BLAINE, Minn. — Jacob Bridgeman picked a good time to make nine birdies on Thursday at the 3M Open as he entered the week at No. 135 in the FedEx Cup standings and his rookie season could be headed for hiatus unless he can make a move to qualify for the playoffs. A win this week would vault him into the top 70, where he needs to be in three weeks to qualify for the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first of three playoff events.
The 24-year-old rookie couldn’t have had a better time to shoot his career-low, an 8-under 63 at TPC Twin Cities. Bridgeman has yet to record a top-10 finish this season but it’s now officially crunch time on the PGA Tour.
With just two tournaments remaining in the Tour’s FedEx Cup regular season, the field of 156 at the 3M Open knows that time is running out to improve their position before the playoffs. The pressure is mounting with just the Wyndham Championship — to be held in two weeks following the Olympics — and players battling to secure various levels of status for next year. Stewart Cink summed up what players are facing as the regular season winds to a conclusion.
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“Any time you put the pressure of whether you’re going to have this job next year or a very different one next year, it’s tough and if you let that become dependent on your scores and result, it’s a recipe for frustration,” Cink said. “Psychologically it can take you in the wrong direction because all the players are so good and the field has no bad days. They just tear these places apart.”
Martin Trainer, who entered the week at No. 137 in the FedEx Cup, said he knew the clock was ticking on his playoff hopes but shooting 65 on Thursday was the start he needed to try to make a late-season charge into the top 70.
“The season’s coming down to the stretch here, so yeah, I’m definitely going to need some good finishes, but hopefully this can be one of them,” he said.
Here are five more things to know about the first round of the 3M Open.
Bridgeman’s mental reset
Jacob Bridgeman stuck an old putter from his high school days into play on Thursday and rolled to nine birdies and a round of 8-under 63 at TPC Twin Cities for a one-stroke lead over Mackenzie Hughes.
With his caddie having travel woes due to the CrowdStrike tech outage, Bridgeman killed time on Tuesday in the TaylorMade truck and messed around with a gray Spider mallet putter that he used six years ago. He took it out to the course Thursday and made four birdies in his first eight holes, including a 34-foot putt at No. 8, before his lone bogey of his opening round at the ninth. He bounced back with three birdies in a row starting at No. 12, including a 20-footer at 13, and holed a bunker shot at 17.
“That one kind of surprised me. I was in a bad spot and I didn’t think I could stop it and it kind of one-hopped in the hole,” Bridgeman said. “That probably went from a 4 to a 2.”
Bridgeman had missed three straight cuts entering this week and said he was down in the dumps after his latest weekend off.
“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,” he said.
Pep talks from his parents, his college coach at Clemson University and his girlfriend, who reminded him, “work is meant to be balanced with rest,” helped him find a better head space.
It couldn’t have come at a better time for Bridgeman, who has yet to record a top-10 finish this season, but could make up for a sluggish start with a big week — a win has him projected to leap to No. 63.
“It’s been everything I’ve dreamed of as a little boy but at the same time it’s really hard,” he said of playing on Tour. “You can’t play the same game I did last year. These guys keep getting better and that’s something I’ve had to learn.”
Hughes’s hot putter
Canadian Mackenzie Hughes entered the week at No. 50 in the FedEx Cup, one spot ahead of Patrick Rodgers.
The top 50 after the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first of three playoff events, earn a spot into the BMW Championship, the second playoff event and become exempt into next year’s eight Signature events.
“There’s a big discrepancy between being inside the top 50 and getting in the Signature Events and not having those opportunities,” said Rodgers, who opened with 65. “So there’s so much to play for.”
Hughes was a stroke better, posting a bogey-free 64, thanks to a red-hot putter. He took just seven putts on his first six holes and sank a 54-foot birdie put at No. 13 among his 188 feet of putts made.
“You don’t know how long it’s going to last for, but certainly I knew in the first kind of three or four holes that I had something nice going with the putter,” said Hughes, who took 27 putts and led the field in Strokes Gained Putting. “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.”
His performance should impress Presidents Cup International Team Captain Mike Weir. Hughes also is chasing another…
