Hello fellow Presidents Cup curious folks,

I spoke with Jacob Bridgeman ahead of this week’s event. About his childhood, his year, his view of this particular U.S. team and what the entire process has been like.

The answers below represent a lightly edited transcript of that conversation (which took place before he won Asheville) along with my commentary that I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed putting together.

I walked away a bigger fan of Bridgeman than I was before, and I think you probably will, too. Truly one of the chillest pros I’ve spoken with and somebody that will be easy to root for this week at Medinah. We also included the conversation in this week’s Normal Sport Show with PGA Tour's Paul Hodowanic, which you can listen to (and subscribe to!) right here.

Name drops today: Brandt Snedeker, Brian Harman, Scottie Scheffler, BMW and Russell Henley.

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Alright, now on to the news.

Jacob Bridgeman Q&A

Playing Baseball as a Kid

I love baseball. I played a little bit of basketball too. I tried some soccer. I wasn't really very good at soccer, but I think my parents’ plan was just let me play as many sports as I wanted to and try all out and then kind of see how it went.

I think that's good for learning how to play as a team, learning how to interact with other people and then also developing athleticism, hand-eye, using your legs, being able to run and jump and all those things.

So I think playing all those sports definitely helped me develop as an athlete. I love baseball. I played until I think I was 12 or so, and my baseball swing started to affect my golf swing and vice versa. I realized I could either be pretty good at both or really good at one.

Ed. note: A lot to learn here for me and other parents of young-ish kids. I’m a huge proponent of not specializing too early because the more different sports you play, the better you’ll be at the one you end up choosing. Case in point, if you let your kids play every sport under the sun like Jack Whaley's did, your kid might just go on to win the US Amateur.

No Defense In Golf

I think I've gotten used to that. It's definitely something that differentiates golf from everything else is you're not playing defense. It's really just a lot of offense and it's player vs. the course. That's the cool thing about it is you can be so inwardly focused and trying to compete against yourself. It's when guys start to really look at what other people are doing and trying to beat other people, that's maybe where the distractions come and the disconnect from just pure competitiveness.

But yeah, comparing … regular golf to like a team thing, like a Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup where we're playing match play, it's just a completely different world. You're playing one on one and you’re worried less about kind of how the course is and worried more about the opponent, which is quite different, but to me a lot more exhilarating than just regular stroke play.

Ed. note: Match play truly is the best format, and it’s crazy that we have turned pro golf into as little match play as possible!

On Improved Iron Play

Bridgeman made an enormous leap in his iron play in 2026. So I asked him how that happened. He again turned to the golf ball.

Last year after the Tour Championship — I had a great year and I made it there, but in the playoffs we got [to] Memphis and I felt like I played very good the whole week and there was just certain holes [where] any pin in the front I could not get to. I felt like I was hitting the shots and I finished like eighteenth or something. I remember telling my agent, That's about the best I could have done. 

I couldn't get the ball close on any front pins, and if I had a long iron, I just had to hit it over the green and get it up and down. So then I played the next week, and then at East Lake it was kind of the same thing. The greens were firm, and it was hot so the ball was going far with not a lot of spin and I struggled the same way.

I … told the Taylormade people I said, I need a new golf ball. And they're like, “What do you mean? You made the Tour Championship.” And I'm like, I know, but I want to win those things and I can't do that right now.

They they did some incredible work and went in and produced a golf ball that spins for me. … It just changed the control I had with the ball.

Ed. note: It takes some stones to have that much success but to know exactly what you need to change and then to go do it. Bryson does this (sometimes a bit too much). I respect it a lot.

The Game Within the Game

[I agree with Brian Harman’s quote] that there are 15 tournaments going on at once. Then there's five going on within my head at the same time. I'm trying to have my best FedEx Cup finish that I can, and then I'm also trying to earn points for the President's Cup team …

… You feel like you just accomplish one thing and they're safe, and then you're always kind of striving for the next. That's the tricky thing about our sport, but it's also what makes it so much fun and where you can never really accomplish what you're trying to get to. You can never be perfect and it it makes it eternally hard.

Ed. note: It’s also what makes it eternally fascinating.

The Pressure of the Presidents Cup

Definitely at the end of the year at East Lake I told my wife, I said, Sunday at BMW was the most nervous I've ever been in a golf tournament. And it was the whole day. It never went away. Because I just knew the importance of it. And then East Lake felt like that the whole week. I felt like every shot was very important and the whole tournament was gonna be so important for if I made that team and I wanted to be on it so bad.

I think I grew up kind of idolizing these guys, and some of them are on the team now and it's just super cool to have a kind of personal relationship with the people that you look up to your whole life. … It feels like something that I always expected I would do, and can't really believe that I've done it.

Ed. note: Hayden said this in our podcast, but it makes me feel old that someone on the Presidents Cup team grew up idolizing guys who are [checks notes] 10 years younger than me. Also, the duality of “I expected to do it, and I can’t really believe I’ve done it” is awesome. I love guys who hold both. Confidence + humility is undefeated.

Closest Confidant

Russell Henley has been kind of my guy. He's been probably the most supportive for me. I've asked him all the questions, and I feel super comfortable [with] Russ. I've known him for a while, and he's just super friendly and very generous with his time. But then Sam Burns and Scottie have been amazing to me as well.

They've told me how much they wanted me on the team even before the picks came out and it was just a proud moment to hear them say, You're an important asset to us. We want you on the team.

Playing With Guys You Look up to

I think I've been good throughout my life at not really comparing myself. If I were to compare myself, it maybe would [be difficult to play with guys I looked up to]. But I think it's mainly just pure joy, like being a part of it is so cool. Playing for the United States is just so cool and it's a … thing that I'm very proud of being a part of.

When it comes to the older guys, I think if they had some intimidation factor, like that would be difficult. But everyone's so nice. Even before the teams, everyone's really nice. There's not really that guy on Tour right now that is super tough and intimidating. So everyone's really welcoming. Everyone's made it, I think, as seamless as it could be to where us young guys aren't shocked or intimidated.

They've made it easy.

Ed. note: I said this on the pod, but I love how much the younger U.S. guys care about making teams. It matters to them in ways it didn’t seem to 20 or 25 years ago. I first started noticing this with Spieth, JT, Homa and that crew. It gives me hope for the future of the Ryder Cup. Not a tremendous amount of hope but hope nonetheless.

Thanks again to Jacob for giving us time before one of the biggest weeks of his golf life, so far. You can listen to our conversation with Jacob and Paul Hodowanic on this week's Normal Sport Show right here.

Thank you for reading and following our algorithm-free, human-built newsletter about many things and sometimes even about golf. Let’s have a week at the Presidents Cup.