Sometimes all it takes is returning to a familiar place for a golfer to find something in their game.

Such was the case on Thursday at the 3M Open for Brandt Snedeker. The 42-year-old’s first professional victory came in the Land of 10,000 Lakes in 2006 and a decade later, returned for his first Ryder Cup appearance, where he contributed three full points in three matches for Team USA.

Perhaps it should be no surprise, then, that Snedeker went low, posting a seven-under 64 in Blaine, Minnesota. Though that leaves him one shot behind leader Lee Hodges, the bogey-free round has to be an encouraging sign for Snedeker, who is continuing his return from a scary sternum injury and an experimental surgery to fix it.

He played first at the Memorial Tournament in June, where he tied for 41st. Since then he has missed the cut in all four events he’s played. One of the nicest and most positive guys on tour, Snedeker didn’t let the string of bad results get him down.

“I knew coming back, it was going to be a lot of excitement, I was going to have a great attitude, everything’s going to go as good as it possibly could, and there’s going to be a lull after that just from lack of competition and lack of playing,” Snedeker said. “I was anticipating it. It’s never easy to go through it. The hardest thing is making sure you stay positive knowing that when you do turn around, you’re able to take advantage of it.

“Just kind of a lot of hard work, a lot of hitting balls and practicing when I’m home and missing cuts and going home on the weekend and practicing my tail off. That’s the only thing I know to do to get better. So hopefully, kind of all the work’s kind of paid off and ready to go now, start playing some good golf.”

He played some good golf on Thursday, indeed and will head out on Friday to try to continue his upward trend.

Taking advantage of the conditions

Hideki Matsuyama was also able to take advantage of lower winds in the morning at TPC Twin Cities. The 2021 Masters champion put on a ball-striking clinic in the first round en route to a bogey-free, seven-under 64, which tied him for the lead at the time.

He led the field in strokes gained/tee to green and strokes gained/approach, picking up more than four strokes on the field in the latter category. Matusyama’s average proximity to the hole on his approach shots was 13 feet, 10 inches on Thursday. For reference, the average proximity on approach shots for tour players from the fairway is right around 30 feet. So, yeah, that was pretty good.

Matsuyama tied for seventh at this event two years ago after opening with a 64. He’ll be hoping for a slightly better result this time, especially after withdrawing after the first round last year with a wrist injury that has nagged him at times over the last couple of years.

Justin Thomas. David Berding

Post-season golf looms large

Justin Thomas was not planning to play this week. But the threat of missing post-season golf — something Thomas has not done since the 2013-14 season — is very real. The former World No. 1 has missed five cuts since the Masters, his best finish in that stretch a T-9 at the Travelers.

This is unfamiliar territory for Thomas, who has finished in the top 10 of the FedEx Cup standings every year since he won the FedEx Cup in 2017. He was No. 75 entering this week, which, in past years, would have been safely inside the top 125 threshold for making the playoffs. But the elimination of the first playoff event means that only the top 70 make the playoffs going forward, hence Thomas’s presence in Minnesota this week.

Much has also been made of the possibility of Thomas missing out on the Ryder Cup in Rome. A US stalwart, Thomas has been on every winning Presidents and Ryder Cup team since 2017, and even put up four points in five matches during Europe’s runaway victory in France in 2018. He’d be a big loss, on paper, for the Americans should he not qualify or be one of Zach Johnson’s captain’s picks.

Playing Thursday afternoon in whipping winds, Thomas closed strong with two birdies in his final five holes to post a two-under 69, a pretty good round in the afternoon wave. He’s five shots off the lead heading into Friday. If the winds are as calm at the beginning of the second round as they were in the first round, Thomas could well find himself in contention come the weekend, something he desperately needs this week.

Thomas is not the only player in the field jockeying for position in various standings as the regular season winds down. Defending 3M Open champion Tony Finau is well outside the automatic qualifying spots for the Ryder Cup, entering the week at No. 19 for the US — only the top six qualify for the 12-man roster.

Can't stop. Won't stop.@TonyFinauGolf is on another level. pic.twitter.com/MQV3WFJmnD

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 27, 2023

Finau started on fire on Thursday morning, starting on the 10th tee with four birdies and an eagle in his first six holes.

He wasn’t as clean coming home, carding two bogeys and a birdie, but was still able to card a five-under 66 in his title defence.

Cameron Young, who has risen to No. 15 in the World Ranking without winning a PGA Tour event is another Ryder Cup hopeful. The 26-year-old is in much better form than his aforementioned compatriots, with back-to-back top 10s entering the 3M and only two spots outside of an auto-bid into the Ryder Cup. He also struggled in the afternoon winds, fighting to stay at even-par after one round.

