You’re the best putter in the world.
Jacob Bridgeman admittedly was feeling pretty good about where things stood on the 18th green at Medinah Country Club late Sunday afternoon. He had set himself up with a 25-foot eagle putt to close out Min Woo Lee and give the United States its 11th straight Presidents Cup win.
When he rolled it just short, Bridgeman was given the reassurance — and confidence — he needed from the Medinah crowd that his birdie attempt was going in the hole.
“I heard someone in the crowd say, ‘You’re the best putter in the world’, as I was standing over [my] four-footer,” said Bridgeman, who made his Presidents Cup debut this week after winning the Genesis Invitational in February and last week’s Biltmore Championship. “I’m like, ‘This is cake. This is so easy.’ I’m just so proud I could put it away for the team.”
The 26 year old’s clutch putter — he currently ranks No. 1 on Tour in strokes gained putting — earned him one of six captain’s spots on Brandt Snedeker’s roster earlier this month. He proved that decision worthy on Sunday when he beat Lee 1 up to earn his first point for the U.S.
“So damn proud of Jacob Bridgeman getting his first point as a Presidents Cup rookie,” Snedeker said after the Americans had sealed their 17-13 win.
For his part, Bridgeman said he hit the eagle attempt softer than he wanted.
He walked up to see his ball about three-and-a-half feet from the hole “feeling pretty good.”
“I wanted to make it so bad ... It was the coolest moment,” Bridgeman said.
“I felt like I held in my emotion all day because I didn’t really have that moment where I had done anything to where I felt like I had won my match, and to let it out on the last hole was pretty sweet,” he added.
Lee, who finished 2-2-1 at Medinah, was one of five International players to play all five sessions.
“You can only make the best decisions at the time,” said International captain Geoff Ogilvy when asked if the five players he leaned on the most wore down by the end of the tournament. “Maybe if we had rested them, maybe we wouldn’t have been three-and-a-half points up. I don’t think you can do that.”
