The question entering the third round of the 2026 Genesis Invitational was how co-leaders Jacob Bridgeman and Marco Penge would handle the final pairing nerves on Moving Day as each chased his first PGA Tour victory. While Penge struggled, Bridgeman thrived, playing sensational golf to run away from the star-studded field and open a six-shot lead going into Sunday’s final round.
Bridgeman, who shot the low round of the day with a 64, got to work early with three birdies in his first four holes, punctuated by a 7 wood to inside 3 feet on the 262-yard par-3 4th hole.
From there, Bridgeman cooled off a touch with four pars and a bogey on the 8th to make the turn with a one-shot lead over Rory McIlroy. Where many would feel the nerves seeing McIlroy tight in their rear view mirror, Bridgeman settled in and caught fire to open his back nine, going 4 under in the first three holes on the second side to open up a stunning five-shot lead.
Once again, it was his trusty 7 wood that delivered the best shot of that run, coming inches from an albatross on the par-5 11th to set up an eagle.
While Bridgeman was tearing up Riviera Country Club, McIlroy and Xander Schauffele struggled to mount a charge in the star-studded penultimate group. Both players were left shaking their heads after multiple squandered opportunities to keep Bridgeman within reach, and both are left with serious work to do on Sunday if they hope to apply pressure to the 26-year-old.
Bridgeman’s comfort in the moment on Saturday was notable, as he’ll face even more pressure playing in the final pairing on Sunday with McIlroy. Getting off to a strong start again would help, as he noted any lingering nerves went away after those early birdies.
“I felt great all day,” Bridgeman said. “Had a really nice start, which, if there was any nerves, which there wasn’t really, that kinda eased it and gave me a little gap to begin with. And then I just started running with it.”
Bridgeman is coming off four straight top 20 finishes to start his season, including a T8 finish last week at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which has strengthened his resolve and self-confidence that he can not only hang with the world’s best, but do what’s needed to pick up his first win.
Leader
1. Jacob Bridgeman (-19): Bridgeman entered Saturday lapping the field in strokes gained putting, and while his ability to roll the rock was on display at times in the third round (like on the 14th), it was his ball-striking that stole the show. Bridgeman gained 4.6 shots on the field with his approach play on Saturday alone, as he made confident, aggressive swings all day to take advantage of soft conditions at Riviera.
He had just one moment of indecisiveness all day — finding the barranca left of the 8th fairway off the tee leading to his lone bogey — and was otherwise fully committed to his swing on every shot. The result was one of the best rounds of the day, and considering the moment and situation, what has to be the best round of Bridgeman’s career.
Now, he enters Sunday with a healthy advantage that should help him get settled in as he’ll face even bigger pressure of trying to close out his first win and collect the $4 million check that comes with it.
Contenders
2. Rory McIlroy (-13)
3. Aldrich Potgieter (-12)
4. Aaron Rai (-11)
5. Xander Schauffele, Kurt Kitayama (-10)
Barring a spectacular ejection from Bridgeman on Sunday, McIlroy and Potgieter seem to be the only players with a real shot, and each of them will need to produce something spectacular to steal a win. There have been huge Sunday comebacks at Riviera before — Hideki Matsuyama fired a final-round 62 to win from six shots back in 2024 — so it’s not out of the realm of possibility, but it will require a Herculean effort to pull it off.
McIlroy is certainly Bridgeman’s biggest threat, but he is going to have to tighten things up after missing several opportunities on Saturday. He made a sloppy bogey on the drivable par-4 10th and failed to birdie the par-5 17th after finding the green in two, but he had many other outside chances at birdies slip by that he desperately needed with the way Bridgeman was playing in the group behind him. McIlroy said after the round he found it hard to “trust my reads” on the greens as they kept getting faster as the day wore on — and, as poa greens do, got bumpier.
“The greens got really fast there at the end of the day,” McIlroy said. “Then, it was just you couldn’t leave it dead. You’re grinding over 3-footers, and all of a sudden, you get one that you think you can have a bit of a run at and you hit it a little bit too hard. I just found the greens really, really difficult today. That was most of the frustration. Actually felt like I played pretty well. I wish I was a few shots closer to Jacob, but looks like I’ll be in the final group. At least I’ll be able to keep an eye on him and maybe get off to a fast start and put a little bit of pressure on him.”
Potgieter’s 65 was the round of the day until Bridgeman bested him, and the young South African looks extremely comfortable with his game and the course. He has the firepower to go low, and that will be needed if he’s going to post the kind of score required to make Bridgeman think.
Schauffele figured to be part of the Sunday conversation, but he had a dreadful day on the greens, losing more than 2.1 strokes to the field with his putter. That kept him from ever putting a real dent in his deficit to Bridgeman, and he now finds himself nine shots off the pace going into Sunday.
Even a special round from any of these players will still require Bridgeman to stall out on Sunday. That’s not out of the question for a player trying to win for the first time, but given what we’ve seen from him all week, it’ll take a tremendous fall-off for someone other than Bridgeman to be getting a trophy from Tiger Woods on Sunday evening.
2026 Genesis Invitational odds
Odds via Caesars Sportsbook
Jacob Bridgeman (1-6)Rory McIlroy (6-1)Aldrich Potgieter (30-1)
This feels done and dusted unless nerves completely take over Bridgeman on Sunday. The greens are soft enough that you can be aggressive out there and go low, but the margins at Riviera are still tight, and it’ll take a near-perfect round to put together the kind of scoring needed to chase him down.