Young has a good case for a captain’s pick, but Johnson may want to see some more elite form from the would-be rookie, especially with the matches taking place on European soil.

Another former FedEx Cup champion in danger of missing the playoffs is Billy Horschel. The 2014 champion matched Finau with a morning 66, but needs excellent results this week — and likely next — to make the playoffs.

“I’ve never not been outside the top 70 … that I can think of, so I wasn’t really too worried about it,” Horschel said on Tuesday. “But now that I’ve looked at it, it is a really daunting task. You have to play well to be able to be in the top 70.

“I think, talking with some guys and, you know, I was a part of those PAC meetings at the time and I was part of the top players group discussing some of these changes. You know, I think we all thought 70 was a good number. Now looking back at it and talking with some guys, we’re thinking maybe that number needs to be a little bit more, maybe it needs to be around 100, maybe it needs to be around 90.”

A few more rounds of 66 may do a bit to quell Horschel’s concerns.

The post 3M Open Day 1 takeaways: Brandt Snedeker’s encouraging day, a ball-striking clinic and post-season golf looms large appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

It started, like so many underdog stories, with a near disaster. On the first hole at TPC San Antonio, Spaun blundered his approach shot into the left rough, hacked out to 60 feet, and ended with a double bogey. Before the rest of the leaders had even posted a single score, he had dug himself an early hole. To his great fortune, though, the rest of the leaders would falter through a painful Sunday, while Spaun’s day would only get better.

“Honestly, it didn’t bother me as you would think,” he said after the round. “If anything, it kind of calmed me down. … I knew there was still a lot of golf and I’d rather double the first hole than the last hole, if I was patient and plugged away, I might put myself in contention.”

Beau Hossler, in the final group, was seeking to become the first player to win on the PGA Tour with a sponsor’s exemption since Martin Laird in 2020, and to complete a rapid turnaround after slipping below 400th in the World Ranking earlier this season. He played a strong front nine to reach 12 under, including a chip-in birdie at six, but a bogey at 10 knocked him back. He then lived out a nightmare on 14, butchering the par-5 to the tune of a double bogey:

From 2 back to 4 back.

Beau Hossler takes an unplayable and makes double after hitting it over the green at the 14th. pic.twitter.com/LrPAr3XKma

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 3, 2022

He finished the day right where he started, at 10 under, which marks his second excellent result of the year after a third-place finish at Pebble Beach, but which will come with its share of regrets for what might have been.

Those regrets also will plague Brandt Snedeker, who came off five straight missed cuts to vault into a share of the lead after a 66 on Friday and 67 on Saturday. In his last 18, though, he couldn’t make a single birdie, and a three-over 75 performance to fall to T-18 ended in mild embarrassment with a rushed three-putt on the last hole.

Like his playing partners, Dylan Frittelli was also at a loss, answering every birdie with a bogey until a rough stretch midway through the back nine ended his chances.

In the absence of any fireworks among the other leaders, Spaun regrouped after his double bogey and began his slow rise to the top of the leader board. A brilliant approach on six yielded his first birdie of the day, and an up-and-down birdie on the par-5 fifth brought him back to even. Then on the ninth, trailing Hossler by two, Spaun responded to a bad break (his ball hit an NBC microphone) by pitching in from 50 feet:

Up and in

Perfection from @JJSpaun below the green. pic.twitter.com/l3JMREGf5s

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 3, 2022

As the leaders collapsed around him, Spaun played a steady back nine highlighted by a birdie at 11 and another at 14. By the time the endgame came around, Hossler was nowhere in sight, Frittelli and Snedeker were even further afield, and all Spaun had to worry about was a late charge from Matt Kuchar. (Matt Jones shot a field-best 66 to reach 11 under, two shots off the eventual winning score, and was one of the few players to best Jordan Spieth, who shot 67 in his final round before the Masters.)

The last moment of real drama came after Kuchar’s birdie on 17 to bring him within two shots heading to the par-5 18th. There, Spaun seemed to open the door just slightly with a pulled drive into the native area. But Spaun recovered safely into the fairway, forcing Kuchar to go for the green in two from 284 yards. His miracle attempt faded too early, and too much, and when the ball splashed into the water, Spaun knew a par would be plenty to seal the deal. His approach left a bit to be desired, but a terrific lag from 50 feet guaranteed his maiden Tour win.

