Dominating a tournament and barely winning it…

To be honest, when I saw Jacob Bridgeman sitting on a six-shot lead Sunday morning at Riviera, I had one of two thoughts: “this is a done deal” or “we’re about to watch something that could get historically ugly”…so ugly that we might have to call the grief counselor.

And who even is this guy? No household name. No signature win. Just a quiet kid from Inman, South Carolina, who went to Clemson, earned his Tour card in 2023, and spent three seasons flying completely under the radar.

Oh, and he’s also one of the best putters on Tour. Top 10 in Strokes Gained: Putting all three seasons. At a course famous for destroying confidence on the greens, he led the entire field in putting through three rounds.

Bridgeman stretched that lead to seven shots with 12 holes to play. Then Adam Scott fired a 63. Kitayama shot 64. Rory McIlroy, who played like a ghost all day, suddenly birdied his last two holes. The crowd, which was cheering for everyone but Bridgeman all afternoon, was about to witness something painful.

Then, he left a 3-footer on 18, which he needed to make to win by one stroke. That putt wasn’t just a golf shot, that was a 26-year-old standing over a ball he couldn’t even feel…“I couldn’t even feel my hands on the last couple greens,” he admitted, and he made the last putt that mattered the most.

Six shots became one. And one was enough.

Tiger Woods (15 Majors and ZERO wins at Riviera) met him at the top of the 18th steps and said, “You’ve got one on me.”

Three seasons of anonymity. Zero household name recognition and just one Sunday at Riviera just earned him $4 million…and that changed everything. I don’t think anyone saw it coming, including the guy holding the trophy.