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TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

June 26, 2011

Fredrik Jacobson

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

JOHN BUSH: Okay. I'd like to welcome and congratulate Fredrik Jacobson. Fredrik, you're the seventh Swedish foreign player to ever win on TOUR. You move up to 18th in the FedExCup standings. Do you want to talk a little bit about what this means to you and then we'll take some questions.
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Yeah. I mean obviously it means a great deal. I came over in '03 after having won in Europe, and I had my eyes on the U.S. TOUR, and obviously after winning a couple of times that year, I felt pretty good about winning, and I didn't know it was going to take this long before I won one. But whoever waits for a long time all the sweeter when it comes together.
So it's been an exciting journey up to here, and you know, now I have the FedExCup race the last two years and we've got some great tournaments coming up later in the year. I normally go back to Sweden a little bit in the summertime. When the kids are out of school, we try to get some holiday back there. So after next week I'm going to go back for three weeks, so this couldn't have been any better timing before having some vacation.

Q. I heard you promised your daughter the win. Can you go over what that conversation was?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Yeah. Yeah. Every off season it's been part of my goal to win tournaments. You know, sometimes you think maybe if I set a goal to win two tournaments, it would be easier to win the one.
But 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?"
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.

Q. How do you spell Emmie?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Emmie is five. E-M-M-I-E, and Alex is seven and Max is three. They're probably going to want one each now, too, so there we go.

Q. Fredrik, on 15, a couple of things on hole No. 15. First of all, your tee shot was one of the lowest ones we've seen all week. Tell us about that. And as for the birdie putt slid by on you, the roar came out of 16, and you probably figured that Ryan had birdied there to tie. What were you thinking at that point?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Well, I -- you know, I was pretty clear before the day that what had been working and what kind of kept me in a good rhythm all week was to focus a lot on my routine and on my preshot stance to really get me into every shot and just try to do the same thing over and over, as tiring as it can be, but just try to wear the course out by just hitting solid, hitting the ball solid.
Like you mentioned that tee shot, that was one of the few shots I didn't hit solid, so I caught that one a bit thin and it ran down the fairway there and left me kind of an awkward distance for a second shot because they had that pin up on the slope, and my idea was to hit the 3-wood to the upslope of the green, but I caught it so poorly that I ended up with like a 35-yard shot. Being a little bit soft conditions and you have to stop it quick. It's not really a shot you fancy.
But I hit a great shot there. So I was happy to get a look at it. We misread the putt a little bit and it missed. And then I did hear the roar, and I figured it was getting tight. I didn't know, I wasn't looking. And you know, I figured everything was up in the air, you know. I figured somebody was either tied or ahead of me or I didn't know. I just tried to keep hitting shots, and I figured after the second shot on 18 I was going to look. That's how I did.

Q. You've played in conditions like this before. It's been a bad weather week. When you've played in conditions like this before, has it affected your game?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Well, the conditions have actually not been too bad for us when we've been on the course. It's been quite a long wait sometimes or a lot of early calls in the morning. And you know, you never know with weather once it comes in. I'm glad we got it finished today. It could have lasted a bit longer.
So you know, you just try to rest up as best you can. I told my caddie I think after Friday, I said, well, this is turning into a little bit of a sleeping contest as well, see who can get the most hours in before, knowing that it was going to be a really long day on Saturday that I had to play 32 holes yesterday. So I figured the one that can be the most rested, you know, sleeps in the car on the way back to the hotel and call for some room service, try to get everything in quick so you can maximize your sleep because tee-off was at 7 again. And you know, but the course played good.

Q. Rollins said earlier that he had a number in mind, he thought 20 would get it done. One, did you have a number in mind today, and if so, what was the number and how aggressive did you feel like you had to be out there given the way the course was playing?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Well, I made my mind up. This was the first time I got into the last group in any tournament. So I've been the chaser many times being within a few shots, and it's a pretty stressful situation where you go for a lot of shots, try to make those putts to close the gaps to where you feel you can get into that rhythm, so I thought today it's not for me to stress. I'm the one that can afford to take 10, 15 feet on the safe side of the flag and just try to get as many looks as possible.
I took generous targets and then I just tried to stay aggressive with this, although I thought I did a great job with that. And when it comes to the number, you know, I figured maybe 4, 5-under would have a good chance if I shot that, but I didn't really want to focus on a score too much. I just wanted to focus on the execution on every shot.

