Sizzling putter propels former Clemson star Jacob Bridgeman into PGA Tour limelight

Ask Jacob Bridgeman what he does best on the golf course. He pauses, then says, “I get the ball in the hole.”

Sounds simple, and it is — if you can putt like Bridgeman.

His putter, especially of late, is a magic wand, and suddenly he is commanding attention with his play on the PGA Tour’s four tournaments on its “Florida Swing.”

“I like to say I can roll it pretty good,” he said, which is akin to saying Taylor Swift draws a big crowd at concerts. See statistics below for confirmation.

Bridgeman, who grew up in Inman, honed his game in South Carolina Junior Golf Association competition and starred at Clemson, fashioned this streak: a tie for second in the Cognizant Classic, a tie for 15th in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a tie for 50th in the Players and a solo third in the Valspar.

The strong performances sent his stock — and his confidence — soaring. He went into the Houston tourney that ends Sunday at No. 22 in the FedEx points race and No. 70 in the world rankings, heady stuff for a 25-year-old golfer in his third pro season.

His college performance, second in the 2022 PGA Tour University program, earned him a place on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2023 and he converted that into a spot on the 2024 PGA Tour.

Bridgeman called his rookie season “a learning curve to get over the hump” and now “is playing the way I expected” in his second year in golf’s major league.

“It’s been fun,” he said of his climb from 189 to 70 in the world rankings since the start of the year. “I’m still learning, and I know from (the Valspar) that I can compete without having my best stuff.”

His statistics tell his story. He ranks 90th in shots gained off the tee, but he’s 27th around the green and he’s deadly with the putter: 15th from 15-20 feet, third from 10-15 feet and second from 4-8 feet. At the Valspar, he made 366 feet of putts and required just 97 putts for the 72 holes.

That’s typical. He’s sixth overall in strokes gained putting right now after finishing his rookie year at No. 15.

“It’s a great equalizer if you’re hitting it terrible like I did today; you can still put up a good number,” he said after the third round in the Valspar. “I feel comfortable over the ball.”

And Sunday? “I played really good in stretches and kind of saved myself at lot with some putting” amid some “bad ball-striking,” he said.

Not a player to over-analyze and fret over what-might-have-been, Bridgeman looks ahead with the positives. He led or shared the lead in the Valspar in each of the first three rounds and shot 2-under-par 69 on Sunday.

“I just got out-run” in the final round by Viktor Hovland and Justin Thomas, he said.

Bridgeman started slowly, missing the cut in three of his first 2025 starts. But once the Tour returned to the East Coast and Bermuda grasses, he has thrived.

“I’m just a lot more comfortable on the grasses I’ve grown up playing on,” he said.

He shot a final-round 64 in the Cognizant Classic to tie for second, and the finish earned him a spot in the Arnold Palmer tournament, a limited-field signature event. He capitalized with his tie for 15th.

“I had planned to take that week off, but you have to play in those tournaments and I took advantage of the opportunity,” he said.

He’ll reassess his schedule after the Houston event and hopes to earn a spot in the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head Island, the next signature event.

But whatever his schedule might be, he can count on his putter, a great equalizer.

Chip shots. USC fired a final-round 18-under-par to charge from behind and share the title in the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate at Bulls Bay GC in Awendaw. The win gave coach Rob Bradley, in his first season at Carolina, his first tournament title with the Gamecocks. Of note, USC shared the championship with Purdue, Bradley’s former team. Juniors Frankie Harris (second) and Zach Adams (tie for third) led USC individually. Harris shared SEC golfer of the week honors with Florida’s Luke Poulter. ... Three members of USC’s fourth-ranked women’s team — seniors Hannah Darling and Louise Rydqvist and freshman Eila Galitsky — will compete in the prestigious Augusta National Women’s Amateur that begins Wednesday. The first two rounds of the 54-hole event will be played at Champions Retreat before the players move to Augusta National for a practice round on Friday and the final 18 holes on Saturday.