Jacob Bridgeman is enjoying an unforgettable fall.
Having already won the PGA Tour’s Biltmore Championship Asheville last month about an hour from where he grew up across the border in South Carolina and then holing the clinching putt for the American team’s come-from-behind victory at the Presidents Cup in Chicago recently, Bridgeman grabbed the first-round lead at the Baycurrent Classic.
In his last stroke-play round, he shot 61 en route to lifting a trophy in North Carolina and this time he picked up right where left off on Thursday, firing a bogey-free 8-under 63 at Yokohama Country Club in Yokohama, Japan, his lowest opening round of the season by three shots. It was good enough to sit a stroke better than England's Jordan Smith and two strokes
ahead of the trio of Ricky Castillo, Pierceson Coody and Mac Meissner.
A glance at the scorecard and the knee-jerk reaction would be to say that Bridgeman made it look easy, but he said it was anything but.
"I felt a little rusty to be honest, but I was able to score the ball well and I felt like I put the ball in positions where when I made a little mistake, it was pretty easy to recover," he said. "Just a couple things I'm going to go tune up on the range. I felt like I hit it in good spots, I gave myself some pretty easy putts."
Bridgeman, 26, ranks as the PGA Tour’s top putter this season and he proved why in the opening round in the 72-man field event situated 20 miles south of Tokyo. Bridgeman, who began his round on the back nine, broke the seal with a 47-foot birdie at No. 13 and added a 29-footer at No. 2. He converted four birdies in a row from closer range, beginning at the fifth.
“To be a captain’s pick, the fact that Brandt Snedeker believed in him, that has to give him so much confidence,” said Golf Channel analyst and former Tour pro Graham DeLaet. “He was picked because he’s one of the best putters in the world.”
Bridgeman recorded his 21st round on the Tour this season gaining 2 or more strokes on the greens, the most of any player on Tour. He did so with ease on Thursday, gaining more than five strokes on the greens. His secret for putting, he said, is pretty simple. "I like to use my imagination on putting, kind of see the line that I'm going to putt it on and follow the path. I could make it a little bit more complicated if you wanted," he said.
Meissner, who is seeking his first Tour title, wishes putting would be less complicated. He blamed a balky putter of late as the reason he has missed the cut in his last two starts. He was 1 over through eight holes before his putter came alive. He birdied 18, his ninth hole of the day, and carded four more birdies and an eagle at the par-5 fourth to post 65. He gained more than two strokes on the greens.
“It was just a matter of understanding that at some point it is going to change,” he said of his fortunes with the short stick. “I've made a lot of good improvements with my putting the last year and trusting the work that I've put in. Also, not trying too hard to make putts but just kind of letting it happen is pretty important as well.”
Defending champion Xander Schauffele signed for 1-under-par 70 and fellow past champion Collin Morikawa shot 4-under 67.
While Bridgeman is making his tournament debut, Bridgeman has played in Japan before. After high school, he played on a four-man team that represented the U.S. in the Toyota Junior World Cup in Nagoya. He also is planning to do some sightseeing after the tournament with his wife.
"We didn't do a honeymoon after we got married in December so we're kind of doing a little bit of an extended honeymoon in a sense," he said.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Jacob Bridgeman's fall heater continues, grabs lead at Baycurrent Classic
