He had to hold on and fend off a couple of charges from the pack, but Jacob Bridgeman had just enough to win the Genesis Invitational against a strong field that included runner-up and final-round playing partner Rory McIlroy.
Despite a steady final round (72), Bridgeman’s performance for the week was outstanding, particularly his approach play and putting. Approaching the greens, he ranked first in strokes gained/approach, picking up more than five shots on the field while also topping the greens in regulation statistic.
Bridgeman carries a split set of TaylorMade irons, using the P770 model for his 5-iron and the P7CBs for the rest of his set. TaylorMade senior tour rep Nick Springer explains the thinking behind the setup.
“Jacob was a blade guy his whole life until late 2024, when he switched to the P7CBs,” Springer said. “He liked the clean look at address and the slightly higher launch with a cavity-back iron. The biggest selling point, though, was the soft feel and better turf interaction compared to his blades. The 770 5-iron was added to the bag to give him a 5-iron that launched higher and landed softer into long par 3s and par 5s. He found the 770 to be a versatile club he could flight when needed. We originally bent his irons weaker late last year to get more spin. Once he switched to the new TP5x golf ball, he saw a bit more spin and was able to go back to a standard loft setup.”
Bridgeman also made two changes at the top of his bag this week. He put a 16.5-degree Qi4D HL 3-wood in and adjusted it to 15.5 degrees. He felt the 3-wood gave him more versatility and was easier to hit off the deck into some of the long par 3s at Riviera. He also reckoned it was a better option for the 10th hole, suiting both the distance and shot shape required there.
He also swapped his TaylorMade Stealth 7-wood for a Qi4D 7-wood. The weighting of his new 7-wood gave him a lower spin rate than his previous club, which was something he’d been chasing.
It was on the greens, though, where Bridgeman shone, ranking first in strokes gained/putting, gaining more than seven shots on the field. He also led in putts per green in regulation – not easy when you hit more greens than anyone else.
Bridgeman’s putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X mallet (the Spider has won five of the six PGA Tour events so far this year), with 2.5 degrees of loft and a length of 33.75 inches, fitted with a SuperStroke 2.0 PT grip. According to TaylorMade, Bridgeman likes to feel a nice arc through release with his putter and does plenty of practice with a blade to get that feel. The Spider Tour short slant has less toe hang, but with its back centre of gravity, it feels very similar to a blade for him. The mallet gives him more forgiveness and consistency on launch. He prefers the clean Spider Tour top with just a single dot that he marks on with a Sharpie.
After this win, he’ll probably need that Sharpie for a few autographs as well.
What Jacob Bridgeman had in the bag at the 2026 Genesis Invitational:
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x
Driver: TaylorMade Qi35 LS (HZRDUS Smoke Green 60X), 10.5 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D, 15.5 degrees
7-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D, 20 degrees
Irons (4): TaylorMade Tour Preferred UDI; (5): TaylorMade P770; (6-PW): TaylorMade P7CB
Wedges: TaylorMade Milled Grind 5 (50, 54, 60 degrees)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X
