2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational explained

2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
Dates:	August 2–5, 2018
Location:	Akron, Ohio, U.S.
Course:	Firestone Country Club South Course
Tour:	PGA Tour European Tour
Par:	70
Yardage:	7400yd
Field:	71 players
Cut:	None
Purse:	$10,000,000
Winners Share:	$1,700,000
Champion:	Justin Thomas
Score:	265 (−15)
Previous:	2017
Next:	2019
Map:	USA#USA Ohio
Map Relief:	yes
Map Label:	Firestone CC
Coordinates:	41.008°N -81.508°W

The 2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational was a professional golf tournament held August 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.

Venue

See main article: Firestone Country Club.

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.An Byeong-hun

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		62	−8
align=center rowspan=2	T2		align=center rowspan=2	63	align=center rowspan=2	−7
Kyle Stanley
align=center rowspan=3	T4		align=center rowspan=3	64	align=center rowspan=3	−6
Kim Si-woo
Jon Rahm
align=center rowspan=7	T7		align=center rowspan=7	65	align=center rowspan=7	−5
Anirban Lahiri
Marc Leishman
Luke List
Rory McIlroy
Kevin Na
Justin Thomas

Second round

Friday, August 3, 2018

Place	Player	Score	To par
align=center rowspan=3	T1		66-63=129	align=center rowspan=3	−11
	62-67=129
	65-64=129
align=center rowspan=2	T4		65-66=131	align=center rowspan=2	−9
	63-68=131
align=center rowspan=2	T6		64-68=132	align=center rowspan=2	−8
	65-67=132
align=center rowspan=2	T8		66-67=133	align=center rowspan=2	−7
	65-68=133
align=center rowspan=6	T10		68-66=134	align=center rowspan=6	−6
	65-69=134
	68-66=134
	64-70=134
	69-65=134
	66-68=134

Third round

Saturday, August 4, 2018

Place	Player	Score	To par
1		65-64-67=196	−14
align=center rowspan=2	T2		65-67-67=199	align=center rowspan=2	−11
	62-67-70=199
4		65-66-69=200	−10
align=center rowspan=2	T5		65-69-67=201	align=center rowspan=2	−9
	63-68-70=201
align=center rowspan=2	T7		63-74-65=202	align=center rowspan=2	−8
	64-70-68=202
align=center rowspan=2	T9		66-63-74=203	align=center rowspan=2	−7
	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		63-68-70-68=269	−11	1,072,000
align=center rowspan=2	T3		69-71-66-64=270	align=center rowspan=2	−10	align=center rowspan=2	510,000
	71-67-68-64=270
5		66-70-68-67=271	−9	357,000
align=center rowspan=4	T6		64-72-68-68=272	align=center rowspan=4	−8	align=center rowspan=4	241,375
	65-70-69-68=272
	65-67-67-73=272
	67-71-67-67=272
align=center rowspan=4	T10		65-66-69-73=273	align=center rowspan=4	−7	align=center rowspan=4	160,875
	68-66-71-68=273
	64-68-72-69=273
	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

External links

• • Coverage on European Tour's official site
• Firestone Country Club site

Notes and References

1. Web site: Golf Courses at Firestone Country Club . Invited Clubs . 2013-03-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220804232755/https://www.invitedclubs.com/clubs/firestone-country-club/golf . 2022-08-04 . live.
2. Web site: World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational: Course . PGA Tour . 2017-04-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170319075234/https://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/wgc-bridgestone-invitational/course.html . 2017-03-19 . dead.
3. Web site: 2018 Qualifiers for majors, The Players, WGCs . PGA Tour . October 8, 2017.
4. Justin Rose withdraws from WGC-Bridgestone Invitational with back injury . Golf Digest . Joel . Beall . August 1, 2018.
5. The 'Strength of Field Rating' is a loose term for what the Official World Golf Ranking calls the 'Total Rating Value' (see Event ranking).
6. News: Motivated Ian Poulter holds first-round lead at Bridgestone Invitational . ESPN . August 2, 2018.