, no lead is safe for a player seeking his first PGA TOUR win.
Coming down the final stretch on Sunday, Bridgeman saw his lead evaporate to just one stroke, forcing him to navigate Rivieraâs demanding 18th hole with his first career title on the line. Relying on the iron play that kept him atop the field all week, Bridgeman found the putting surface from 195 yards, leaving himself 20 feet away. He left his first putt short, leaving a nervy 3-foot, 5-inch par putt for the win.
What we learned about Bridgeman at Pebble Beach was his calm in the face of disaster. At Pebble, that composure saved him a top-10 finish; at Riviera, it saved him the tournament. Bridgeman stayed steady. He calmly rolled in the three-footer and accomplished a life-long dream, something that even Tiger Woods never didâwin at Riviera.
After the round, Bridgeman was refreshingly candid about the physical toll of that final stretch. “It was honestly easy until I got to about 16, and then it got really hard,” he admitted. He noted that the nerves didn’t truly seize him until he stood over a five-footer for bogey on the 16th hole. “I didn’t really feel crazy nervous until I had a five-footer for bogey on 16; that one was sketchy. I hit a really good putt and luckily it went in, and then I was really nervous from there on out. I couldn’t even feel my hands on the last couple greens, I just hit the putt hoping it would get somewhere near the hole.”
When he finally walked off the 18th green, the nerves gave way to relief. As he moved toward the trophy presentation, tournament host Tiger Woods was waiting at the top of the stairs. For a player who grew up idolizing Woods, it was the crowning moment of the week. As they shook hands, Woods offered a grin and a simple piece of praise: “You’ve got one on me.”
It was a lighthearted jabâa nod to the fact that even in his legendary career, Woods never conquered Riviera. “I got one thing,” Bridgeman joked later. “He’s got all the other ones, but I’ve got one.” It was the perfect ending to a week where Bridgeman learned that you donât need to play perfect golf to winâyou just need to know how to handle the worst-case scenario when it arrives.
