Round 4: Travelers Championship
June 26 2011
7:22 pm
Inside the numbers on Jacobson’s win
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 84th (2007), 44th (2008), 57th (2009) and 58th (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 10th 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.
7:00 pm
Moore couldn’t have done much more
By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM
CROMWELL, Conn. — Save for a 4-foot par putt on the 72nd hole, Ryan Moore couldn’t have done much more Sunday at the Travelers Championship, where he finished a stroke behind Fredrik Jacobson after a final-round 63.
“Any time you shoot 63 in the final round not a whole lot to complain about,” Moore said. “That 18th hole is going to sting a little bit. Really hit my first bad putt of the day. It was just a pretty simple left center putt and I pushed it right in the middle of the hole and it just topped out that left side.”
And with it went any hopes of forcing a playoff with Jacobson, who went on to par the hole behind Moore to secure his first career win on the PGA TOUR.
At the start of the day, Moore, who began the round in a tie for fourth at 12 under, figured he would need 20 under to win. He was right, and he almost got there until finding the bunker of the tee on the 18th hole and then hitting it into a greenside bunker on his approach.
“I kind of have that disease of aiming a little bit away from the pin and going towards it a little more than I mean to,” Moore said of his approach shot. “I wasn’t necessarily trying to make a birdie there. I was just trying to hit it nice shot 15, 20 feet left of that pin and give myself another opportunity.”
Instead, he found the sand.
Moore nearly holed his pitch out of the bunker but couldn’t make the putt coming back.
The other obstacle Moore had to overcome was being without the services of his regular caddie, his brother Jason, who woke up feeling too ill to be on the bag. Moore replaced him with his trainer, J.D. Radtovski, who had caddied for Moore here last year.
Still, Moore was pleased with his performance and Sunday isn’t what cost him.
“I could be certainly frustrated right now, but I just shot a 64‑63,” he said. “That’s not that bad. And to not win a tournament, I mean really it was my second round that cost me this tournament. I shot even par.”
6:09 pm
Congratulate Jacobson on his win
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.
5:49 pm
Jacobson gets first career win
CROMWELL, Conn. — Fredrik Jacobson got his first career PGA TOUR win on Sunday, shooting a 66 to win by one over Ryan Moore and John Rollins at the Travelers Championship.
Moore and Rollins each closed with 63s, but a missed par putt from just over 4 feet on the 72nd hole proved costly to Moore, who failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker on the 18th.
For Jacobson, the victory is his first in 187 career starts on the TOUR.
With the victory, Jacobson also gets 500 FedExCup points and moves to 18th in the standings.
5:33 pm
Cantlay caps memorable week
By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM
CROMWELL, Conn. — The biggest thing Patrick Cantlay learned in his first regular PGA TOUR event? That he can compete.
That’s what the 19-year-old amateur took away from the Travelers Championship, where he finished at 11 under that was highlighted by a course-record 60 in the second round.
“I just learned what it’s like to have a week on the PGA TOUR, make the cut and compete with all the guys,” Cantlay said after a final-round 70.
The last two rounds certainly didn’t go as well as the first two did for Cantlay, who will return for his sophomore year at UCLA this fall. After opening 67-60 to hold the lead at the halfway mark, Cantlay closed 72-70.
Still, it was an impressive week for a player who was barely on the radar for the Walker Cup team at the start of his freshman year. The last four weeks have certainly changed that, however. After reaching the finals of the NCAA Championship and receiving the Jack Nicklaus Award as the nation’s top collegiate player, Cantlay finished as the low amateur at the U.S. Open, where he tied for 21st.
“Just didn’t go as planned,” Cantlay said of his final two rounds at TPC River Highlands. “I was actually surprised I was very comfortable out there and very composed and proud of myself for hanging in there.”
Cantlay’s summer isn’t over just yet, though. He received a sponsor exemption into next week’s AT&T National in Philadelphia.
“They’ve taken a toll,” said Cantlay, who will be playing for his fifth straight week next week in Philadelphia. “This is the most weeks I’ve ever been in a row without being home my whole life.”
So much for summer vacation.
5:17 pm
Moore, Jacobson tied with two left
CROMWELL, Conn. — Last year’s Travelers Championship was decided in a playoff and this year’s might be, too.
Ryan Moore and Fredrik Jacobson are the lead at 20 under with two holes to play.
Moore has birdied three of his last four holes and is 8 under through 16 holes today. He’s hit every fairways and missed just two greens so far.
Jacobson, meanwhile, has five birdies and one bogey in his round and similarly has hit every fairway and missed just two greens.
4:36 pm
Thompson has career day
By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM
CROMWELL, Conn. — Six years ago, Michael Thompson, like a lot of other people, was displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Thompson was in school at Tulane at the time. Katrina hit in August of 2005 and the school dropped the golf program by that December.
He transferred to Alabama, where he spent two years improving his game — “Katrina to me has always been a blessing in disguise,” Thompson said. “I would have stayed at Tulane and who knows where I would be now.”
Where Thompson is this week is near the top of the leaderboard after a career-best 62 to finish his week at the Travelers Championship at 18 under. In a season in which Thompson, a rookie on the PGA TOUR this year after kicking around the Hooters Tour and eventually the Nationwide Tour, has just two top-25s, he also has a career-best result.
What was the turnaround for Thompson?
His driving, which he worked on with his instructor Susie Myers over the last month. Sunday it paid dividends.
“My putting’s always been my strength, but off the tee I’ve struggled, and in the last month or two, I’ve really come into my own in terms of being able to hit fairways and get myself in position to hit good shots,” Thompson said.
4:00 pm
Jacobson takes lead to back nine
Fredrik Jacobson’s first PGA TOUR title may be nine holes away. He has made the turn at TPC River Highlands with a two-shot advantage over Michael Thompson and Ryan Moore.
The Swede’s bogey-free streak is also still alive at 63 holes and counting – though he has a challenging up-and-down looming at the 10th.
3:20 pm
Jacobson, Moore create distance
CROMWELL, Conn. — There’s still a lot of golf left to be played with the leader, Fredrik Jacobson, still yet to even make the turn. But he and Ryan Moore have separated themselves from the field a little bit with Jacobson moving to 18 under after a birdie on No. 6 and Moore to 17 under after a birdie on No. 7.
The latest birdie for Moore is his fifth of a round in which he’s hit all six fairways and all seven greens in regulation. Of course Jacobson’s been pretty good in that department too with 21 straight fairways and 13 straight greens in regulation dating back to the end of his third round.
Meanwhile, Michael Thompson is the next closest player at 15 under, but he’s already through 14 holes. Three others, including John Rollins and Bryce Molder, are at 14 under.
2:44 pm
Jacobson still on top — for now
CROMWELL, Conn. — Fredrik Jacobson still has the lead — it’s actually gone from one to two strokes — but there are plenty of players within reach of the Swede, who is 1 under through his first three holes.
In second is Ryan Moore, who is 3 under through his first four holes. Three others, meanwhile, are another stroke back from that — though Tom Gillis, who is one of those players at 14 under, has only three holes remaining.
In all, there are 14 players within five shots of Jacobson’s lead at the moment. And given that TPC River Highlands has been yielding low scores all week, almost all of those players are in contention (a few of them are near the end of their rounds).
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