LOS ANGELES — Jacob Bridgeman was on Saturday night, a six-shot lead over perhaps the most popular golfer on the PGA Tour in hand. And for 15 holes on Sunday, that didn’t dwindle, either.
But when that bravado fell, it fell fast.
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“I couldn’t even feel my hands on the last couple greens,” he said.
Luckily for Bridgeman, he was able to keep it together on the 18th hole at Riviera Country Club. After a bogey and a lot of work for a par save on the two holes behind him, which cut his lead back to just a single stroke, Bridgeman played the final hole perfectly. He landed in the fairway with his drive, stuck his approach about 20 feet short of the cup and left himself a simple two-putt par to seal the win.
Finally, he was able to relax.
Bridgeman carded a 1-over 72 on Sunday, which dropped him back to 18-under on the week. That was just enough to give him his win at the Genesis Invitational, the first of his career on the PGA Tour.
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With it came a $4 million check — which was just more than half of what he had earned over his first three seasons on the PGA Tour combined — and a jump to the very top, though just barely, of the FedExCup standings.
“I thought it would be a lot easier than it was,” he said. “I kind of had everything under control, especially to start the day and I felt great throughout the day … But I don’t think it will get any easier than a six-shot lead.”
Bridgeman didn’t really make any mistakes for most of his round. He birdied twice in his first three holes, and he was even through 15. The lone true stumble came at the par-3 16th, when he landed his tee shot in the bunker and struggled to get out of it before settling for a bogey. He had to scramble to safe par at the 17th, too.
But he got it done.
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“I thought he handled everything really well,” said Rory McIlroy, who finished a shot back at 17-under. “Because I wasn’t putting pressure on him it probably felt to him like he didn’t need to do that much, but he played very well … 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.”
The winning moment wasn’t something Bridgeman was shying away from all week the way that some athletes would, either. He was envisioning it when he woke up on Sunday morning, trying to picture what it would feel like with the trophy in hand.
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That, while he knows it might be unusual, feels like the right way to go about it.
“I don’t think I should try and forget about it or not realize what’s going on,” he said. “The magnitude of the situation almost just makes me focus more.”
Though he was admittedly “a little bit nervous” when he first woke up, Bridgeman still managed to see the win in his head. It just didn’t quite turn out like he had hoped.
“I pictured myself walking up that hole with a four-shot lead and knowing that I’d won, but unfortunately for me it was only a one-shot lead and I became a lot more nervous,” he said. “So I kept my head down, didn’t really look up until the end. I felt like if I had kind of become overwhelmed by the moment it might have distracted me.”
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Now with the win in the books, Bridgeman will head right to Florida for the Cognizant Classic starting in just a few days. He had already secured a trip to the Masters this spring, too, after he reached the Tour Championship last season. So the next few months will be a build-up for his first career trip to Augusta National.
Though it’ll be incredibly different than anything he’s faced, preparing for the major championship as a Tour winner will make things much, much easier.
“Getting the monkey off my back winning for the first time I think is huge,” he said. “I think the Masters in itself is going to be a whole ‘nother challenge just because that’s the golf tournament that every golfer growing up wants to win, wants to play in, wants to compete in.
“I know that one will be a little bit more mental and physically taxing on me, but I’m very excited for it.”