{"id":510708,"date":"2026-03-01T00:10:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T00:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/510708\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T00:10:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T00:10:21","slug":"despite-a-frightening-finish-jacob-bridgeman-mustered-just-enough-to-triumph-at-riviera-australian-golf-digest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/510708\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite a frightening finish, Jacob Bridgeman mustered just enough to triumph at Riviera \u2013 Australian Golf Digest"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Photo: Icon Sportswire]<\/p>\n

With the utmost respect for Jacob Bridgeman, the fans who crowded around each tee and green at Riviera Country Club had not come to the 100th edition of the PGA Tour\u2019s Los Angeles event to see him win. The primary-schoolers at the ropes chanted \u201cRo-ry! Ro-ry!\u201d They desperately stuck their hands under the ropes for even the chance at a slap from a career Grand Slam winner. Outside the doors of the glorious Spanish-style clubhouse, as the back-nine drama played out, there was another crowd \u2013 this one shouting, \u201cWe want Scottie! We want Scottie!\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: The clubs Jacob Bridgeman used to win the 2026 Genesis Invitational<\/a><\/p>\n

LA loves both its stars and comeback stories, and many of those who showed up on this sun-splashed last Sunday in February arrived with the hope that they\u2019d somehow see a movie that could remotely rival McIlroy\u2019s triumph in the Masters last April. Coming from six shots behind in the final round, for a first victory at Hogan\u2019s Alley, in Tiger Woods\u2019 Genesis Invitational would be quite the sequel.<\/p>\n

The notion bordered on pure fantasy, and yet when Bridgeman and McIlroy walked off the 18th green to the cheers of an enormous crowd in Riviera\u2019s natural amphitheatre, it was Bridgeman heaving an enormous sigh of relief and McIlroy running his fingers through his greying hair, thinking about what might have been.<\/p>\n

McIlroy finally stirred a true roar from the gallery when his 30-foot putt on the 72nd hole barely toppled into the cup for birdie, putting him in a tie at 17-under-par with Kurt Kitayama, who charged home with a 64.<\/p>\n

Bridgeman, who\u2019d squandered six strokes from a seven-shot margin early in the round, had to only two-putt for par from 19 feet. No problem in any other round he\u2019d ever played. Except there was this: \u201cI couldn\u2019t feel my hands,\u201d he\u2019d later recall.<\/p>\n

The second-year tour player weakly left himself a three-footer below the hole but then summoned enough muscle memory to punch in the par putt, shoot a one-over 72 for an 18-under total and celebrate his first PGA Tour victory in his first-ever appearance at Riviera.<\/p>\n

Of course, when Bridgeman had triumphed the LA fans cheered him heartily because there\u2019s another storyline they covet: one of the underdog. Even if the champion never saw himself as such.<\/p>\n

Bridgeman, 26, admitted that overnight he\u2019d envisioned a victory, though it didn\u2019t look anything like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen so many guys walking up 18 with the crowd kind of behind you, the amphitheatre, surrounding the green is such a cool moment,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I pictured myself walking up that hole with a four-shot lead and knowing that I\u2019ve won.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, unfortunately for me, it was only a one-shot lead. It became a lot more nervous. So, I kept my head down, didn\u2019t really look up until the end. I felt like if I had kind of become overwhelmed by the moment, that might have distracted me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his winner\u2019s news conference, Bridgeman recalled that only a couple of weeks ago, he watched with friends as good mate Chris Gotterup won the WM Phoenix Open in a playoff. At the time, he wondered why Gotterup looked so darned uncomfortable over putts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were like, \u2018What were you doing?\u2019\u201d Bridgeman said. \u201cAnd he said, \u2018I have no idea. I couldn\u2019t feel my hands.\u2019 And I thought that was kind of crazy until after this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good bet that Bridgeman was among the most unrecognisable names when casual fans scanned the timesheet for the first two rounds of a 72-player, $US20 million signature event, even with an already strong pro r\u00e9sum\u00e9. Success has come relatively quickly for him \u2013 the former Clemson University star got his Korn Ferry Tour card in 2024 through the PGA Tour University program, and a strong season (three top-5s) pushed him onto the PGA Tour in 2025. Bridgeman hardly looked like a wide-eyed rookie last year, notching five top-fives, including a near-win in the Cognizant Classic, while reaching the Tour Championship.<\/p>\n

Having already posted four top-25 finishes this season, Bridgeman wasn\u2019t without followers heading into the week. When Sunday afternoon\u2019s formal interviews concluded, a tour official said there was a surprise for him. He was then shown congratulatory videos on a smartphone from a couple of Clemson football legends \u2013 current Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Tigers head coach Dabo Sweeney.<\/p>\n

Bridgeman recounted that he and Lawrence were in school at the same time, but that the QB was \u201cso famous\u201d they\u2019d only briefly interacted. Sweeney, he said, came around for chipping lessons from the golf team on occasion.<\/p>\n

