Fredrik Jacobson Captures First PGA Tour Win at Travelers Championship

CROMWELL, CT - 54-hole leader Fredrik Jacobson spent much of Sunday afternoon trying to keep his head above water while the likes of Ryan Moore, John Rollins and Michael Thompson were frantically chasing him down like a pack of galloping thoroughbreds.   

Ryan Moore came flying out of the gate with birdies on five of his first seven holes, while Rollins and Thompson made their charges on the back nine.

Thompson, who began his final round hours before the leaders teed off, needed only 29 strokes to complete TPC River Highlands’ back nine and posted a round of 62, which brought him to 18-under-par for the tournament.

Rollins posted a 30 on the back nine for a final round score of 63 and finished at 19-under-par for the tournament.  

Moore, who went 64-63 on the weekend, actually did catch Jacobson for a brief time until an untimely bogey on the 72nd hole cost him a chance at the title.

Moore had just birdied 13, 15 and 16 and made a tough four-foot tester for par on the 17th.

Tied for the lead with Jacobson at 20-under-par, Moore pulled his tee shot on 18 into a fairway bunker before finding the greenside bunker with his second.

From there, Moore nearly holed his bunker shot for improbable birdie that would have brought him to 21-under-par and forced Jacobson, who was standing in the fairway behind him, to close with a birdie of his own.

Moore’s par seemed certain as he was only four feet from the hole and had been sinking 20-footers like they were tap-ins all afternoon.  

However, Moore pushed his putt and had to settle for a bogey, which dropped him one stroke off of Jacobson’s lead.

“Really hit my first bad putt of the day,” Moore said following his round.

“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.”

Instead of taking control of the tournament for the first time all week, Moore had to hope that Jacobson would bogey the 18th from the middle of the fairway.

It was not to be.

Jacobson has seen his name near the top of numerous PGA Tour leaderboards over the past couple of years without notching a victory, so he wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip away.

Jacobson hit his approach to within 20 feet and two putted for an easy par and the 2011 Travelers Championship title.

Jacobson, who was playing directly behind Moore, figured Moore was unable to birdie the 18th based on the crowd’s reaction, but he also didn’t know that Moore had bogeyed the 18th until after he hit his approach shot.

“After my second shot is when I asked my caddie if we were in the lead or if we were tied, you know, and he said Ryan just made a bogey,” Jacobson said.

Although he has three professional wins in Europe, the Travelers Championship was Jacobson’s first PGA Tour win.

So, after 355 PGA Tour starts without a win, what finally got Jacobson over the hump this week in Cromwell, CT?

Well, it was his five-year-old daughter Emmie.

“We were watching from the FedExCup all the winners when they had the recap after the final event, and everybody was just hoisting trophies left and right, and sitting there with my kids, and you know, my middle one, Emmie, she goes, ‘Daddy, why don't you have any trophies at home?’" Jacobson said.

“Well, I got a couple in Sweden, but they're in the garage. But I told her, ‘I promise you I'll get one this year for you.’ And it's been haunting me. I've been on the board; I've been asked so many times by the kids, ‘Did you get a trophy this week, Daddy? Did you get a trophy?’ Nope, no trophy. But I'm coming home. So I'm excited about that. I'm glad I'm not breaking that promise for her.”

Aside from keeping his promise to Emmie, Jacobson’s earned $1.04 million, moved up to 18th in the FedEx Cup standings and likely earned himself a spot in the 2011 British Open.

All in all it was a typical Travelers Championship with a first-time winner, which often seems to be the case at TPC River Highlands, and a Sunday afternoon birdie barrage which led to roars reverberating from every corner of the golf course.

It may not be the strongest fielded event on tour, but not a year goes by without an abundance of Sunday afternoon excitement in Cromwell, CT, and 2011 was no different.

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