After shooting a 63 to win a Monday Qualifier for a spot in the Rex Hospital Open, Jacob Bridgeman was super-pumped to play in his first professional event.

“I’m super-excited to play as a pro and maybe make my first paycheck,” he said last Monday.

Six days later he leaves Raleigh with a wealth of experience and a check on its way to his bank account from the Korn-Ferry Tour.

Bridgeman shot a 2-over par 73 to finish his first professional event in a tie for 29th place at 7-under par 277.

The recent Clemson grad opened the tournament with a 4-under par 67 and followed it up with a 5-under par 66 to land in a tie for 7th after 36 holes.

The pros call Saturday rounds moving day and after two very good rounds Bridgeman fought his way around the Wakefield Plantation course to finish with an even par 71.

The fairways played hard and fast as did the greens and the stats in his third round and then in the final round showed the new pro from Inman was struggling off the tee.

Bridgeman posted a final round 2-over par 73 to accomplish the goal of making his first paycheck.

Two other golfers with local connections also earned some money.

Korn-Ferry veteran Taylor Dickson, from Winthrop shot a final round 72 to tie for 37th while USC grad Ryan Hall, another Monday Qualifier, finished in a tie for 65th.

The tournament was won by Davis Thompson who edged out Andrew Yon and Vincent Norman by a shot for his first Korn-Ferry Tour win, which just happened to be on his 23rd birthday.

Thompson graduated from Georgia last year and was exempt to play on the Korn-Ferry Tour after finishing second in the first PGA Tour University rankings.

Bridgeman, the 2022 ACC Player of the Year, will next play using one of the starts he earned by finishing second in this year’s PGA University rankings, at the BMW Charity Pro-Am in Greenville and Spartanburg beginning on Thursday.

Final standings from the Rex Hospital Open https://www.pgatour.com/korn-ferry-tour/leaderboard.html