Determination to succeed and better himself has always been a feature of Fredrik Jacobson’’s life. Aged ten, he picked up his first set of golf clubs, was given a handicap of 40, and set himself the target of getting down to single figures; within five years, he had surpassed that and was a scratch player.
Therefore when he stood on the threshold of The 2003 European Tour International Schedule with a sizeable wish list, it was no surprise that each and every item revealed something more about his burgeoning ambition as a professional golfer.
“At the start of the year, I wanted to make the top 50 in the world,” said the 29 year Swede. “I also wanted to be in the top 15 in Europe, have two wins and score under 63.”
Come the end of the season, just as in his formative years, each and every one had been eclipsed in considerable style.
Prior to his maiden victory in the Omega Hong Kong Open he was 107th on the Official World Golf Ranking. After adding the Algarve Open de Portugal in April - following a ten week lay-off with a wrist injury - he came to the Volvo Masters Andalucia in 41st position. By winning it in dramatic fashion at Club de Golf Valderrama, beating Carlos Rodiles at the fourth hole of a sudden-death play-off, Jacobson leapt to 19th.
As far as the Volvo Order of Merit was concerned, the achievement was just as meritorious. After ending the 2002 campaign in 30th place, his triumph in southern Spain saw him sweep to fourth place behind Ernie Els, Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington with hugely impressive winnings of 1,521,302 euro (£1,060,666). Terrific company to keep indeed.
In the process, he also carved himself a niche in golf’’s record books. Not only did his fourth place finish on the Volvo Order of Merit equal the highest placed finish by a Swedish player in the history of The European Tour, namely Anders Forsbrand’’s fourth place finish in 1992, his trio of successes, eclipsing the target of two he had set, saw him become the first Swedish golfer to win three official events in the same season.
All that was left was the desire to post his lowest round as a professional, his previous best being the eight under par 63 he carded in the 2000 Murphy’’s Irish Open and which he matched with a six under par 63 on his way to victory in Hong Kong.
Not only did Jacobson better the mark, he smashed his personal best with a stunning performance in the opening round of the Linde German Masters at Gut Lärchenhof in September, ten birdies and an eagle seeing him become only the tenth player in history to score 60 in official European Tour competition.
The action remained in Spain the following week for the third edition of The Seve Trophy match at El Saler between the Continental Europe team captained by the man who gave his name to the event, and the Great Britain and Ireland side led by Colin Montgomerie.
With both sides having won one of the previous contests, all pointers were that the third playing would be close and so it proved, Great Britain and Ireland eventually running out victors by 15-13.
Although Continental Europe, in the shape of the ebullient Fredrik Jacobson, possessed the top scorer with four and a half points out of five, The Seve Trophy remained in Montgomerie’’s hands after the victory at Druids Glen in 2002, Padraig Harrington providing the half point to push Great Britain and Ireland over the winning line, birdieing the final hole to share the spoils in his match with José Maria Olazábal.
November proved to be a month of close finishes in team contests when the President’’s Cup in South Africa was shared 17-17 but there was no doubting the victors in the WGC – World Cup at Kiawah Island, where the South African duo of European Tour Member Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini triumphed by four shots over the English partnership of Paul Casey and Justin Rose.
Outside Europe, the individual performance of the month came from European Tour Honorary Member Vijay Singh, who ended Tiger Woods’’s hopes of topping the US PGA Tour Money List for the fifth year in succession.
Elsewhere there was congratulations handed down to India’’s Arjun Atwal, who won the Hero Honda Masters on his way to topping the Asian PGA Tour’’s Order of Merit. Denmark’’s Thomas Björn, who won the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan, Spain’’s Sergio Garcia, who claimed the honours in the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa, Thailand’’s Thongchai Jaidee, who won the Volvo Masters of Asia, and Liang-Wei Zhang of China, who ended a nine year wait for victory on home soil when he triumphed in the Volvo China Open.
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