Q. What's next? Can the momentum carry you?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Well, I'm just enjoying this moment now. I have no idea what tomorrow brings, but this is something I'm enjoying dearly and a very special moment and a special time where a lot of work and a lot of patience has come together, and just to soak this in.

Q. On 18 did you see Ryan Moore miss that putt, and can you just talk about how you finished?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: I kind of heard, you know, a couple of, you know, we get this sometimes where "oooooh." And you know, I figured -- I heard like two or three of them up by the greens, so I figured nobody made birdie, first of all.
And I didn't really know. I kind of thought that it was Ryan that was playing well, because I heard -- I think he was on 17 or something when I saw it was him putting.
But then 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. We've got a one-shot lead. But that was only after the second shot that I wanted to know.

Q. Can you talk about your approach on the 17th hole and on a day when there were so many birdies, how big of a par was that to get the up-and-down on 17?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Yeah. That was huge. That was one of the shots that I really missed and I didn't pull it off. I was kind of in between the wedge and a 9. I went for a soft 9, tried to kind of hope it in there and probably came over it a little bit. And when you do that, gained some yardage on it, so it became a very really bad situation to be chipping from back there with that side slope and running away from me.
And walking off I wish I would have smashed a wedge and probably -- I was worried because it had been spinning a lot on that green earlier in the week, so I was worried if I just throw it to the flag that I might spin off the green short. That's why I went for the soft one and thought maybe I could use the backstop with that, but I don't know, it was so much longer and I hit it pretty soft. So I think it was a little tough and whether the wind was helping. I just didn't want to leave it short, so I guess I went with the safe club, but it didn't turn out that safe.

Q. You usually show a fair amount of emotion on the course. You can tell when you're hitting a good shot or bad shot. You seemed fairly even keel today, at least on the back nine. Was that part of your strategy?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Yeah, it was. I didn't want to get too excited about anything. I just wanted to -- since my goal was to put as good of a swing and as good of a routine as I could on each shot because I feel I've had a good mantra going for a couple of weeks here.
You know, I didn't want to get too excited and start hitting the ball any harder or start swinging it longer or get any of those things. So I just wanted to -- I'm excited enough out there and I've got enough will that I thought I didn't need to pile myself up anymore.

Q. I think you're the eighth first-time winner this season. I'm wondering if it seems there's a pattern there, why so many guys are kind of breaking through this early in the year.
FREDRIK JACOBSON: I don't know. I mean I guess it goes in cycles sometimes. It's been a lot of maybe -- yeah, I haven't really thought about it, so I don't really know what to say on that one, but I guess it's good to get a bunch of guys in the mix, to get more players to win tournaments and to spread it out, I guess. You know, especially get some young guys like Rory winning last week, I think that was huge for golf. I think it's really exciting playing with that class, the way he strikes the ball. You know, that might have been his second win over here, but that was his first major, and I thought that was a spectacular one to see him do so well.

Q. There weren't too many birdies hit today. So how much confidence does that give you finishing off the front nine with the birdie?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Yeah. That was nice because I think that was the first putt I made that had any length to it. I made a couple of putts from like four or five feet for birdies, which is certainly nice to make those. But I kept putting up good chances, and I felt that was close, and it was nice to get.
You make one of those like 20-footers or something, you suddenly feel like you see the line a little bit clearer after you see one go in or feel a little more comfortable, so I think in that aspect it was really nice.

Q. You said you're playing next week and then taking three weeks off?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: Yeah. Does this get me into the British? I don't know. Won't be that much time off.
JOHN BUSH: There's a many Money List and you currently lead that. The last event in that is next week at the at & t.
FREDRIK JACOBSON: How many spots is that?
JOHN BUSH: About two.
FREDRIK JACOBSON: All right. I'll let you know next week. How about that?

Q. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I heard that there's like a joke with your friends that they call you best handicapper in the world?
FREDRIK JACOBSON: I haven't heard that one before. But maybe it's something they don't want to tell me straight up. It's out now though, eh? Who was it?

Q. (Indiscernible).
JOHN BUSH: Okay. Thanks a lot. Congratulations.
FREDRIK JACOBSON: All right. Thank you.

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