Q. Jacob, if you want to just talk about conditions on the week and how that changed from Thursday to today.
JACOB BRIDGEMAN: Yeah, quite a lot. I was surprised when I got here because I played last year and everything was a lot different. They added the overseed fairways this year, and then it rained two, three inches on Monday, so everything was soft, very gettable, and then you saw Jake's 59, which is incredible, but it was the easiest the course has played that I've ever seen.
To today, you could start to see footprints on the greens and in the fairways. Everything is baking out. It was a lot different. The ball was going from an 8-iron sticking on the green to rolling out six, seven, eight paces, which that's the kind of golf I like. I like to be able to get a little penalized if you hit it off line and out of play. I thought it was great today.
Q. You're currently T1. Still a little bit of golf left to be played, but you're on track to make your first top-10 finish on TOUR. What's that feel like?
JACOB BRIDGEMAN: Yeah, it's awesome. Kind of a monkey off the back.
I played decent last year. I never really had any great finishes. Every time I'd get near the top 10 I would be on my last few holes, and I kind of just coasted in and would finish 11th, 12th, 13th, whatever it was. So it's good to finally get that done.
Q. Right now you're currently projected via Aon Swing 5 to play next week at API. Thoughts about setting up next week for API and even PLAYERS?
JACOB BRIDGEMAN: Yeah, that would be great. If I got in, I would go down there and it would be a wonderful experience. But we'll see how it holds out. I don't know jump in there because I didn't have the greatest week last week. Yeah, that would be awesome. I've always wanted to play Bay Hill and never played it, so it would be fun.
Q. How long has GW caddied for you, and talk about the conversation you guys had on 18 fairway.
JACOB BRIDGEMAN: Yeah, he's caddied for me ever since I turned pro. I turned pro in June of '22, and he came down to the Korn Ferry and caddied for me for a year and a half down there, and that was awesome when we got out here. He's one of the best guys ever.
But on 18, it was just a normal conversation. The wind was in a little bit too much. We didn't think I could quite get a 3-wood there with the way I wanted to hit it and then decided to lay up, and I'm glad I did because the ball had some mud on it, and it kind of ducked to the left, which I'm glad I hit a 3-wood now. It was just a normal conversation.
Q. It's still to be determined, but that could wind up being a huge moment in your golf career. Are you sensing that while you're having this conversation or are you just trying to stay in the moment?
JACOB BRIDGEMAN: I was just trying to stay in the moment. I was trying to make as many birdies as I could. I knew I had to do something kind of extraordinary today to catch the leaders, and I caught them, but they're only on the 9th hole. We'll see how it goes. But yeah, having GW on the bag is great.
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