Jacob Bridgeman wins the 2026 Genesis Invitational

Sitting on a six-shot advantage heading into Sunday’s final round, Jacob Bridgeman conquered the pressure that comes with a 54-hole lead to win the 2026 Genesis Invitational by one stroke. The victory was Bridgeman’s first PGA TOUR win and came in just the 66th start for the 26-year-old playing his third full season.

“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,” Bridgeman said shortly after sinking the winning putt at The Riviera Country Club.

After holding a commanding lead through three rounds, Bridgeman opened his final round with a birdie on the first hole. He added another birdie at the third before making bogey on the par-3 fourth. After challenging the tournament’s scoring record, Bridgeman used a string of eight straight pars to put pressure on the rest of the field, knowing they would need to go low Sunday to catch him.

“This is way, way better than I’ve ever dreamt it,” Bridgeman said. “I thought it was going to be a lot easier than that. It was honestly easy until I got to about 16, and then it got really hard. Yeah, I can’t believe it. I made it about as hard as I could have made it at the end, making it one shot and having to make a three-footer. Yeah, this is incredible.”

Adam Scott and Kurt Kitayama each made a charge up the leaderboard to pressure Bridgeman. Scott posted a second consecutive round of 8-under 63, and Kitayama got to within a shot of the lead with a 7-under 64. The two low rounds of the day created drama down the stretch at The Riviera Country Club.

Bridgeman signed for rounds of 66-66-64-72—268 (18-under). Kitayama and defending Masters champion Rory McIlroy finished tied for second, one stroke behind Bridgeman at 17-under, while Scott was fourth at 16-under. Aldrich Potgieter was fifth at 15-under.

Bridgeman’s bogey on the 16th cut his lead to one stroke. Finishing two groups ahead of Bridgeman and McIlroy, Kitayama putted on the practice green high above the finishing hole as McIlroy birdied the final two holes and Bridgeman parred his way into the clubhouse. The eventual champion two-putted from 16 feet, 5 inches on the 18th, admitting that he felt plenty of nerves coming down the stretch.

After the victory, tournament host Tiger Woods was waiting to greet the 100th champion in tournament history.

“He said, ‘You’ve got one on me,’” Bridgeman said with a laugh. “So I guess he’s never won here yet. I got one thing. He’s got all the other ones, but I’ve got one.”