Jacob Bridgeman storms to 1st PGA Tour win at Genesis Invitational, beating Rory McIlroy

The West Coast swing of the PGA Tour is over, as Jacob Bridgeman has won the Genesis Invitational. The South Carolina native picked up his first win on the tour with a score of 18-under, one shot better than Kurt Kitayama and Rory McIlroy

Bridgeman played in the final group on Sunday alongside McIlroy, holding a six-shot lead coming into Sunday. As competitors made birdies all around him, the youngster made a lot of pars. So while he did not blow away from the field, he stayed just far enough away to prevent a collapse. A bogey on 16 and a poor second shot on 17 could have done him in, but he remained composed to secure the one-shot victory.

Bridgeman was in the second-to-last group at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am a week ago, finishing tied for eighth. He found the beach on the 18th hole and held up the eventual winner, Collin Morikawa, by about 20 minutes while figuring out the rules situation. But the 26-year-old buried it quickly to pick up his first win.

Bridgeman qualified for the PGA Tour Signature Events by making the Tour Championship last year. Taking advantage of those starts is key to his future on the Tour and staying in the big-money events. A win will go a long way to getting him back to East Lake in August.

How the leaderboard shaped up behind Jacob Bridgeman

McIlroy returned to the first page of the leaderboard after a sluggish performance at Pebble Beach. A first-round 66 and a second-round 65, all while working around weather delays, got him near the top. But he was not able to hit the gas on the weekend, putting him in a tie for second place at 17-under par.

A late charge from Kitayama put Bridgeman in danger of blowing his lead on Sunday. Birdies on 10, 11, 16, and 17 put him within one of the lead. But he ran out of holes, making par on 18 after a poor iron shot to finish at 17-under par. Second place is his best finish since last year’s 3M Open, which he won. Adam Scott at 16-under and Aldrich Potgieter at 15-under make up the remainder of the top five.

Scottie Scheffler finished tied for 11th place, ending his incredible streak of top-ten finishes at 19. He ended Thursday’s play in last place, which put him too far behind the 8-Ball for the remainder of the week.

The PGA Tour heads back east for the Cognizant Classic at PGA National in Jupiter, Florida. The Florida swing ends with The Players Championship in mid-March.

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