{"id":486222,"date":"2026-02-23T19:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T19:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/486222\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T19:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T19:50:15","slug":"signature-scroll-jacob-bridgeman-breaks-through-rory-mcilroys-putter-breaks-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/486222\/","title":{"rendered":"Signature Scroll: Jacob Bridgeman breaks through, Rory McIlroy\u2019s putter breaks down"},"content":{"rendered":"

6H AGO<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

4 Min Read<\/p>\n

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Signature Scroll<\/p>\n

<\/a>*:not(style){overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0px;right:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;width:100%;height:100%;}.css-17ygvlf>img,.css-17ygvlf>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-17ygvlf::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:56.25%;}]]>\"Jacob<\/p>\n

Jacob Bridgeman interview after one-shot win at The Genesis<\/p>\n

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A<\/p>\n

Change Text Size<\/p>\n

Written by Paul Hodowanic<\/p>\n

NOTE: Get the Signature Scroll \u2013 and the rest of PGA TOUR’s newsletters, including The Connect, Wire to Wire and The Early Card \u2013 directly in your inbox. Subscribe today!<\/a><\/p>\n

We’ve got a new PGA TOUR winner! It was an impressive performance at The Genesis Invitational, even if it wasn’t the blowout it looked to be midway through Sunday. Let’s talk about it …<\/p>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2013 Jacob Bridgeman isn\u2019t too proud to admit that as recently as two years ago, he had little idea how far his iron shots might go on any given shot. He knew his stock yardages, sure, but ask him to take a little off one, or flight one under the wind or get it to stop without too much spin, he had little control to pull it off. <\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know that fact yet \u2013 he would reveal it in his winner\u2019s press conference \u2013 but as I stood behind the 18th green, I shook my head and laughed as his approach shot apexed above the treeline and set on a direct path toward the flag. The depth perception isn\u2019t great, so for a moment I thought he might just end it there. He settled for 20 feet below the hole, and that was enough. <\/p>\n

In a day that Bridgeman had to battle one of America\u2019s iconic courses to win a storied tournament that\u2019s put on by the greatest golfer of his lifetime and sink a nervy 3-foot putt to close it, what stuck out most to me was his iron play. Shots like the one on No. 18 were automatic all day. <\/p>\n

*:not(style){overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0px;right:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;width:100%;height:100%;}.css-17ygvlf>img,.css-17ygvlf>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-17ygvlf::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:56.25%;}]]>\"Jacob<\/p>\n

Jacob Bridgeman uses 72nd hole approach and par save to win The Genesis<\/p>\n

What few details I knew about Bridgeman beginning this week revolved around his putter. Ask enough players who the best putters on TOUR are, and Bridgeman\u2019s name is bound to come up. Not often are they also the best approach players. That\u2019s the combo Bridgeman put together this week. He led the field by gaining six strokes on approach and seven on the greens. The latter is one Bridgeman expects. The other?<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve never led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach ever,\u201d he said. \u201cI’ve probably never been close.\u201d<\/p>\n

What he did this week is a testament to his growth, and it\u2019s why Bridgeman should be in consideration in the hierarchy of young players who have a chance to blossom. The story of his improvement starts with his swing coach, Scott Hamilton, who has slowly transformed Bridgeman from the scrappy college player who won with short game alone to a player who led the biggest stars in the sport by six strokes after 54 holes at The Riviera Country Club. Poor swing mechanics were cleaned up, giving Bridgeman the basic ability to know how far shots will go. Might sound like a given for a top player, but \u201cI know how far the ball’s going, which is mind-blowing for a pro to say, but I actually do now. I didn’t before, and that’s kind of changed my game.\u201d<\/p>\n

He needed it Sunday, when every approach shot seemed to roll to an uncomfortable distance. \u2026 a lot of \u201chalf shots and half clubs,\u201d he said. The exact type of feel shots he never could master. His round was far from perfect, but he executed at the right times<\/a>. After he dropped a shot at the seventh, he found the fairway at the eighth, hit his approach in the exact right spot, 25 feet below the hole, and made an easy par. After his bogey at the 12th, he hit the fairway on No. 13 and landed his approach pin high, 30 feet away, setting up another needed par. And at the 18th, with the massive crowd lining the green, and Tiger Woods waiting for him up the hill and McIlroy making a late push, he calmly placed his approach 20 feet below the hole to give him a straight, uphill putt. A result only possible from a lot of growth and a lot of hard work, one that proves Bridgeman belongs. <\/p>\n

