RORY MCILROY FELL just a shot short of a come-from-behind victory at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera on the PGA Tour, beaten by rookie winner Jacob Bridgeman. 

Bridgeman held a six-shot lead over McIlroy at the start of play, but he staggered over the line with a one-over round of 72, leaving McIlroy in a tie for second place with Kurt Kityama, one shot behind. 

“I thought it was going to be a lot easier than that”, said Bridgeman after the first win of his professional career. “I made it about as hard as I could have made it at the end, but this is incredible. I couldn’t feel my hands on the final green, but I am glad I got this done.” 

McIlroy shot a four-under 67 but will rue several missed chances to overhaul a six-shot deficit at the start of play, with his good play hamstrung by a stone-cold putter that only sparked on the very final hole. 

Bridgeman took control of the tournament with Saturday’s 64, and his momentum ran into the start of his final round, birdieing two of the first three holes. McIlroy opened with birdie but couldn’t keep the early pace, slipping seven behind before Bridgeman abruptly stopped scoring. 

The American slipped back to even par with bogeys on holes four and seven, and would not make another birdie across the rest of the day as he fell into cling-on mode. 

McIlroy, however, could not capitalise, undone by an unpliant putter. Having lipped out for a bogey on six, McIlroy missed birdie chances on eight and nine, which left him trailing by five shots at the turn. He made birdie on 11, however, and looked better when he could eschew the putter altogether, holing out from a greenside bunker for a birdie on 12. Bridgeman was by now losing his touch on the greens and was hefting putts past the hole, though he made a series of steely par saves to maintain his buffer over his playing partner. 

McIlroy’s momentum then stalled, leaving a birdie putt on 14 agonisingly short of the hole. Bridgeman wobbled further on the par-three 16th, knifing a poor tee shot into the front bunker, getting down for bogey.

With McIlroy lacking momentum and Bridgeman clinging on for dear life, Kurt Kitayama found forward thrust, taking the clubhouse lead with a round of 64, leaving him just one shot behind Bridgeman. 

McIlroy gave himself hope by making birdie on the par-five 17th – thanks to another majestic shot from the sand – while Bridgeman could make only par, leaving him a single shot clear of Kitayama and two of McIlroy going up the last. 

But it was on the 18th that Bridgeman somehow found the golf that had been evading him for hours: finding the fairway and then firing his approach to 19 feet. 

It was on the final green that McIlroy’s putter finally caught form too, draining from 30 feet for a birdie that put him in a tie for second place.  

Needing two putts to win, Bridgeman tightened up again, leaving his birdie putt three-and-a-half feet short, but he ultimately managed to close the deal, winning by a shot ahead of McIlroy and Kitayama. 

Meanwhile, Shane Lowry closed with a 67, his best round of the week, to finish in a tie for 24th place.