In February, Jacob Bridgeman came to the 18th hole at the Riviera Country Club on Sunday with his dreams in his grasp. He led the Genesis Invitational, Tiger Woods’ tournament, with a hole to play. His first PGA Tour win was within reach; he just needed to par the last hole to hold off a hard-charging Rory McIlroy.
Finally, Bridgeman, despite not being able to feel his handshe made a four-foot par putt to beat McIlroy by one and win his idol’s tournament. That victory sparked a season for Bridgeman that saw him make 22 of 23 cuts, post 11 top-10s and finish fourth at the Tour Championship. All of which led to Bridgeman being chosen by Captain Brandt Snedeker to represent Team USA at the Presidents’ Cup next week.
It was a season that saw Bridgeman “hit all” of his goals.
But Sunday at the Biltmore Asheville ChampionshipBridgeman scored another. One that looked completely different from the one that checked out in Los Angeles in February.
Bridgeman came to the Biltmore, the first FedEx Cup event of the fall, looking to stay in the running for the Presidents Cup and put in a good performance, with many of his family members in attendance. Bridgeman, a South Carolina native and resident, had about 20 family and friends following him this week in Asheville. After Saturday’s third round at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, it looked like they weren’t going to spend their Sunday night toasting Bridgeman in Asheville. Bridgeman was eight shots back of 54-hole leader Neal Shipley and would need something special to have a chance to lift the trophy. But on a soft, gettable setup, the putter No. 1 on the PGA Tour had a chance if it could go down.
He did that and more on Sunday.
Bridgeman birdied three of his first four holes and then eagled the eighth to turn in 5-under 30. With his irons and flatstick hot, birdies at 10, 13, 14 and 15 continued to put him on top of a jammed top of the leaderboard that included Shipley, Ricky Castillo and Ben James. A tap-in birdie at 17 put Bridgeman two out of the pack, and he closed out a title-winning, 10-under 61 with a pair of 18s to claim a trophy with a cohort of friends and family in attendance.
“I felt like I had a crowd all day,” Bridgeman said Sunday after taking three more shots on the approach and making a 90-foot putt in the comeback victory. “They were just kind of rooting for me. It kept the momentum going.”
Seven months ago, Bridgeman faced a terrifying scenario to get his first win. With thousands of fans watching, including Woods, and McIlroy breathing down his neck, Bridgeman dug deep and pulled off an unlikely victory. Sunday’s win hardly resembles that triumph at Pacific Palisades.
For the most part.
“Same (poa) greens,” Bridgeman said Sunday when asked to compare his two wins. “LA was such a high event. I felt like everything was against me that last day and I pulled through and could fail. To win the Tiger event is a dream come true, and then to do it here in front of a home crowd is definitely a different feeling, but just as special.”
After a sizzling Sunday 61 to capture a second win in 2026, Bridgeman now turns his attention to the Presidents Cup, where he and the heavily favored Americans will look to continue their dominance in the biennial event. They will arrive in Chicago with perhaps an underrated match weapon: Bridgeman’s putter, which has been hot all season and reached a different level in Asheville.
“Super excited about the Presidents Cup next week,” Bridgeman said. “I’m very happy with how I played, and I think everyone else is like me.
“Playing as a team, but also playing for our country. It just means a lot more. I think you’ll see some emotion come out, some guys raise their game just because of how focused we are and how much we want to win.”
In a dream season, it is the last thing for now, two-time winner of the PGA Tour, Jacob Bridgeman, to check off his list of “goals”.