With a big grin, Bridgeman said, \u201cI\u2019m glad that they\u2019re supportive of me, that means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"2263040558\"\/<\/p>\n

Photo: Mike Mulholland<\/p>\n

For the first 57 holes of the tournament, Bridgeman could hardly have played better. After an opening 66, he fired a pair of 64s and went into the final round with a chance to break the tour\u2019s longest lasting tournament scoring record \u2013 Lanny Wadkins\u2019 20-under 264 in 1985. Ultimately, Bridgeman led the tournament in strokes gained for approach and putting \u2013 a formidable combination.<\/p>\n

It was only on Sunday, after his only two birdies came in the first three holes, that Bridgeman lamented the difficulty of Riviera\u2019s poa annua greens<\/a>. In truth, they had been his defence against the likes of McIlroy, who struggled mightily on his reads and will bemoan so many attempts that would have whittled Bridgeman\u2019s margin to nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor whatever reason I had a bunch of putts that I thought I was going to make, and when I got over the ball, I thought they were going in and they just bounced out and didn\u2019t go in, whatever it may be,\u201d Bridgeman said. \u201cI thought I would be a few under going into the last three, and I was one-over or even or whatever it was. So that made it a lot more stressful. But luckily those guys didn\u2019t make a run till late.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the last 15 holes, Bridgeman couldn\u2019t make a birdie, and as an intentional scoreboard watcher, he began to see his lead shrink. Playing several groups ahead, two-time tour winner Kitayama birdied the 16th and 17th and missed a birdie putt at 18 to tie for the lead. Past Riviera winner Adam Scott had also applied some pressure with a back-nine 31 and a second 63 for the week that got him to 16-under for his first top-10 result on the PGA Tour since August 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cWherever the leaderboards are today, I saw them all,\u201d Bridgeman said. \u201cI don\u2019t shy away from knowing where I\u2019m at. Maybe that\u2019s a bad thing at times, but I wanted to know if somebody was doing something and I needed to press a button to make a couple of birdies\u2026 I felt comfortable right \u2019til the end there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bogey that shook him was the only one he suffered on the back. Bridgeman hit into the bunker on the par-3 16th and played a safe shot out that would guarantee him no worse than a bogey. Then he had to get home. His approach at the par-5 17th found the greenside bunker and he could only make par while watching McIlroy record a birdie to get to within two shots.<\/p>\n

Bridgeman\u2019s nerves would seem to have been settled when he piped his drive up the hill into the fairway at 18. His approach from 178 metres was textbook, below the hole. Then\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very comfortable with a full shot. I felt like I was just kind of in robot mode and autopilot; I could just swing the club and it would do exactly what it\u2019s supposed to do,\u201d Bridgeman said. \u201cThen it got to times when I had to have it rely on my feel, and I didn\u2019t have much of it at the end of the round.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn 17 and 18, those putts I had no idea how hard to hit them; I didn\u2019t know what I was doing at all,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019m just glad they weren\u2019t 30 feet, I\u2019m glad they were only 20. I just somehow got it three feet short of the hole [on 18]. The only thing I wasn\u2019t going to do was hit it past\u2026 If I could make a three-footer up the hill, it would be a lot better than down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bridgeman pointed his putter and the ball hit the heart of the cup.<\/p>\n

\"2263041295\"\/<\/p>\n

Photo: Mike Mulholland<\/p>\n

The winner climbed Riviera\u2019s steep steps to scoring and was greeted immediately by Woods, who wore a wide smile and familiar Sunday-red shirt. Bridgeman laughed later, saying he didn\u2019t recall much of what Woods said to him in that moment, and that they later talked about the incomparable scene of Riviera\u2019s 18th.<\/p>\n

Of course, it was truly surreal for Bridgeman to be handed the trophy from Woods, whom he\u2019d idolised as a child. \u201cWhen he was in his prime, I was learning to talk and walk and play golf,\u201d he said of the now-50-year-old superstar.<\/p>\n

If Tiger might wince at that, he graciously reminded Bridgeman that he\u2019d pulled off something Woods never has: win at Riviera.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got one thing,\u201d Bridgeman said with a laugh. \u201cHe\u2019s got all of the other ones, but I got one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Photo: Icon Sportswire] With the utmost respect for Jacob Bridgeman, the fans who crowded around each tee and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[5487,4225,64,63,1379,219608,755,138747,64926,34917,44,1747,208759,756,85,9244],"class_list":{"0":"post-510708","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-adam-scott","9":"tag-article","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-features","13":"tag-genesis-invitational","14":"tag-golf","15":"tag-golf-digest","16":"tag-jacob-bridgeman","17":"tag-kurt-kitayama","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-pga-tour","20":"tag-riviera-country-club","21":"tag-rory-mcilroy","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-tiger-woods"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}