Fredrik Jacobson caps his second round with this 18-foot birdie conversion on the par-4 9th.
Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson appears to have lost his clubhead during the third round of the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic. What is going on? Leave your answer below, and please, keep it clean! To see the best photos from last week, click here .
Fredrik Jacobson chipped in from 75 feet for birdie at the par-4 fifth hole in Saturday's third round.
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM
LEMONT, Ill. -- Math was Fredrik Jacobson's favorite subject in school.
But Jacobson sure didn't like the numbers he was seeing on the leaderboard after he made a quadruple bogey on the fifth hole Sunday. Not only was he 7 over for the tournament, the veteran from Sweden had tumbled outside the top 30 in the FedExCup after starting the BMW Championship ranked 23rd.
Jacobson pulled himself together, though, and played his final
13 holes in 4 under to shoot 72. He was 28th in the FedExCup when
he finished and regardless of what happened as the day wore on,
Jacobson was happy with the way he battled back.
"I saw I was 33rd or something (when he made the quadruple bogey)," Jacobson said. "At that point. I did know I was outside. I had to pull myself together and play some golf. I mean, it's still up in the air but at least I gave myself a shot at it now and that feels a whole lot better rather than being out of it completely..”
The mathematician in Jacobson knew he probably was too focused on all the permutations and projections early in the week. He acknowledged that "I wasn't too much fun being around" after he shot a 73 on Friday that moved him to 3 over for the tournament. A double bogey in his final two holes each of the first two rounds didn't help, either.
"(Math) was the one subject I was really good at so for me I've got to try and stay out of that stuff," Jacobson said. "When I get into that it's tough to focus on something else. I managed to put that aside much better on the weekend than earlier in the week. Early in the week I was a little short-fused and forcing the issue a little bit where I was a little bit more casual on the weekend and enjoyed myself a bit more."
"... I was happy with the way I handled things today."
Jacobson planned to grab lunch, probably push his flight back and hover near a computer until he was sure he was safe for his first trip to the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola. He wished he had taken care of business earlier but he was proud of the way he rebounded from the disaster at No. 5 and gave himself a shot.
"We said all weekend to try to stay aggressive and try to play that way," Jacobson said. "Coming into the week I was thinking quite a bit about the standings and all that and all through the week. Little disappointed before the week that it wasn't a done deal. Still got to go out, and sometimes it's almost easier when you're got to finish top 15 or top 10 and play really well to get in than to maybe finish in the middle.
"It's a tough thing when you get caught up in that stuff to really play your game and to focus on each shot. It was a bit of a struggle earlier in the week. But I think thanks to getting a better attitude in the weekend, I dealt with that high number a lot better than I would have earlier in the week."
It didn’t take long for someone to catch Adam Scott -- Jason Day birdied the first hole and is now tied for the lead at 12 under.
But Day wasn’t the only one to get off to a fast start with Fredrik Jacobson, Rickie Fowler and Luke Donald all posting early birdies.
Now it will be Scott’s turn to see if he can answer. The only lead in a World Golf Championships event ever had coming into this week was after the first round of the Bridgestone Invitational in 2006 (he went on to finish in a tie for 10th). Prior to this week he’d also never led or shared the lead after all three rounds and gone on to win.
The good news for Scott, however, is that he has won five times in his career after holding the 54-hole lead, most recently at the 2008 EDS Byron Nelson Championship.
Scott is currently 50th in the FedExCup standings. A win would move him to No. 16 and almost guaranteed a spot in the season ending TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola. He won at East Lake in 2006, the year before the FedExCup began, but has only qualified for the PGA TOUR Playoffs finale twice in the past four years.
CROMWELL, Conn. -- Not only did Fredrik Jacobson record his first career victory in 188 starts on the PGA TOUR, he also earned 500 FedExCup points and moves from 41st to 18th in the standings.
During the first four years of the FedExCup, he has finished 84 th (2007), 44 th (2008), 57 th (2009) and 58 th (2010).
Jacobson’s 72-hole total of 20-under 260 is also the lowest winning score on TOUR this season, besting the 264 set by Sony Open in Hawaii winner Mark Wilson.
Jacobson, a 36-year-old native of Gothenburg, Sweden, becomes the first international winner of the Travelers Championship since Greg Norman in 1995. He is the seventh Swedish-born player to win on the PGA TOUR, joining Jesper Parnevik, Daniel Chopra, Gabriel Hjertstedt, Carl Pettersson, Richard S. Johnson and Henrik Stenson.
Jacobson played the first 63 holes this week without a bogey, with his only one of the week coming on the par-4 10 th hole when he missed a putt just under 12 feet for par. He was seeking to become the first winner since Lee Trevino at the 1974 Greater New Orleans Open to go bogey-free over 72 holes.
Lastly, Jacobson led the field this week in strokes gained-putting. He picked up 2.246 strokes per round over the field.
There’s another first-time winner on the PGA TOUR this week with Fredrik Jacobson taking the Travelers Championship. Want to send him your congrats? Comment below and we’ll deliver the responses to Jacobson.