BLAINE, Minn. – Fueled by five birdies over his final nine holes Thursday, 24-year-old PGA Tour rookie Jacob Bridgeman fired an 8-under 63 at TPC Twin Cities to take the opening-round lead at the 2024 3M Open.
At the tail end of a frustrating month of July, Bridgeman finds himself with a one-stroke lead in his 23rd career PGA Tour start over Canadian Mackenzie Hughes heading into Friday’s second round.
“I kind of struggled with my golf game the last three weeks, my mental game the last three weeks—I was in kind of a rough place,” said Bridgeman, who enters this week missing three consecutive cuts. “Never had struggles with my confidence until these last few weeks, and I told a couple people I felt like I've been kicked in the face.
“But it's all new to me, I'm a rookie out here. I'm still pretty young, and I have to remind myself that. These are all new courses that I'm facing every week. I have to learn them. I don't have the 10-plus years of experience that some of these other guys have, so it's not the easiest thing in the world. I had to kind of change my mindset and reset this week.”
At last week’s Barracuda Championship in California, Bridgeman followed his opening round 66 with a 5-over 76 to miss the cut by six shots, admittedly one of his lowest points since turning professional in 2022.
“After I missed the cut last week at Barracuda on Friday, probably one of the harder days I had in a while because Thursday I played really well and then Friday I had nothing,” he said. “It was one of the worst rounds I played and I was struggling that night. I was down in the dumps.
“I haven't had that much struggle in my life, I've been super blessed with that. I've had success at a young age, I won kind of early in college. I got out of school, got to play on Korn Ferry immediately, played a year out there, got my card.”
Bridgeman showed little reason for caution to begin his opening round Thursday, carding four birdies during his first eight holes before he was slowed by a bogey at the par-4 ninth.
He bounced back by sinking his birdie chance from eight feet at the 12th and followed it by sinking a 20-footer at the 13th. Bridgeman then converted his third consecutive birdie at the 14th after sticking his approach to a foot.
Continuing his momentum by holing out for birdie from a greenside bunker at the 17th, Bridgeman finished his day with a two-putt birdie at the 18th to post an 8-under 63.
“I had the putter rolling today, I made a couple putts that I probably shouldn't have, but I also hit it pretty nice,” Bridgeman said Thursday. “Hit my driver well and all around, it was a good round. “I had really one bad swing that I made a bogey on nine, but other than that I'm pretty confident that I can play another good round tomorrow.”
With five top-10 finishes in 18 starts this season, the South Carolina native and former Clemson University golfer has amassed more than $517,000 in winnings.
A winner of two PGA Tour events during his 12-year career, Hughes went bogey-free during his opening round Thursday, helped by rolling in four birdies over his last seven holes to card a 7-under 64.
“I felt like I was maybe a tad bit off early with my swing and made a nice up-and-down to keep my round going early,” Hughes said Thursday. “Kind of found a bit of a rhythm with my swing seven-eight holes in and started to swing it a little better, and the putter was cooperating nicely today. It was a fun day on the greens.
“I knew in the first kind of three or four holes that I had something nice going with the putter. At that point it was just a matter had of making sure I gave myself as many looks as possible and got the ball on the green and let the putter do the work.”
Americans Patrick Rodgers and Andrew Novak will begin Friday’s second round in a share of second place with France’s Martin Trainer at 6-under 65, two shots back.
Making his PGA Tour debut this week, former University of Minnesota golfer Ben Warian leads the Minnesota contingent following the first round of action Thursday, carding a 2-under 69 to sit tied for 46th.
Warian got off to a blistering start with five birdies over his first nine holes before dropping four strokes with back-to-back double-bogeys at the second and third holes.
The former Hill-Murray High School standout finished strong by rolling in his birdie putt from outside of 18 feet on his final hole to card a 2-under 69.
“There was a lot of energy out there, for sure,” said Warian, whose following swelled to several dozen before the end of his round Thursday. “Thankful for all the family and friends who came out to support. A little peeved with how I played two and three, but other than that, no complaints. For the most part today scored it pretty well with the exception of those two holes.
“I think certainly on those first nine holes, I proved a lot to myself. I think it shows that my good is certainly good enough, it's just continuing to kind of tighten up the misses a little bit and clean a few things up.”
Tee times for the second round of the 2024 3M Open will begin at 6:45 a.m. at TPC Twin Cities.
THE 2024 3M OPEN
TPC TWIN CITIES
BLAINE, MINN.
7,431 YARDS, PAR 71
THURSDAY’S FIRST ROUND RESULTS
1. Jacob Bridgeman, United States, 32-31—63
2. Mackenzie Hughes, Canada, 32-32—64
T3. Patrick Rodgers, United States, 31-34—65
T3. Martin Trainer, France, 31-34—65
T3. Andrew Novak, United State, 34-31—65
T6. Kevin Streelman, United States, 34-32—66
T6. Sahith Theegala, United States, 33-33—66
T6. Gary Woodland, United States, 32-34—66
T6. Taylor Pendrith, Canada, 32-34—66
T6. Stewart Cink, United States, 35-31—66
T6. Michael Thorbjornsen, United States, 32-34—66
T6. Kurt Kitayama, United States, 36-30—66
T6. Hayden Springer, United States, 32-34—66
T46. BEN WARIAN, STILLWATER, MINN., 31-38—69
T62. TOM HOGE, FARGO, N.D., 35-35—70
T106. TROY MERRITT, SPRING LAKE PARK, MINN., 37-35—72
T141. ERIK VAN ROOYEN, UNIV. OF MINN., 36-39—75
T150. JEFF SORENSON, BLAINE, MINN., 39-37—76
For complete tournament results go to: www.pgatour.com/leaderboard
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