Jobe's consistency pays off at Boeing Classic

Brandt Jobe was hot on Sunday at the Boeing Classic.

And it’s not just about the 9-under 63 he fired to storm back and overtake hometown hero Fred Couples at The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge just outside Seattle.

Jobe nearly caught fire. Literally.

“I was holding that crystal ball trophy, and it was hot in my hands,” Jobe said Tuesday. “The sun was going right through it and it started to burn a hole in the aviator jacket (the crystal and jacket go to the winner). People were like, ‘The jacket is smoking!’”

Jobe managed to get through the ceremony without further incident, picking up his second career PGA TOUR Champions victory and a check for $315,000. He moved from 24th to 14th in the Schwab Cup standings and is poised for the best finish of his Champs career.

Finishing with a kick is on his mind, too. Jobe, 54, has been as consistent a player as one could find on the Champions Tour. He has only one finish worse than T49 in his past 62 events, when he missed the cut at this year’s U.S. Senior Open. He has 52 top 25s in 79 events since the start of 2016, a 65.8 top-25 percentage.

But his performance in the Schwab Cup Playoffs hasn’t been up to his standard. And he’s driven to change that.

“I’d really like to finish out the year well,” Jobe said. “I have not done that any of the four years I’ve been out here. Every single year I have gone backward in the playoffs. Kind of a goal is to be really ready game-wise for the playoffs. With double points, if you play solid you can really jump up there. I’m now in position where if I get a little bit hot I could get into the top 5. That would be a big goal.”

Speaking of the number five, it was a streak of five birdies to start his round on Sunday at Snoqualmie that jolted Jobe from thinking he was playing for second, at best, to thinking anything was possible.

He had played well on Friday (69) and better on Saturday (66). He was pleased, too, because he had skipped the past two events to spend time with his two teenagers. Part of his five-week break involved travel baseball with his son, Jackson, who is drawing attention from several college powerhouses, and settling his daughter, Brittany, into her first apartment at Auburn.

He hadn’t played much during the hiatus – when was there time? – and suddenly he was turning in 30 on Sunday and was breathing down the neck of Couples.

“That start on Sunday … it wasn’t like I was making bombs,” Jobe said. “I made a 7-footer, a 10-footer, another 7-footer, an 8- or 9-footer, then I made a 2-footer. I just made the putts I needed to make.”

Jobe bogeyed six, but then birdied eight and nine. As he headed to the 10th tee, he realized he was at least only one back of Couples, perhaps even tied for the lead. He allowed himself to start thinking about more than second.

Couples, 59, hadn’t won since the American Family Insurance Championship in 2017, and he never has won an event in the Seattle area. He had staked himself to a five-shot lead with his own 63 on Saturday, but with seemingly everyone rooting for him, his game just wasn’t sharp over the final 18 holes. He ballooned to a 76 in the final round. He went from seven up on Jobe to a T3, six behind the champion.

It really had been a fun week for Jobe. He was tabbed to go watch a Seattle Seahawks practice early in the week, and he ended up throwing the football around with none other than Pro Bowl QB Russell Wilson.

“He walked over and he said let’s throw a few. So it was really cool,” said Jobe, a former high school QB himself. “I tell you what he can spin it. You have to be careful when you’re catching it. The first one he threw, he threw it hard. He probably didn’t even know. For him it was probably his normal pass. These guys they just spin it. It’s different than the rest of us.

“I got my triangle out there and made sure I caught it quickly.”

After that, Jobe and Seahawks kicker Jason Myers and long snapper Tyler Ott hit wedges to a floating green on the lake outside the practice facility. The football players impressed the Champs Tour stalwart, who said he had to come from behind to beat them and “it was the most nervous I was all week. I couldn’t let those guys beat me. They really had nice swings.”

Ott promised Jobe he’d come out and watch the tournament, and sure enough when the event was over, there was the long snapper.

“He said, ‘Hey, selfie, let’s go Brandt. I’m out here and you did your job,” Jobe said. “It was very cool.”

From throwing spirals with an NFL QB to long odds to win to a selfie with a long snapper. That’s how you come back from a hiatus.