Jacob Bridgeman Genesis Open Tiger Woods

Jacob Bridgeman proved he’s the real deal on Sunday at the Genesis Open

Jacob Bridgeman had been a name to know in golf circles for a while. The Clemson product won the ACC Championship in 2022, worked his way through the Korn Ferry Tour, and almost won in Tampa last year before coming up just short in what turned out to be a defining near-miss rather than a deflating loss.

Sunday at the Genesis Invitational, Jacob Bridgeman made it official

Jacob Bridgeman built a six-stroke lead through 54 holes, leading the field in both strokes gained putting and strokes gained tee-to-green simultaneously.

Only two players in the strokes gained era have ever finished a tournament on top of both categories, Jordan Spieth and Brian Gay, and they won those events by a combined 18 strokes. The numbers were pointing toward a dominant wire-to-wire victory.

Then the back nine of Sunday happened and Jacob Bridgeman had to earn every bit of it. Kurt Kitayama, Adam Scott, and Rory McIlroy all started surging. Bridgeman went birdie-free over the final 15 holes and had to scramble with some nerve-wracking par saves to hold on.

A 7-footer on 13. A bogey save on 15. A 5-footer for bogey on 16 that he admitted had his hands shaking. He has not three-putted in 178 holes and counting, which is the only reason any of this worked.

Then he got to the 72nd hole with the whole thing on the line. He left his first putt 17 feet short of the hole. With Tiger Woods watching and the gallery holding its breath, he stood over the knee-knocker and stroked it in.

McIlroy, who birdied four of the final five holes and still lost by one, had nothing but respect for the way Bridgeman closed. “It’s hard to close out big tournaments. Even though he was a little shaky coming down the stretch, he held it together when he needed to. I give him all the props.”

Jacob Bridgeman is 26 years old, has completely rebuilt his iron game over the last two seasons to go with the putting that was already elite, and just won one of the more prestigious events on the PGA Tour at Riviera Country Club in his 66th career start.

The golf world is going to have a harder time moving on to the next shiny object after this one.

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