“The best putter on Tour” put on a show to win the Biltmore Championship and wants to keep the putts rolling in at this weeks Presidents Cup

By Stan Olenik. Editor-Publisher. The Golf Club

Ask someone how they’re doing and sooner or later you’ll hear, “Just living the dream.”

The next time you see Jacob Bridgeman, you won’t have to ask.

At the start of the year, Bridgeman wanted to win a PGA TOUR event, reach the TOUR Championship at East Lake and make the U.S. Presidents Cup team. For most golfers, that would be a dream season. Bridgeman called them goals.

They were ambitious goals for a player in his third year on the PGA TOUR. But Bridgeman had been setting high standards for himself since his days in South Carolina junior golf. He won three state high school championships at Chapman, then became an ACC individual champion and record setter at Clemson.

By the time he arrived on TOUR, he had a pretty good idea of what it took to turn a goal into something real.

The first one came in February at the Genesis Invitational. Playing at Riviera in California, Bridgeman held off a Sunday charge that included Rory McIlroy and earned his first PGA TOUR victory.

His strong start continued through the spring. He went to his first Masters leading the FedExCup points standings.

Bridgeman reached East Lake for the TOUR Championship, where a top-five finish helped complete the case for a Presidents Cup selection. U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker named him to the team, singling out the strength that had become Bridgeman’s calling card.

“Jacob is the best putter we have on the PGA TOUR,” Snedeker said.

With his Presidents Cup place secured, Bridgeman chose to play the Biltmore Championship Asheville in the week before the matches. It gave him another chance to compete on a course he knew well: The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, where he is a member. The Cliffs is also one of his sponsors.

On Sunday, Bridgeman gave the home crowd a finish to remember.

Starting the final round five shots behind, he shot a career-best 10-under-par 61 to win by two. He finished at 26 under par for his second TOUR victory of the year.

The putter did its share of the work. Bridgeman made birdies as he caught the leaders, then holed the par putts that kept his round from losing momentum. He played on the greens with the quick confidence that followers of his career have seen since his junior days.

“The putter was just rolling well all week,” Bridgeman said. “I was seeing the lines great. Made a ton of birdies and some crucial par saves.”

His first TOUR win came in California while his family watched on television back in Inman. They celebrated with him afterward by FaceTime.

This time, his family and friends from the Upstate were just outside the ropes. They could celebrate with hugs and high-fives.

“I had my parents, my in-laws, my wife, a couple cousins here and a ton of friends,” he said. “It was just really cool to perform in front of them. I feel like I had a crowd the whole day. This was a home game for me.”

Now Bridgeman is at Medinah Country Club outside Chicago as a two-time TOUR winner preparing to play for the United States.

“I think playing as a team, it’s not something we get very often,” he said. “And playing as a team, but also playing for our country, it just means a whole lot more.”

It won’t be his first time wearing the red, white and blue in a Presidents Cup competition. Bridgeman played in the first Junior Presidents Cup in 2017, making critical putts down the stretch to help the U.S. team win.

He may get the chance to do it again this week.

“My goal to start the year was to win, to make East Lake and make the Presidents Cup,” Bridgeman said.

He accomplished all three, then won once more with his family watching. When asked how he’s doing, Bridgeman has an answer of his own:

“I’m living the dream.”

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