LOS ANGELES — Jacob Bridgeman heard cheers all day long for everyone but himself Sunday at Riviera until the final ovation. He made a nervy par putt on the 18th hole for a 1-over 72 and a most narrow victory in the Genesis Invitational for his first PGA Tour title.
Bridgeman started with a six-shot lead. He expanded it to seven shots with 12 holes remaining. And it still came down to one clutch swing from the 18th fairway that settled 20 feet below the hole, and a 3-foot par putt with his shadow over the hole.
But he calmly knocked it in for a one-shot victory over Rory McIlroy and Kurt Kitayama, who both had a strong finishing kick to make Bridgeman sweat a lot more than he wanted.
“This is way, way better than I’ve ever dreamt it,” Bridgeman said.
Not since Adam Scott in 2005 has a player competed at Riviera for the first time and left with the trophy. Bridgeman, a 26-year-old from Clemson, played well enough last year to reach the Tour Championship and has been steadily on the rise.
He broke through in a signature event against a strong field, winning $4 million and having host Tiger Woods waiting to congratulate him atop the steps overlooking the 18th green.
Bridgeman finished at 18-under 266 and didn’t make a birdie over the final 15 holes.
He heard constant cheers for McIlroy, one of golf’s most popular figures who was never a threat until he holed a bunker shot for birdie on the 12th and finished birdie-birdie for a 67. More cheers rang out across Riviera — Max Greyserman with a hole-in-one on the 14th, Tommy Fleetwood jarring one for eagle from the fairway on the 15th, and Kitayama stuffing his tee shot on the par-3 16th and then barely clearing the bunker to set up a two-putt birdie on the par-5 17th.
Bridgeman, after a marvelous approach to 12 feet for birdie on the third hole that received only a smattering of applause from the LA crowd, didn’t play poorly. He hit a strong chip on the fourth that led to bogey. The rest of the way was a steady diet of 20-foot birdie chances.
But he found the bunker on the 16th and had to make a 5-foot bogey putt to stay in the lead. His birdie chances on the 17th and 18th were woefully short on greens where short putts can be scary.
The last par putt brought a mixture of joy and relief.
“I thought it was going to be a lot easier,” Bridgeman 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.”
Scott, who received a sponsor exemption, ran off five birdies on the back nine and closed with a 63 to finish fourth, two shots behind.
Scottie Scheffler, who had to make a 7-foot par putt on Friday to make the cut, had a 66-65 weekend and wound up tied for 12th, his worst finish since he tied for 20th at The Players Championship nearly a year ago. He ended his streak of 18 consecutive top 10s.
Bridgeman already is in the Masters from having reached the Tour Championship last year. He became the first player this year to be ranked outside the top 50 (No. 52) and win on the PGA Tour. The victory propels him inside the top 25.
He won not only at a storied course like Riviera but with McIlroy, the Masters champion, alongside and getting most of the attention until falling off the pace until his big finish. So many putts burned the edge, and then the last one dropped from 30 feet.
For a second, it looked like it might give McIlroy extra holes in a playoff when Bridgeman left his first putt short. But just like he has all week, Bridgeman never looked uncomfortable. Turns out he felt that way.
“I couldn’t even feel my hands on the last couple greens,” Bridgeman said. “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.”