Jacobson completes hat-trick

Sweden’s Fredrik Jacobson, who did not have one victory in his first 160 European tour events, is certainly making up for lost time.

The 29-year-old last night became the only European player to win three tournaments this season after beating Spaniard Carlos Rodiles at the fourth hole of a play-off in the Volvo Masters at Valderrama.

Jacobson went from 14th to fourth on the final Order of Merit for 2003 and almost certainly guaranteed himself a debut in the Masters at Augusta next April by capturing the €595,612 first prize.

He has also taken a huge step towards a Ryder Cup debut next September.

But he will be asking himself today how on earth he managed it after standing on the final tee two behind.

“It is quite unbelievable the way this story has been going up and down,” said Jacobson. “I have had two play-offs before and lost both, but someone was looking out for me at times here.”

The former world junior champion had just taken a double bogey seven on the 17th, his pitch rolling back into the lake that swallowed up three of Tiger Woods’ balls during his winning of the 1999 American Express World Championship.

But Rodiles bogeyed the last while Jacobson birdied it with a fantastic approach to two feet and that meant sudden death. Except it was not sudden.

Rodiles had chances to win from seven, 25 and 18 feet on the first three play-off holes, but missed them all and Jacobson, inches from the water with his drive on the third of them, made escape after escape and lived to fight another hole.

With the light fading fast – echoes indeed of last year when Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer shared the title after two extra holes – Rodiles was the one finally to pay for a wayward drive.

Interestingly, George O’Grady, managing director of the European tour, said the play-off might have continued under lights or been continued this morning. A sharing of the title is now viewed as something to be avoided at all costs and last year’s situation a one-off rather than a precedent.

Being so close to home, it was a huge disappointment for 28-year-old Rodiles, chasing his first European tour success and the five-year exemption that went with it.

The pair tied on the 12-under-par mark of 276, Rodiles missing a little bit of history with his closing bogey. A par then would not only given him the trophy, but also made him the first player ever to go through an event at Valderrama with four rounds in the sixties. Not even Woods managed that.