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), Matt 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
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 | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ian Poulter | 62 | −8 |
| T2 | Rickie Fowler | 63 | −7 |
| Kyle Stanley | |||
| T4 | Patrick Cantlay | 64 | −6 |
 Kim Si-woo | |||
 Jon Rahm | |||
| T7 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Jason Day | 65 | −5 |
 Anirban Lahiri | |||
| Marc Leishman | |||
| Luke List | |||
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Rory McIlroy | |||
| Kevin Na | |||
| Justin Thomas |
Second round
Friday, August 3, 2018
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Tommy Fleetwood | 66-63=129 | −11 |
| Ian Poulter | 62-67=129 | ||
| Justin Thomas | 65-64=129 | ||
| T4 | Jason Day | 65-66=131 | −9 |
| Kyle Stanley | 63-68=131 | ||
| T6 | Kim Si-woo | 64-68=132 | −8 |
| Rory McIlroy | 65-67=132 | ||
| T8 |  Li Haotong | 66-67=133 | −7 |
| Luke List | 65-68=133 | ||
| T10 | Tony Finau | 68-66=134 | −6 |
| Marc Leishman | 65-69=134 | ||
 Louis Oosthuizen | 68-66=134 | ||
| Jon Rahm | 64-70=134 | ||
| Webb Simpson | 69-65=134 | ||
| Tiger Woods | 66-68=134 |
Third round
Saturday, August 4, 2018
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Thomas | 65-64-67=196 | −14 |
| T2 | Rory McIlroy | 65-67-67=199 | −11 |
| Ian Poulter | 62-67-70=199 | ||
| 4 | Jason Day | 65-66-69=200 | −10 |
| T5 | Marc Leishman | 65-69-67=201 | −9 |
| Kyle Stanley | 63-68-70=201 | ||
| T7 | Rickie Fowler | 63-74-65=202 | −8 |
| Jon Rahm | 64-70-68=202 | ||
| T9 | Tommy Fleetwood | 66-63-74=203 | −7 |
| Louis Oosthuizen | 68-66-69=203 |
Final round
Sunday, August 5, 2018
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Prize money (US$) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Thomas | 65-64-67-69=265 | −15 | 1,700,000 |
| 2 | Kyle Stanley | 63-68-70-68=269 | −11 | 1,072,000 |
| T3 | Dustin Johnson | 69-71-66-64=270 | −10 | 510,000 |
 Thorbjørn Olesen | 71-67-68-64=270 | |||
| 5 | Brooks Koepka | 66-70-68-67=271 | −9 | 357,000 |
| T6 | Patrick Cantlay | 64-72-68-68=272 | −8 | 241,375 |
| Anirban Lahiri | 65-70-69-68=272 | |||
| Rory McIlroy | 65-67-67-73=272 | |||
| Aaron Wise | 67-71-67-67=272 | |||
| T10 | Jason Day | 65-66-69-73=273 | −7 | 160,875 |
| Tony Finau | 68-66-71-68=273 | |||
| Kim Si-woo | 64-68-72-69=273 | |||
| Ian Poulter | 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
- "Golf Courses at Firestone Country Club". Invited Clubs. Archived from the original on August 4, 2022. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
- "World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational: Course". PGA Tour. Archived from the original on March 19, 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.