Jacob Bridgeman started the day with a six-stroke lead at the Genesis Invitational and fired two birdies and three bogeys to close with a 1-over 72 and win by one stroke at 18-under.

He led the field for the week in Strokes Gained: Approach The Green (5.985) and Strokes Gained: Putting (7.307).

“This morning I wouldn’t say it’s a bad thing to let myself think about winning, but I did and I thought it would be a lot easier than it was,” said Bridgeman.

“I kind of had everything under control especially to start the day and I felt great throughout the day. Then some guys started making a little run and they got a little closer. I had a couple unfortunate breaks. Yeah, it got a lot tighter than I wanted it to.

“But I don’t think it will get any easier than a six-shot lead so I’ve got to figure out how to make it a little bit — how to make that gap bigger to finish the day.”

This was the American’s first PGA Tour victory in his 66th career start at the age of 26. He is the first player since 1975 (Pat Fitzsimons) to win in his first start at the event.

“First win here, probably one of the coolest places that I could have done it, and of course having Tiger as the host is a dream come true,” he added.

Bridgeman improves 1-for-2 in converting a 54-hole lead/co-lead to victory (2025 Valspar Championship/3rd).

This win marks his third top-10 in his fifth start this season (T4/Sony Open in Hawaii, T8/AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am).

Entering the final round nine-strokes back, American Kurt Kitayama carded a 7-under 64 (one bogey) to record his fourth runner-up finish on Tour. He was seeking to break the largest come-from-behind win in tournament history (8/Ken Venturi/1959) but finished T2 at 12-under.

World No. 2 Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland made five birdies and one bogey for a 67 and earned his 13th runner-up finish on Tour, his best finish in ten appearances at The Genesis Invitational (previous best: T4/2019).

Two-time Genesis Invitational champion (2005/unofficial, 2020) Adam Scott of Australia carded a final round bogey-free, 8-under 63 to record his best finish on Tour since the 2024 BMW Championship (T2). Playing on a sponsor exemption, he recorded his eighth top-10 in his 18th appearance at the event.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler of the USA finished T12 at 11-under having made seven birdies and one bogey for a 65. This ended a streak of 18 consecutive top-10 finishes on Tour, the most consecutive top 10 finishes since 1983. The last time he finished outside the top-10 on Tour was T20 at the 2025 Players Championship (343 days ago).

Related: Wire-to-wire maiden DP World Tour title for Casey Jarvis

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