Spaun has struggled with health issues in recent years after doctors told him he had diabetes but misdiagnosed the kind. Carmen Mandato

Spaun became the first player to win after making double at the first hole since Tiger Woods at the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Unlike Tiger, Spaun needed this badly for his career. After reaching the PGA Tour for the first time in 2016, he put together three steady but unspectacular years. Then in his fourth full season, he endured unexpected weight loss. Diagnosed with diabetes, Spaun changed his diet and routine, but wasn’t feeling any better, later learning he was misdiagnosed with Type 2 when he suffered from Type 1. He stumbled to a 185th-place finish in the FedEx Cup points race in the 2019-20 season and followed that with 174th a year ago. Now, he’s got his full exemption, financial security, and a spot at Augusta. It marks quite a change of fortune, and he knows it.

“I think a year ago … I would have been telling you I have to do a lot of work to [stay on tour],” he said. “But to be here and overcome a lot of things and finally get a win? It’s everything you dream of.”

Dreams were a big theme of his post-round remarks, when Spaun admitted that the prospect of Augusta had floated into his thoughts on Saturday night.

“It’s something you dream of as a kid, playing at the Masters,” he said. “I was thinking about it last night, but there was still so much to be done. You’ve got to do your best to stay in the present. That’s what guys who win do that week, they take it one moment, one shot at a time.”

With a taste of success like this, Spaun will undoubtedly stick to the plan for the rest of the season, but it’s a good bet that despite the benefits of a zen mentality, he might take a moment sometime on Sunday to think ahead to what awaits him at Augusta National. For all the benefits of staying in the present, there are days when the future’s not so bad either.

The post How J.J. Spaun got past a horrible start, became a PGA Tour winner and is now going to the Masters appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
Believe it or not, we’re seven months into the PGA Tour’s 2020-21 “Super Season.” There’s already been three majors (with three more to come!), a Players Championship and a pair of WGCs. It may feel like there’s still a ways to go, but in reality we’re more than halfway done.

With that being the case, it’s officially time to start sweating for some of the game’s higher profile players, and by sweating we mean keeping an eye on the FedEx Cup standings. This season, a number of former major winners, tour winners and usual FedEx Cup Playoff locks are on the outside looking in at the moment. Yes, there are 18 events left until the first leg of the playoffs, The Northern Trust at Liberty National, which seems like a lot until you consider that we’ve played 27 tournaments already, so some serious ground needs to be made up.

Here are eight tour pros who you might be surprised have work to do to get inside the top 125 by season’s end.

Steve Dykes

Rickie Fowler (Current FEC ranking: 128th)

Rickie’s slump has been well-documented, and yet, of the names on this list, he’s the closest to cracking the top 125 as it currently stands. It helps that his “slump” has included a T-29 in the November Masters, a T-21 at The American Express, a T-20 at Riviera and a T-17 at Valero the week before the Masters, his best finish since the WGC-FedEx St. Jude last summer. No, none of those finishes are up to Fowler’s standards, but they’ve been good enough to keep him hanging around that 125 mark. Like his buddy Jordan Spieth, Fowler seems to be very invested in “the process,” one he hopes will net similar results to those Spieth is seeing. If it doesn’t soon, however, he’ll be in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in his PGA Tour career.

• • •

Kevin C. Cox

Justin Rose (Current FEC ranking: 135th)

Rose began to show flashes of his former World No. 1 self last June, starting with a T-3 at Colonial, the first post-pandemic tour event. He backed that up with a ninth at the PGA in August and a T-2 at the European Tour’s Saudi International in early 2021. A bad back knocked him out of Bay Hill while he was in contention, though, and it seemed like an issue that seriously stunted his progress. Then he grabbed the first-round lead at the Masters and contended deep into the weekend, ultimately finishing solo seventh. If the back holds up, there’s no doubt he’ll be a regular contender again, which would seem to make advancing into the FedEx Cup Playoffs a formality. The Englishman has advanced to the playoffs 12 straight times, including 2018, when he infamously won the FedEx Cup despite not winning the Tour Championship (some guy named Tiger won that one).

• • •

Steve Dykes

Brandt Snedeker (Current FEC ranking: 136th)

Like Rose, Snedeker is another former FedEx Cup champion who has been a regular in the playoffs. Injuries combined with poor form have been an issue in 2020-21, although he seems to be turning a corner. Just two weeks ago, Sneds tied for sixth at the Valero, his first top-10 since the 2020 Farmers Insurance Open. He’s in the field this week at the RBC Heritage, an event he won in 2011 and has four other top-25 finishes.

