Jacob Bridgeman closed out the Biltmore Championship Asheville the way he’s closed out most of his big weeks in 2026—with a putter that refused to miss. A final-round 61, eight birdies and an eagle, resulted in a two-shot win over Ben James at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove. It was his second title of the year, and it came an hour and change from where he grew up in Inman, South Carolina.
Bridgeman leads the PGA Tour in SG: Putting this season, and Sunday was the stat in miniature: a 13-footer for par on 11, a 12-footer for par on 12 after going bunker-to-bunker, then three straight birdies to pull away.
His TaylorMade Spider Tour mallet (2.5 degrees of loft, 33.75 inches) did all of the damage. Spider won its fair share of PGA Tour starts this year, and Bridgeman’s version splits the difference between a mallet’s forgiveness and the toe-hang feel of the blade he grew up on. TaylorMade’s tour reps say he still works with a blade to maintain and ingrain the arc stroke.
The irons are where the story gets more interesting. Bridgeman was a blade player his entire life until late 2024, when he moved into a combo set built around the TaylorMade P7CB. The pitch, according to TaylorMade senior tour rep Nick Springer, was a cleaner look at address, slightly higher launch out of the cavity back, and better feel off the turf than his blades allowed.
TaylorMade bent his irons weak late last year to add spin. Once Bridgeman switched to the TP5x ball, spin ticked up, and the fitters were able to walk the lofts back to standard. It’s a small adjustment, but it’s the kind of detail that matters to elite tour pros.
Off the tee, the Qi4D driver story began at the BMW Championship, where Bridgeman made the switch to a 10.5-degree standard head specifically to have a driver he trusted heading into the playoff stretch and the Presidents Cup.
It worked immediately. He gained nearly a full stroke off the tee in the final round at Bellerive en route to a top-10 finish, then followed it up at the Tour Championship with the eighth-best final-round SG: Off-the-tee number in the field to lock down a T4.
By Biltmore, the driver wasn’t a new toy anymore; it was a proven piece of the bag setup.
What Jacob Bridgeman had in the bag at the 2026 Biltmore Championship Asheville
Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D (Project X Titan Green 6.5 60g shaft), 10.5 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D, 16.5 degrees
9-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D, 24 degrees
Irons (4): TaylorMade Tour Preferred UDI; (5): TaylorMade P770; (6-PW): TaylorMade P7CB
Wedges: TaylorMade Milled Grind 5 (50, 54, 60 degrees)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X (Short slant)