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BUICK CLASSIC

June 10, 2004

Fredrik Jacobson

HARRISON, NEW YORK

CHRIS REIMER: Here with Fredrik Jacobson, a 7-under 64, west first round on the PGA TOUR. Last time you were in the interview room after the first round you had to leave for the birth of your new baby. How's everything going with that.

FREDRIK JACOBSON: Oh, it's all going very good. It all went well during the circumstances, been really happy about that. Also a little bit of bad timing last time for one of the first times I really was in it after the first round, but at the same time looking at it now, since it happened at Wachovia, it feels extra nice to be back in the same position that soon after.

CHRIS REIMER: 64 today. Is there something about this course that you particularly like? Is it playing well for your game.

FREDRIK JACOBSON: Well, I did find this course a little tough last year. I mean, it is a tough course and it's tough around the green with thick grass. I mean, I was hitting a lot of fairways today. If I missed it on the par 5s I put it in position for the wet shots. Me and Richard, my coach, worked a lot last week, so he was in for five or six days there and that was really nice to see that coming along and also having my regular caddie back, who's been off since Hilton Head, it was nice to get back together and start off with a good round.

Q. You got pretty lucky out there going early. You might have hit some bad weather. Talk about getting out of it early and now being in the clubhouse dry.

FREDRIK JACOBSON: I mean, some weeks when it comes into play, I'm not really sure what the weather is going to be like for the afternoon, but in Memphis at the same time I really felt I pulled the tougher part of the draw being late on the first day, early on the second, and this was the first time this year where I really felt there was a big difference. Maybe that's the case, but we never know what's going to happen this afternoon or tomorrow, but it was definitely good conditions for us this morning, not cold temperature and very little wind.

Q. Aside from the weather part, how about just getting in early, posting a big number. 64, it's going to be tough for anybody to shoot much lower than that today, so you're obviously off to a good start and in already.

FREDRIK JACOBSON: Yeah, it's always nice to post a good number early in the tournament. I've got a bit of time off to have a good rest after it. When you start off playing as good as I did the first five, six holes, it kind of puts you in a little bit of a -- you get into a tournament a bit quicker than you normally do, so you burn a bit more energy when you're 5-under after six holes and you're getting that Sunday focus on already on Thursday morning. It will be nice to have the afternoon off and have a late one tomorrow.

Q. Do you like playing here? I remember last year you came over for an Open qualifier in a crazy situation, and then you translated that into a good Open performance, as well. Do you like these style courses up in this part of the country?

FREDRIK JACOBSON: Yeah, I mean, I like the variation of golf courses, and I think before I came here I saw the PGA TOUR as being very similar week in and week out. We thought we had a lot of different weather and courses, but now with a little bit more experience having played almost a full year on and off, I do notice that it's very different from the beginning of the year to the summertime when we come up north, and it's just fun when it's a bit of variation, and now we're coming into the tournaments with a bit more rough and the U.S. Open and now we go to Britain and playing something completely different there. I enjoy that part.

Q. Can you pinpoint one thing or two things that you did correctly this morning?

FREDRIK JACOBSON: Yeah, I think the two things, I mean, of course on a course like this is to keep the ball in play off the tee. I did that well. I didn't put any tee shots in position where I couldn't get myself out of it.

I really took on the par 4s that were a little bit shorter, I tried to go with driver today because I practiced the wedges so hard and started off hitting good wedges in the beginning. I kind of wanted to give myself a few more of these. I think that's the key, and of course to knock those four, five, six, seven, eight feet in, that worked well.

Q. Will you change your approach for tomorrow?

FREDRIK JACOBSON: If I can do exactly the same tomorrow, I would love to.

Q. You obviously made a lot of strides over the years. Do you feel like you're sort of on the brink of elevating your game to even another level? Do you see yourself as a Top 10 player? Are you of that caliber?

FREDRIK JACOBSON: I mean, I think for the last year I'm not far off. I'm around 20th in the world right now, and if I keep playing well, keep working hard, I think to be in the Top 10, I mean, what it feels like I need to do is to win tournaments over here or win a big tournament, a major or something, that would move me right up there.

I mean, I think the consistency has been there. I think the golf weekly has one kind of ranking where you see consistency, and I just saw I was fifth on that ranking over the last 12 months. Yeah, maybe for the last year, looking at that ranking. I don't want to say two years. I mean, it's tough to say, but there's always all kinds of ways to look at it. Three of the last four majors has been Top 20 finishes, two in the Top 10s. I think I've been up there.

Q. In a field with an Ernie and a Vijay and a Phil, do you look at those guys and say these are guys that I can play with, that I can beat in any given week?

FREDRIK JACOBSON: I think that's the privilege of getting to play over here for the last year, that it gets you more used to it, and that's what I was looking for coming here. Playing in Europe only coming into the British Open once a year, it felt like a big vacation for a player like myself before playing more regularly with these guys. I think that's what helped, when I qualified last year and did well in the U.S. Open, getting to play more of these big tournaments and you have these guys all the time around is very inspiring, and also if you can play well and finish ahead of them every now and then, of course you gain confidence and feel like you have a much better chance.

CHRIS REIMER: Let's go through your birdies and bogeys, your club selection.

FREDRIK JACOBSON: 2, hit a wedge up to five feet.

3, hit another wedge to six feet.

Eagle on 5, hit the 3-wood up to 60 feet, 70 maybe.

6, that was another wedge to ten feet.

Bogey on 8, I was just on the fringe. I had a 13-footer for birdie that lipped out and missed the one coming back.

Came back with a birdie on 9, laid up and hit 54-degree wedge to two feet.

Birdie on 10, also laid up and hit 58-degree wedge to nine feet.

17, hit another 58-degree wedge to six feet or something, seven feet.

Q. Would you describe the eagle putt?

FREDRIK JACOBSON: Well, it was a roller coaster. It went up two tiers. I was on the first tier going up one slope and level for a while, going up the last slope, the pin was on the back tier, and it was just one of those -- I think I put my putter up when there was still ten feet to go. It was straight on-line and it's very rare you get the pace and everything right on a putt like that, but once it was on the way there, I thought I wouldn't be surprised if it goes in. I had one-putted the first four holes.

CHRIS REIMER: Good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts.

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