LOS ANGELES — For a man who has yet to win on the PGA Tour, and now has to fend off Rory McIlroy on one of the premier courses on the calendar, Jacob Bridgeman appears completely unbothered by what’s in front of him.
Maybe that’s just his personality. But a massive six-shot lead doesn’t hurt there, either.
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“I’ve played great this whole week, so I don’t think it was a surprise to me that my game was the way it is [today],” he said confidently on Saturday night.
Bridgeman, a 26-year-old in just his third full season on Tour, posted a 7-under 64 on Saturday at Riviera Country Club. That puts him at 19-under for the week, well ahead of second-place McIlroy at 13-under and the rest of the field entering the final round of the Genesis Invitational.
His round on Saturday was just about perfect. Bridgeman birdied three times in his first four holes of the day to grab the solo lead after starting the day with a share of it in the final group, and then he broke it open completely at the turn. Bridgeman went 4-under in a three-hole stretch, thanks largely to a near-albatross at the par-5 11th. He stuck a 7-wood right next to the cup, and barely flinched in the fairway.
“It was fun and easy,” Bridgeman said of his round. “Kind of the best that the golf world ever gets.”
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McIlroy, who started the day a shot back of the lead, played just fine ahead of Bridgeman. He carded a 2-under 69, and made seven pars to close his round while missing several solid birdie looks along the way. A less than 5-footer for birdie at the 17th that he should have made went just past the cup instead, which left McIlroy staring at his ball exasperated, hands on his hips.
McIlroy admitted that he was “a little frustrated” with himself after the round, but he is going to be in the final group for the first time all season. That, he said, is going to at least let him “keep an eye on Jacob.”
“I wish I was a little bit closer to the lead, but Jacob went out there and just played three incredible rounds of golf,” McIlroy said. “It’s going to take something special from me or anyone else tomorrow to catch him.”
Bridgeman has come close to winning on Tour before. He finished in second at the Cognizant Classic last February, and finished third at the Valspar Championship about a month later. He has two top-10 finishes already this season, including a T8 finish last week at Pebble Beach — which launched him up to No. 52 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
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And thankfully for Bridgeman, he’s already played with McIlroy once before. The two were paired up in the FedExCup Playoffs last season, so he knows what to expect when playing with No. 2-ranked golfer in the world and perhaps the most popular active player in the sport.
“I think if it was my first time [with him] maybe it would be a little unsettling, but now I’m not worried about it,” he said.
While the smart thing to do, considering the lead he has and what’s at stake for him, might be to adjust the game plan a bit on Sunday, Bridgeman isn’t changing a thing. It’s working so far, and he described his game as “aggressively conservative.” Whenever he has the chance to go for it, he’s going to.
“I’m a competitor,” Bridgeman said. “I haven’t had a ton of chances to win yet in my career, but I’m hoping that I’ll have a chance, a good chance tomorrow all the way ‘till the end.
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“If I can get it done, I’d like to kind of start rolling and get a lot of these.”
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