Jacobson wins Travelers

Fredrik Jacobson, fresh off of a T14 finish at the U.S. Open, carded a final-round 4-under 66 to claim his first win on the PGA TOUR (188 starts) by one stroke over John Rollins and Ryan Moore. His previous-best finishes on TOUR were runner-up finishes at the 2007 Ginn sur Mer Classic, 2008 AT&T National and 2010 Valero Texas Open.  With the victory, Jacobson earns 500 FedExCup points and moves from No. 41 to No. 18 in the FedExCup 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 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.  Jacobson led the field this week in the new statistical category – Strokes Gained – Putting. He picked up 2.246 strokes per round over the field.

Ryan Moore, winner of the 2009 Wyndham Championship, missed a 4-foot, 3-inch putt for par on the final hole to fall out of a tie for the lead with Fredrik Jacobson and finish T2 at the Travelers Championship. His 7-under 63 on Sunday left him in a tie with John Rollins at 19-under.  Ryan Moore has now posted a runner-up finish in six out of his last seven years on TOUR (2011 Travelers Championship, 2010 AT&T National, 2008 HP Byron Nelson Championship, 2007 Memorial Tournament, 2006 Travelers Championship, 2005 RBC Canadian Open). The one year during that stretch that he failed to record a second-place finish was the same year he posted his only victory (2009 Wyndham Championship).  With the T2 finish, Moore jumps from No. 55 to No. 32 in the FedExCup standings. He made his 13th start of the season this week, with a missed cut at the U.S. Open last week snapping a streak of 10 consecutive made cuts. His previous-best finishes in 2011: T4 at the Northern Trust Open and T5 at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.  Moore, a 28-year-old native of Tacoma, WA and 2005 graduate of the University of Nevada – Las Vegas, made his sixth start at the Travelers Championship, including runner-up finishes during his inaugural start in 2006 and again this year. His other top finishes here included a T4 (2009) and T13 (2010).

Making his 17th start of the season, John Rollins posted a final-round 7-under 63 to finish a season-best T2. It is his best finish on TOUR since winning the 2009 Reno-Tahoe Open. His only other top 10 this season came at the HP Byron Nelson Championship (T6).  The runner-up finish is the eighth of Rollins’ career.  Rollins’ 63 equals the lowest final-round score of his career, set first at the 2000 Greater Milwaukee Open (finished T9) and later at the 2007 Waste Management Phoenix Open (finished 2nd).  Rollins made his eighth start at the Travelers Championship this week, with a T25 in 2005 his previous-best finish. A second-round 64 in 2008 (finished T52) was his previous-best score here.

Amateur Patrick Cantlay turned in a final-round even-par 70 to finish T24. By comparison, the best finish by an amateur at the event was Jim Grant’s T2 in 1964. Phil Mickelson (1991 Northern Telecom Open) remains the last amateur to win on the PGA TOUR.  Earlier this week, Cantlay set the TPC River Highlands course record and equaled the Travelers Championship low 18-hole score (Tommy Bolt, 1954, Wethersfield CC) with a second-round 10-under 60 – the lowest score ever by an amateur on the PGA TOUR.  The World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, FL will create a display feature Cantlay’s historic round at the Travelers Championship. The display will include his scorecard, golf ball and signed Travelers Championship pin flag.  With his one-stroke lead over Johnson Wagner after the second round, Cantlay became the third amateur to lead the Travelers Championship. In 1961, amateur Robert Allen shared the first-round lead with Bob Goetz and eventually finished 62nd. In 1953, amateur Frank Stranahan shared the third-round lead with Jim Ferrier and Bob Toski before finishing T7.  Cantlay, who earned low amateur honors at the U.S. Open (T21), is scheduled to play in next week’s AT&T National on a sponsor’s exemption.

Final-Round Leaderboard
Fredrik Jacobson 65-66-63-66—260 (-20)
Ryan Moore 64-70-64-63—261 (-19)
John Rollins 65-68-65-63—261 (-19)
Michael Thompson 67-65-68-62—262 (-18)

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