At 10 under through 27 holes, Jacob Bridgeman looked as much in the driver’s seat at the Biltmore Championship as any player in the field this week.
Then came some trouble on his last nine holes — the front nine at the Cliffs at Walnut Cove, where the 2026 U.S. Presidents Cup team member struggled with all three par-3s during Friday’s second round.
He bogeyed the 246-yard second hole for just his second square of the tournament before proceeding to lose another stroke at the fifth less than an hour later.
Bridgeman’s biggest damage came two holes later at the course’s second shortest hole — the 194-yard seventh — where he found the right greenside bunker and made a double-bogey 5.
Despite the rough outings on the par-3s, Bridgeman did salvage his day with a trio of birdies to get in at 9 under through 36 holes. He is six back of Neil Shipley’s current clubhouse lead.
Bridgeman’s up-and-down round didn’t seem to impact his playing partners, Jackson Koivun and Webb Simspon.
Koivun, the tournament favorite and Bridgeman’s teammate at Medinah, had one blemish on the round and it came on his third hole of the day, the par-4 12th.
From there, he carded circles on four of the last six holes on his first nine. The final nine holes saw Koivun save par eight times and add one more birdie to his card to finish at 4-under 67 on the day. He sits eight back of Shipley with two rounds left in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
As for Simpson, the local favorite and 2012 U.S. Open winner had the best round of the trio, showing his young partners a thing or two with a 5-under 66.
It was a good enough effort to put Simpson comfortably over the projected cut line and secure his spot in the field this weekend.
Like Bridgeman, Simpson didn’t take too favorably to No. 5 — recording his lone bogey on Friday at the 205-yard hole.
