Jacob Bridgeman arrived at the RBC Heritage feeling the mental weight of his Masters debut. The South Carolina native discovered that Augusta National is a grueling five-hour daily fight for focus.

After finishing his first major at 2-over par, Bridgeman is prioritizing mental recovery. "I think just mainly mentally demanding," Bridgeman said of the 72-hole tournament.

"I know people talk about the walk, and physically it's not a big deal. The attention that you need to every shot on the course, you can't really take one shot off. It'll bite you," he said at the RBC Heritage pre-tournament presser.

At his first Augusta National, Bridgeman recorded scores of 71, 74, 69, and 76 for a respectable 2-over-par total and finished T41.

"Yeah, just every day you know you're in for kind of a fight for five hours, and that kind of is draining, especially when I got there on Sunday," he added.

So, with such a small gap between the Masters and the RBC Heritage, which starts on Apr 16, Bridgeman has focused on resetting mentally.

Jacob Bridgeman on navigating the Grit of a Major Debut

Bridgeman recognized the need for greater mental fortitude, especially considering how the greens in a major championship are unpredictable.

While feeling tired, the young professional still considers the experience as an important part of his professional growth because only this particular environment can test him in exactly what he needs.

"I think it was just a mindset and a mental strength thing of saying, some of the putts that I hit really good that I expect to go in aren't, and that's okay," said Bridgeman.

As he came to understand, even the best putts might bounce back under the pressure of the tournament setup, which called for more patience than he had ever displayed.

"Yeah, it has the same bones, but it played completely different," remarked Bridgeman when reflecting on the tournament compared to past experiences on these courses.

Moving forward, Bridgeman plans to learn from his experience at the Masters and be ready to tackle the PGA Championship, mentally refreshed enough to avoid burnout.

Read more at Club Golf!

Written by

Abhishek Sharma

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi