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TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

June 25, 2011

Fredrik Jacobson

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

DOUG MILNE: Okay. Like to welcome Fredrik Jacobson. Fredrik, bogey-free over the first three rounds. If you want to talk about your play so far this week and then we'll take some questions.
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Yeah. Well, I've been driving the ball well, kept it in play and kind of haven't gotten into too much trouble. Like you said, bogey-free, and it obviously takes some good par putts every now and then to keep a round like that going. It's nothing in particular I've been focusing on, but it just turned out that way.
No, but I've been hitting the ball solid, you know. And I did last week, at the end of the last week strike the ball nice. Managed to carry that into this week which has been nice.
DOUG MILNE: Big putt on 18 for birdie to close. What did that kind of do for your thinking going into tomorrow?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Well, I don't think it makes that much of a difference. I think it would be nice -- you know, I'm looking forward to be playing in the last group tomorrow. I don't think I've played in the last group on a Sunday. I think I've been kind of within reasonable reach, but been looking forward to getting myself in position to where I can get get tested, you know, and put myself in that position. That's where you want to be as often as possible so you can get more and more comfortable from it.

Q. Talk about the putt on 18. Downhill putt. Were you thinking make it or were you just thinking just try and get it close?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: You always try to make them, you know. The hole that's there -- well, unless it's an impossible putt. But that one wasn't impossible, but always shooting for the hole normally it ends up closer that way. You know.
It was a little bit of a speedy putt. It kind of had a little bit of pace running, so I was kind of hoping it was going to hit the hole and kind of lipped a little bit maybe past it if anything, but I was certainly happy when it hit the hole.

Q. Fredrik, last week at Congressional you said you were working with your coach on some things, and you kind of did again after the first round, and obviously you played better after that. What exactly were you working on with him?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Similar things, but we just had good continuity. I've been trying to get my base a little bit more stable and just find a good flow from there.
It's little things, but it makes a difference, you know, and it's helped me become a little bit like a mantra before the shot to get in a similar feel, and with all these warmups we've been doing for a couple of days it's nice to have something clear, and as long as I can keep it clear in my mind what I want to do, it gives a good feel and it gives something to rely on.
And I've really probably from the weekend of last week and this week I've been hitting the ball as good as I ever have, but we also got -- Callaway got me -- we were building a driver last week. The other one I had cracked a few weeks back and we're testing a few different shafts. And you know, this -- I went with the same Diablo Octane head that I had, but I took a shaft that had a little bit more torque, so I feel like I have a little bit easier to turn the ball over than I used to, which has been nice because I like that shape from right to left.
That was something -- you know, obviously any club you gotta swing it well, so that's what I'm trying to focus on, but I feel great with that driver, and I think a week like last week driving is a premium to hitting a lot of fairways the last couple of days to help me out there and I've managed to continue doing that.

Q. A lot more sunshine today, but the greens don't seem very soft out there. Is that what you found and what were the conditions like?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Yeah. Yeah. It's still fairly soft out there. It was nice with sunshine. Kind of warmed up the body a bit. There's been some cold days, it's been kind of wet. So I really enjoyed that the sun came out. But the course is drying up a little bit, which is good. And it's not quite as soft.
Earlier when it's been raining so hard some of the iron shots were really spinning back or lost on the greens and it's kind of tough to control that.

Q. Fredrik, did you say would this be your first time you played in a final group on Sunday?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: I think so. I'm not 100 percent positive, but it feels like that.

Q. What are your thoughts about that challenge of that? Are you looking forward to that?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Yeah. I mean it's something I've been looking for for a long time. That's the position where I want to be and that's what I've practiced for and that's what I strive for. So you know, it's great to have an outside shot at things and come from three shots back or four shots back where you're always kind of looking for that miracle round to make things happen, you know. And it can be kind of pressuring because you can't really afford any mistakes. You're already starting out chasing, and even if you get a couple early on and you make a mistake, it feels like you gotta chase, and it's easy to press too hard.
It's kind of nice to go out and get to play and not start off being behind straight from the -- you know, and go out and test that position, no matter what the outcome is then, I think you can draw a lot from and I feel I can draw a lot from this experience rather than always feel like you're chasing because that win, you want that even if you're four or five shots back, that's kind of what we're shooting for and what I'm shooting for, so I'm looking forward to this.

Q. What will you have to do tomorrow to keep the lead?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: I don't know. I mean I have no idea. It's impossible to know today. I mean I've gotta come out tomorrow and try to be fresh again. You know, rest up and focus on the things I've been focusing on and hopefully that will take care of the rest.

Q. The putt you made off the fringe I think it was on 10, can you talk about that putt?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Yeah. Well, it was kind of probably four yards of fringe or fairway first and then four yards of green probably. So probably half the putt was off the green, so it was a little bit -- it wasn't an easy chip, because like we said, it's soft around the greens. When it's soft, you gotta nest the ball even more perfect when you chip the ball.
And that kind of went uphill and then downhill. So I wouldn't get enough check on the chip, so I felt I had to putt it. But judging the pace with four yards of fairway can be difficult, and it came up, you know, a little bit firmer than I expected, but that was certainly one of those momentum busters as I felt that that one hits the hole rather than standing there with maybe a six-footer coming back or something. That was a good break.

Q. Can you go over his birdies?
DOUG MILNE: I don't have it with me.
FREDRIK JACOBSON: I don't know. I let go of it. I don't remember.
DOUG MILNE: We'll have to do that one later.
FREDRIK JACOBSON: We'll have to do it again. It was tough enough to do one.

Q. You had, I think, a short one on 13. How did you not let that bother you?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Yeah. Well, you know, I think just by sticking to focus on the things that I want to focus on on the putting, I worked a bit on it earlier in the week and I kept working on it as the week goes on. So just my focus on hitting good putts.
And you know, these greens are pretty slopey and you've gotta get some tricky putts out there, and I certainly had a few today, so to get away with only one three-putt wasn't too bad. You know, I definitely felt I had maybe two or three more putts that was kind of really good to two-putt, you know, but that was a a slopey pin and it was a tricky pin there, so I felt the first putt was pretty good to get it up within four or five feet, but you still gotta roll those in. But yeah, it was pretty much one of those 50/50 if you will get it down in two or three.

Q. Is Jesper the only Swede to have won on the PGA TOUR, and what would it mean for you to win on the PGA TOUR?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: I think everybody's won apart from me. I think Richard Johnson has one. Gabriel Hjertstedt was actually the first Swede to win in '97. Jesper has won a few times. Carl Pettersson has won like two or three tournaments. Henrik Stenson has won. In Match Play I think he won. And THE PLAYERS. Sorry. That little one as well.
Yeah. I mean that's what I can remember straight up. Obviously Robert came close here a couple of weeks ago in Memphis. So yeah, there's certainly been a fair share of Swedish wins.

Q. What would it mean to join that group?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: It would mean a lot. That would be a lot of fun. That's why I came over, and I've been here for quite a long time now, since '03. I won a few times in Europe and I came over because I wanted to see if I can win here. That's always been my goal. That's the drive for me, but it's not really anything that I -- when I'm out there, you know, and things are clicking, I just want to focus on those things that get me to hit good shots and hit good putts and see if we can get it done.

Q. What is the closest you've come to winning?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Well, I've had three seconds. I know one was down in Florida. It was a shot back there. We finished up on a Monday morning. I think we were -- Daniel Chopra won. Yeah, Daniel has won here too. That's another one who's won a couple of times.
So we finished up on Monday morning, and he was one shot ahead of me and Shigeki Maruyama. Obviously we had three holes to play or something that Monday morning. He still had the par-5, so he birdied that one. We were already past that one. So he had a little bit of a (indiscernible), I guess. But it felt like there was a chance.
DOUG MILNE: That was at the Ginn.
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Yeah. And then I was second at AT & T where we played the U.S. Open last week after Anthony Kim. And then I had a second somewhere else.
DOUG MILNE: Valero.
FREDRIK JACOBSON: The Valero, Texas. Yeah. That was probably -- that's probably been my best chance. We played 36 holes. You know, kind of felt like playing in the last group, but didn't play in it because we stayed with the groups we had. But knowing teeing off the fourth round I was probably more likely like being there or thereabouts. Yeah, and Adam Scott won that one by one shot, I think. So Valero Texas Open. Yeah, so that's probably been -- that one and Ginn was probably the closest.

Q. Could you go over your approach to 15?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Well, I've been hitting driver every day. Just been kind of shooting for the right half of the green is where I aim there, and you know, hope to get it either on the green or around the green so you can get a chip or a putt.
But it's not an easy tee shot by any means. But you know, I certainly think it's an advantage if you can get it up there in a good position.
DOUG MILNE: Thanks a lot.

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