Jacob Bridgeman clinched victory at the Genesis Invitational after seeing off Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy was left with plenty of regret after failing to capitalise on Jacob Bridgeman’s nervy final round at the Genesis Invitational.
Bridgeman went into Sunday with a six-shot lead but could only manage a one-over-par 72, opening the door for the chasing pack.
McIlroy started slowly but four birdies on the back nine saw him card a 67 and put himself in contention, along with Kurt Kitayama, who shot a superb seven-under 64.
It came down to the final green and Bridgeman held his nerve with a three-foot putt to get over the line and secure a one-shot triumph. He is the first player to win on his debut at the Riviera Country Club since Adam Scott in 2005.
McIlroy felt his tournament was lost in his third round, when he shot a 69, and the start of the fourth, when he failed to capitalise on several presentable birdie opportunities.
“I’ll rue basically all 18 holes yesterday and then the front nine today, like 27 holes where I failed to capitalise on the chances I gave myself,” McIlroy told the PGA website.
“Once I started to trust my reads a bit on the back nine and I went more with my first instinct, I putted a little bit better.
“I was almost just giving them too much thought and not going with my first instinct and that sort of cost me.”
Table of Contents
Final Leaderboard
-18 J Bridgeman (US)
-17 K Kitayama (US), R McIlroy (NI)
–16 A Scott (Aus)
-15 A Potgieter (SA)
-13 J Knapp (US)
-12 C Young (US), C Morikawa (US), T Fleetwood (Eng), R Fox (Aus), X Schauffele (US)
McIlroy pleased with overall Riviera showing
The Northern Irishman was pleased with his overall game at Riviera, though, having seen his challenge at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last week hampered by four double bogeys and three bogeys in the his opening three rounds.
“If you look at how I played last week, the birdies that I made – yeah, OK, I made a few big numbers, but I was able to cut those big numbers out this week,” added McIlroy.
“I think I only had three bogeys for the week. I feel like my game’s in really good shape.”
As for Bridgeman, the American continues to go from strength to strength with this victory following on from two top-ten finishes in his first four events of the season.
“I thought it was going to be a lot easier,” he said. “It was honestly easy until I got to 16 and then it got really hard. I made it as hard as I could have made it.
“I couldn’t even feel my hands on the last couple of greens. I just hit the putt hoping it would get somewhere near the hole, and both of them I left a mile short. But I’m glad it’s done now.”
Bridgeman gets one up on Tiger Woods
He was met by tournament host Tiger Woods after clinching victory. Woods never managed to win at Riviera and Bridgeman did it on his first attempt.
“He said, ‘You’ve got one on me.’ So I guess he’s never won one yet,” Bridgeman said. “I got one thing. He’s got all the other ones.”
World number one Scottie Scheffler shot a 65 to come joint 12th, ending his remarkable run of 18 successive top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour.
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