LOS ANGELES — Jacob Bridgeman had allowed himself to imagine winning the Genesis Invitational, painting a mental picture of the massive crowd filling the amphitheater around the 18th green at Riviera Country Club, thinking of what it would be like during the trophy presentation with tournament host Tiger Woods
Almost all of it came true Sunday, except for one small detail.
“I pictured myself walking up that hole with a four-shot lead knowing that I’d won,” Bridgeman said. “Unfortunately for me, it was only a one-shot lead, and it became a lot more nervous.”
Bridgeman started his final round with a six-shot lead. He stretched it to seven strokes with 12 holes to play. And as the advantage began to shrink with superb finishes by Australia’s Adam Scott — who closed with an 8-under-par 63 to match the low round for this year’s tournament, which he posted Friday — fellow American player Kurt Kitayama (64) and finally Northern Irish star Rory McIlroy (67), the 26-year-old South Carolina native lost feeling in his hands on the putter.
Bridgeman pulled it together with one last par, making a nervy three-footer on No. 18 for a 72 to finish the 72-hole tournament at 18-under 266 and win by a shot over Kitayama and McIlroy, the five-time major champion who’s No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking.