2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
The 2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational was a professional golf tournament held August 2–5 on the South Course of Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. It was the 20th WGC-Bridgestone Invitational tournament, and the third of the World Golf Championships events in 2018.
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | August 2–5, 2018 |
| Location | Akron, Ohio, U.S. 41.008°N 81.508°W |
| Course(s) | Firestone Country Club South Course |
| Tour(s) | PGA Tour European Tour |
| Statistics | |
| Par | 70 |
| Length | 7,400 yards (6,767 m) |
| Field | 71 players |
| Cut | None |
| Prize fund | $10,000,000 |
| Winner's share | $1,700,000 |
| Champion | |
 Justin Thomas | |
| 265 (−15) | |
| Location Map | |
  Firestone CC Location in the United States  Firestone CC Location in Ohio | |
Venue
Course layout
The South Course was designed by Bert Way and redesigned by Robert Trent Jones in 1960.[1]
| Hole | Yards | Par | Hole | Yards | Par | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 399 | 4 | 10 | 410 | 4 | |
| 2 | 526 | 5 | 11 | 418 | 4 | |
| 3 | 442 | 4 | 12 | 180 | 3 | |
| 4 | 471 | 4 | 13 | 471 | 4 | |
| 5 | 200 | 3 | 14 | 467 | 4 | |
| 6 | 469 | 4 | 15 | 221 | 3 | |
| 7 | 219 | 3 | 16 | 667 | 5 | |
| 8 | 482 | 4 | 17 | 400 | 4 | |
| 9 | 494 | 4 | 18 | 464 | 4 | |
| Out | 3,702 | 35 | In | 3,698 | 35 | |
| Source:[2] | Total | 7,400 | 70 | |||
Field
The field consisted of players drawn primarily from the Official World Golf Ranking and the winners of the worldwide tournaments with the strongest fields.[3]
- 1. Playing members of the 2017 United States and International Presidents Cup teams.
Daniel Berger (2,3), Kevin Chappell (2,3), Jason Day (2,3,4), Rickie Fowler (2,3), Branden Grace (2,3,4), Emiliano Grillo, Charley Hoffman (2,3), Dustin Johnson (2,3,4), Kim Si-woo, Kevin Kisner (2,3), Brooks Koepka (2,3,4), Matt Kuchar (2,3), Anirban Lahiri, Marc Leishman (2,3,4), Hideki Matsuyama (2,3,4), Phil Mickelson (2,3,4), Louis Oosthuizen (2,3), Patrick Reed (2,3,4), Charl Schwartzel (2,3), Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth (2,3), Justin Thomas (2,3,4), Jhonattan Vegas
Adam Hadwin did not play.[4]
- 2. The top 50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking as of July 23, 2018.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat (3), Rafa Cabrera-Bello (3), Patrick Cantlay (3,4), Paul Casey (3,4), Bryson DeChambeau (3,4), Tony Finau (3), Ross Fisher (3), Matthew Fitzpatrick (3,4), Tommy Fleetwood (3,4), Sergio García (3,4), Brian Harman (3), Tyrrell Hatton (3,4), Zach Johnson, Satoshi Kodaira (3,4), Li Haotong (3,4), Luke List (3), Rory McIlroy (3,4), Francesco Molinari (3,4), Kevin Na (3,4), Alex Norén (3,4), Pat Perez (3,4), Ian Poulter (3,4), Jon Rahm (3,4), Xander Schauffele (3,4), Webb Simpson (3,4), Cameron Smith (3,5), Kyle Stanley (3), Henrik Stenson (3,4), Bubba Watson (3,4), Gary Woodland (3,4), Tiger Woods (3)
Justin Rose (3,4,5) did not play.[4]
- 3. The top 50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking as of July 30, 2018.
- 4. Tournament winners, whose victories are considered official, of tournaments from the Federation Tours since the prior season's Bridgestone Invitational with an Official World Golf Ranking Strength of Field Rating of 115 points or more.[5]
Alexander Björk, Austin Cook, Paul Dunne, Patton Kizzire, Russell Knox, Andrew Landry, Thorbjørn Olesen, Wade Ormsby, Ted Potter Jr., Shubhankar Sharma, Brendan Steele, Brandon Stone, Aaron Wise
- 5. The winner of selected tournaments from each of the following tours
- Asian Tour: Indonesian Masters (2017) – Justin Rose, also qualified under categories 2, 3 and 4
- PGA Tour of Australasia: Australian PGA Championship (2017) – Cameron Smith, also qualified under categories 2 and 3
- Japan Golf Tour: Bridgestone Open (2017) – Ryuko Tokimatsu
- Japan Golf Tour: Japan Golf Tour Championship (2018) – Kodai Ichihara
- Sunshine Tour: Dimension Data Pro-Am – Jaco Ahlers
Nationalities in the field
| North America (32) | South America (2) | Europe (17) | Oceania (5) | Asia (10) | Africa (5) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States (32) |  Argentina (1) |  England (6) | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Australia (5) |  China (1) |  South Africa (5) |
 Venezuela (1) |  Northern Ireland (1) |  India (2) | |||
 Scotland (1) |  Japan (4) | ||||
 Ireland (1) |  South Korea (2) | ||||
 Denmark (1) |  Thailand (1) | ||||
 Italy (1) | |||||
 Spain (3) | |||||
 Sweden (3) |
Past champions in the field
| Player | Country | Year(s) won | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total | To par | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dustin Johnson | United States | 2016 | 69 | 71 | 66 | 64 | 270 | −10 | T3 |
| Rory McIlroy | Northern Ireland | 2014 | 65 | 67 | 67 | 73 | 272 | −8 | T6 |
| Tiger Woods | United States | 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2013 | 66 | 68 | 73 | 73 | 280 | E | T31 |
| Hideki Matsuyama | Japan | 2017 | 67 | 72 | 70 | 72 | 281 | +1 | T39 |
| Adam Scott | Australia | 2011 | 68 | 75 | 67 | 74 | 284 | +4 | T57 |
Round summaries
First round
Thursday, August 2, 2018
Ian Poulter shot an 8-under-par 62 to lead by one stroke over Rickie Fowler and Kyle Stanley. Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama was 5 strokes back at −3. Tiger Woods, eight-time winner of the event, was 4 strokes back at −4. His last PGA Tour win was at the 2013 event. The scoring average of 68.37 was the lowest opening round of a PGA Tour event this season.[6]
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ian Poulter | England | 62 | −8 |
| T2 | Rickie Fowler | United States | 63 | −7 |
| Kyle Stanley | United States | |||
| T4 | Patrick Cantlay | United States | 64 | −6 |
| Kim Si-woo | South Korea | |||
| Jon Rahm | Spain | |||
| T7 | Jason Day | Australia | 65 | −5 |
| Anirban Lahiri | India | |||
| Marc Leishman | Australia | |||
| Luke List | United States | |||
| Rory McIlroy | Northern Ireland | |||
| Kevin Na | United States | |||
| Justin Thomas | United States |
Second round
Friday, August 3, 2018
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Tommy Fleetwood | England | 66-63=129 | −11 |
| Ian Poulter | England | 62-67=129 | ||
| Justin Thomas | United States | 65-64=129 | ||
| T4 | Jason Day | Australia | 65-66=131 | −9 |
| Kyle Stanley | United States | 63-68=131 | ||
| T6 | Kim Si-woo | South Korea | 64-68=132 | −8 |
