Sweden’s Jacobson Claims First PGA Tour Title, The Travellers Championship

Ryan Moore gave Fredric Jacobson all he could handle for 17 holes in the final round of the Travelers Championship. On the 18^th, Moore gift-wrapped Jacobson’s first PGA Tour victory.

Moore’s lipped-out, 4-foot par putt on the last dropped him from a tie with Jacobson at 20-under par, allowing Jacobson to win outright with a routine par of his own. The respected and well-liked Swede, three times a winner on the European Tour, ended a stretch of 189 U.S. starts without a victory.

Jacobson’s breakthrough came a week after he tied 14^th at the U.S. Open, and owed much to uncharacteristically accurate driving. Jacobson found nearly 86 percent of fairways at the TPC River Highlands course in Cromwell, Connecticut, a huge improvement on his season average of 61 percent. His always-solid putter again served him well, as Jacobson finished third in the field in putts per round.

The eighth first-time winner on the U.S. tour this year, Jacobson held off Moore’s final-round charge, which included eight birdies in a round of 63. Tying Moore for second was John Rollins, while Michael Thompson finished solo fourth.

For two rounds, the big story was amateur Patrick Cantlay. The 19-year-old collegian fired a 10-under-par 60 in round two, the lowest mark ever for an amateur in a PGA event. Taking a one-shot lead into the weekend, Cantlay faded with rounds of 72-70, but managed a tie for 24^th.

Defending Travelers champion Bubba Watson tied 38^th.