The Swede just couldn’t hold on. He realized Kaymer had made a birdie on the 17th to go one ahead, and not only did Jacobson fail to match him, he pulled his tee shot into the left rough on the 17th and took bogey. That put him three shots behind when Kaymer made one last birdie on the 18th, and Jacobson at that point was content to lay up on the par-5 18th and keep second place to himself.
“I felt I was very much in it,” said Jacobson, who closed with a 71. “Obviously, 17 was a bit of a swing after I hit my tee shot. I knew if I was going to have a shot at it, I probably had to get up-and-down to have a realistic chance.”
Graeme McDowell finished with two birdies for a 67 to finish alone in third, quite a turnaround from last week in the Andalucia Masters when he failed to break 80 in the last two rounds at Valderrama.
Rory McIlroy made a short birdie on the par-5 18th that gave him a 69 and proved significant. It put him in a three-way tie for fourth, allowing him to move past Lee Westwood to No. 2 in the world.
Westwood, playing in the same group as McIlroy, shot 40 on the front nine and closed with a 74 to tie for 13th with Ian Poulter and Xin-jun Zhang of China, who inspired the gallery by holing a pitch for eagle on the 16th hole to salvage a 72.
Kaymer has experience going low. Sunday in Shanghai reminded him of his first year as a pro when he played a mini-tour in Germany. After a par-bogey start, he played his last 16 holes in 14 under to shoot a 59.
Europe now occupies the first four positions in the world ranking, starting with Luke Donald at No. 1.
Even though he wasn’t at Sheshan International — his wife is expecting their second child — Donald came out a big winner.
PGA champion Keegan Bradley had a 72-72 weekend, keeping him from a third win this year that could have changed players’ minds about their vote for PGA Tour player of the year. And with McIlroy failing to win, it kept Donald with a $1.4 million lead in Europe as he tries to become the first player to win money titles on the PGA and European tours.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.