Scottie Scheffler’s Riviera dilemma: 18-event top‑10 streak ends amid late chaos as Bridgeman survives

Why this matters now: scottie’s streak was the Tour’s modern benchmark, and its end at Riviera reframes both his season and the club’s long-running reputation as an unpredictable test. The loss of an 18-tournament run — the longest since official stats began in 1983 — intersects with Riviera’s history of confounding greats and a Sunday scramble that reshaped the leaderboard late in the day.

Scottie’s Riviera history and how weeks of patterns converged

Scottie arrived at Riviera with a mixed past at the course: he had missed the match-play cut at the 2017 U. S. Amateur and missed the cut as an amateur at the Genesis Open in 2018. As a pro, he held four top-20s at Riviera but had never finished within six shots of the lead. He opened this week with a three-over 74 and was four over through 26 holes, walking the cutline before holing a par putt on 18 on Friday to make the 36-hole cut.

The chaotic final holes that changed everything

Here’s the part that matters: Jacob Bridgeman, 26, began the final day with a six-shot lead that grew to seven at one point and ultimately held up for a one-shot victory. Behind him, a furious Sunday shuffle knocked Scottie down. Scheffler rallied with a back-nine 31 and a final-round 65 to climb into the top 10 late, including a late birdie on No. 15, but two decisive moves pushed him back.

• Tommy Fleetwood holed an eagle from 173 yards on No. 15 to vault past Scheffler.
• Cameron Young birdied his final three holes to move past Scheffler as well.

Those swings left Scheffler in a tie for 12th and ended his streak at 18 consecutive top-10s.

How an 18-tournament streak stacks up in Tour history

Scheffler’s 18 straight top-10s is the longest stretch since the PGA Tour began keeping official statistics in 1983. For context on how rare that is, Tiger Woods never recorded more than 11 consecutive top-10s in that span. Riviera’s quirky greens and the field’s late surges combined to produce a finish that erased what had looked like a historic continuation.

What Scheffler said and how he navigated the week

After the week, Scheffler described himself as someone who doesn’t quit and emphasized that competing is what he loves; he noted practical factors that helped him score better on the weekend, pointing out the advantage of early tee times and playing on fresher, less chewed-up greens with less wind. Earlier in the week he had called his relationship with Riviera "weird" after making the cut on Friday. Despite the slow start in the opening round, he rallied to play solidly down the stretch.

Signals for Riviera, Scheffler and the season ahead

What’s easy to miss is how this single week intersects with two threads: Riviera’s reputation as a course that defeats even the game’s best, and Scheffler’s pattern of bouncing back after slow starts. Riviera’s pedigree is long — the George C. Thomas design has hosted U. S. Opens and PGA Championships and has staged the LA Open (now the Genesis Invitational) since 1973 — and several all-time greats have both won and been confounded there.

Wider implications play out for different groups: players who rely on early tee times and fresher greens may see clear advantages here; Riviera’s historical narrative about top players coming up short is reinforced (notably, other greats have struggled to finish at the top despite successes elsewhere); and for Scheffler, the practical lesson is that slow early rounds can be recovered, but late-course fireworks from rivals can still erase personal heroics.

The real question now is how Scheffler responds when he returns to courses where his game typically dominates. Small signals to monitor: his ability to convert strong back nines into finishing positions, whether he avoids extended early-round struggles, and if early tee-time advantages keep translating to improved weekend scoring.

Micro-rewind: Riviera has hosted the LA Open (now the Genesis Invitational) since 1973; the Tour’s official stats era starts in 1983; Tiger Woods made his Riviera PGA Tour debut as a 16-year-old amateur in 1992 and was a runner-up to Ernie Els in 1999. Scheffler’s earlier Riviera setbacks include 2017 and 2018 amateur misses.

The bigger signal here is that an 18-event streak ending at a signature venue — after a comeback within the week and then late reversals from Fleetwood and Young — reframes both how we talk about Riviera and how Scheffler’s season momentum is measured moving forward.

It was still a solid result on paper: a tie for 12th at a marquee event is not a failure, but the end of an historic run at 18 is an unavoidable new chapter for scottie and the conversation about Riviera’s mystique.

What’s easy to overlook, though, is that the week combined course history, a single bad stretch early, and dramatic late scoring moves from competitors — a recipe that can create headline-making shifts even when a player fights back hard.