| Rory McIlroy | Northern Ireland | 65-67=132 | ||
| T8 | Li Haotong | China | 66-67=133 | −7 |
| Luke List | United States | 65-68=133 | ||
| T10 | Tony Finau | United States | 68-66=134 | −6 |
| Marc Leishman | Australia | 65-69=134 | ||
| Louis Oosthuizen | South Africa | 68-66=134 | ||
| Jon Rahm | Spain | 64-70=134 | ||
| Webb Simpson | United States | 69-65=134 | ||
| Tiger Woods | United States | 66-68=134 |
Third round
Saturday, August 4, 2018
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Thomas | United States | 65-64-67=196 | −14 |
| T2 | Rory McIlroy | Northern Ireland | 65-67-67=199 | −11 |
| Ian Poulter | England | 62-67-70=199 | ||
| 4 | Jason Day | Australia | 65-66-69=200 | −10 |
| T5 | Marc Leishman | Australia | 65-69-67=201 | −9 |
| Kyle Stanley | United States | 63-68-70=201 | ||
| T7 | Rickie Fowler | United States | 63-74-65=202 | −8 |
| Jon Rahm | Spain | 64-70-68=202 | ||
| T9 | Tommy Fleetwood | England | 66-63-74=203 | −7 |
| Louis Oosthuizen | South Africa | 68-66-69=203 |
Final round
Sunday, August 5, 2018
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par | Prize money (US$) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Thomas | United States | 65-64-67-69=265 | −15 | 1,700,000 |
| 2 | Kyle Stanley | United States | 63-68-70-68=269 | −11 | 1,072,000 |
| T3 | Dustin Johnson | United States | 69-71-66-64=270 | −10 | 510,000 |
| Thorbjørn Olesen | Denmark | 71-67-68-64=270 | |||
| 5 | Brooks Koepka | United States | 66-70-68-67=271 | −9 | 357,000 |
| T6 | Patrick Cantlay | United States | 64-72-68-68=272 | −8 | 241,375 |
| Anirban Lahiri | India | 65-70-69-68=272 | |||
| Rory McIlroy | Northern Ireland | 65-67-67-73=272 | |||
| Aaron Wise | United States | 67-71-67-67=272 | |||
| T10 | Jason Day | Australia | 65-66-69-73=273 | −7 | 160,875 |
| Tony Finau | United States | 68-66-71-68=273 | |||
| Kim Si-woo | South Korea | 64-68-72-69=273 | |||
| Ian Poulter | England | 62-67-70-74=273 |
Scorecard
Final round
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Thomas | −14 | −15 | −15 | −15 | −15 | −14 | −14 | −14 | −14 | −14 | −14 | −14 | −15 | −15 | −15 | −15 | −15 | −15 |
| Stanley | −9 | −8 | −8 | −8 | −9 | −9 | −9 | −10 | −10 | −11 | −11 | −12 | −11 | −10 | −10 | −11 | −11 | −11 |
| Johnson | −5 | −6 | −7 | −8 | −8 | −9 | −9 | −10 | −10 | −11 | −11 | −11 | −11 | −11 | −11 | −11 | −11 | −10 |
| Olesen | −4 | −5 | −5 | −4 | −4 | −4 | −5 | −5 | −6 | −6 | −7 | −7 | −7 | −8 | −9 | −9 | −10 | −10 |
| Koepka | −6 | −7 | −7 | −5 | −5 | −6 | −6 | −7 | −7 | −6 | −7 | −7 | −8 | −9 | −8 | −9 | −9 | −9 |
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
| Birdie | Bogey | Double bogey |
References
- "Courses". Firestone Country Club. 2013. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
- "WGC Bridgestone Invitational – Course". PGA Tour. 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
- "2018 Qualifiers for majors, The Players, WGCs". PGA Tour. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
- Beall, Joel (August 1, 2018). "Justin Rose withdraws from WGC-Bridgestone Invitational with back injury". Golf Digest.
- The 'Strength of Field Rating' is a loose term for what the Official World Golf Ranking calls the 'Total Rating Value' (see Event ranking).
- "Motivated Ian Poulter holds first-round lead at Bridgestone Invitational". ESPN. August 2, 2018.