\u274c The most impressive streak in golf is over. Scottie Scheffler\u2019s run of 18 top-10 finishes in a row ended on Sunday. Of course, he made it interesting<\/a>. \ud83d\udcb2 Bridgeman took home $4 million for the victory. Here\u2019s how much the rest of the field earned \u2026<\/a>\ud83d\udcfa Watch Bridgeman\u2019s winning press conference<\/a>. He\u2019s an understated guy, but I found him refreshingly direct and enjoyably confident.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a list of putts Rory McIlroy missed in his first nine holes on Sunday:<\/p>\n

4 feet, 8 inches for par6 feet, 1 inch for birdie7 feet, 11 inches for birdie10 feet, 5 inches for birdie11 feet, 4 inches for eagle<\/p>\n

It\u2019s naive to say that if one of those drops in, he definitely gets into a playoff. That\u2019s not how sports work, and there are hundreds of varying potentialities that an early run could\u2019ve caused. But given Bridgeman\u2019s shaky final holes, it\u2019s hard not to wonder “what if,” if McIlroy applied any pressure early. Instead, he applied zero. I looked this up after the missed 6-footer for birdie on the ninth. He had already lost 2.5 strokes on the greens at that point. That\u2019s incredibly hard to do in that small a sample. <\/p>\n

McIlroy wasn\u2019t overly disappointed in the aftermath of his loss<\/a>. He was notably upbeat about the general trajectory of his game. It\u2019s still a missed opportunity. McIlroy is chasing meaningful moments, and a victory at a cathedral of American golf slipped by him this week at Riviera. For that, McIlroy has his putter to blame. <\/p>\n

\"Rory<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy sinks 30-foot birdie putt on No. 18 at The Genesis<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd0f Scheffler\u2019s top-10 streak was an inch from continuing<\/a>. I watched his stretch of final holes and remained incredibly impressed with his willingness to grind. Easy with his success to mail it in, instead, he went 6-under in his last 11 holes. That last putt should\u2019ve dropped, too. Another streak that died Sunday: his run of eight straight top-fours, which might have been more impressive than the 18 top 10s. \ud83d\udde3\ufe0f Jordan Spieth is incredibly bullish on where he\u2019s headed. Do with that information however you please. He was second in the field in putting<\/a>, a result he attributed to recent setup tweaks with coach Cameron McCormick. He also feels things are coming together with his full swing. It\u2019s not happening consistently enough, but he thinks that will come with more practice. From his mouth: \u201cI feel very confident.\u201d \ud83c\uddff\ud83c\udde6 I\u2019ll continue to bang the drum that we\u2019re seeing a different, more refined version<\/a> of Aldrich Potgieter. Ends the week in solo-fifth and finished top 20 in approach play and top-five in putting. Those were his weakest areas in 2025, and he hasn\u2019t lost his elite driving skill. *:not(style){overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0px;right:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;width:100%;height:100%;}.css-11jnzpa>img,.css-11jnzpa>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-11jnzpa::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:66.66666666666666%;}]]>\"Image<\/p>\n

Feb 22, 2026<\/p>\n

Signature Scroll: Spieth and stars left searching at Riviera <\/a>Signature Scroll<\/a>\"Image\"Image<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"6H AGO 4 Min Read Signature Scroll *:not(style){overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0px;right:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;width:100%;height:100%;}.css-17ygvlf>img,.css-17ygvlf>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-17ygvlf::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:56.25%;}]]> Jacob Bridgeman interview after one-shot win at The Genesis *:not(style)~*:not(style){margin-top:0.5rem;-webkit-margin-end:0px;margin-inline-end:0px;margin-bottom:0px;-webkit-margin-start:0px;margin-inline-start:0px;}]]>…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-486222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}