• • •

Kevin C. Cox

Gary Woodland (Current FEC ranking: 140th)

Woodland, like Rose and Snedeker, also has had some injury concerns that have led to a rough stretch for the 2019 U.S. Open champ. Back in the fall, Woodland finished 72nd at the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek, then withdrew from the Zozo Championship at Sherwood his next start, and could be seen lying on a tee box with back pain before being carted off. He’s had a semi bounce back since, with a T-16 at the AMEX and a T-6 at the Valero, and appears to be feeling better. Though, following a solid first round at the Players, Woodland said if it flares up again he’ll have to go under the knife. For now, he’s playing better and feeling better, which he should be able to start capitalizing on. Woodland hasn’t missed the playoffs since 2012.

• • •

Harry How

Byeong Hun An (Current FEC ranking: 151st)

You might laugh at Benny An making a “big names” list, but An was once ranked 24th in the world, and he hasn’t missed the tour’s postseason since 2016. The super season has not been kind, however, to the 29-year-old former U.S. Amateur champion. In 15 starts he’s missed eight cuts, with only one top-10. He’s too talented for that to continue, though if the putter remains ice cold it may be too much to overcome.

• • •

Jared C. Tilton

Phil Mickelson (Current FEC ranking: 157th)

Even last year, when Mickelson’s struggles began, he still was able to sneak into The Northern Trust, continuing his streak of making it to the playoffs every season since their inception in 2007. That streak is now officially in danger, as Lefty has failed to post a single top-20 in the 2020-21 season. The ball-striking has turned around, and he continues to grind his face off, but the putter, once one of his greatest weapons, has vanished. If Mickelson is to be believed, he’s “close,” and he often does his best work with his back against the wall. As of now, he’s not currently in the U.S. Open field, and it’s becoming increasingly likely that he gets left off the Ryder Cup team for the first time since 1993. Those would be two crushing blows for Mickelson, who wants to still compete with the young guns but knows a life of dominating the PGA Tour Champions, and/or sliding into the broadcast booth is calling.

• • •

Kevin C. Cox

Danny Willett (Current FEC ranking: 159th)

Willett, like so many other European Tour pros, had his positive momentum get somewhat stifled by the pandemic. He had just began to turn his career back around in 2018 and 2019 with multiple European Tour wins, but in the post-COVID world he has just two top-10s in 25 starts. The good news—one of those came recently at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, a sign he’s settling back into PGA Tour life. He’s since followed up with consecutive MCs at the Valero and the Masters, but will look to get back on track at Harbour Town, where he’s MC’d in all three career appearances.

• • •

Jared C. Tilton

Henrik Stenson (Current FEC ranking: 170th)

Like many of the names above, Stenson’s game has gone completely missing over the last year and change. The former World No. 2 and FedEx Cup champ won the Hero World Challenge in 2019 just before the calendar turned to 2020, but has been a mess since, with zero top-10s to be found. There was signs of life last week at the Masters, where he was one under after 54 holes and wound up tying for 38th, but he’ll need a lot more than T-38s to start climbing the rankings. If he fails to reach the playoffs, it would mark the third straight time he’s missed the postseason, though one of those years, 2019, Stenson was eligible but skipped them entirely.

The post 8 players you might be surprised have work to do to reach the FedEx Cup Playoffs appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

At this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Snedeker made one of the craziest birdies of the season after his tee shot on No. 18 wound up on the beach. Here’s a refresher:

Beach golf. ?

The best birdie you will see all day.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/foSCjq0ZS0

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 7, 2019

And incredibly enough, on Thursday, Snedeker played the hole in nearly identical fashion during the first round of the 2019 U.S. Open. Again, this is NOT a replay:

Don’t question Brandt Snedeker’s 18th hole strategy. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/3IawBOpkVL

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 13, 2019

What are the odds? Incredible.

Also, we might need to re-shoot the video we just made on how to approach this famed par 5 (see below). Clearly, Snedeker has discovered a superior way to play it.

The post U.S. Open 2019: Brandt Snedeker makes a birdie from the Pacific Ocean (Part TWO!) appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
Kevin Tway plays golf with a voice in his ear, one capable of alternately cajoling or critiquing or even cursing, and, on this day probably, crying. The voice has a name, too. Tway calls him Dad.

Father Bob Tway was the winner of the PGA Championship in 1986, the most memorable of his eight career tour victories. He holed a bunker shot on the 72nd hole to beat Greg Norman by two strokes.

“I always have him right here on my shoulder,” Kevin said at the Northern Trust Open in August. Kevin taps into his father having “played at the highest level for 30 years,” calls it “a good tool to have.”

They talk every night, he said, though on Sunday night, Kevin might have left him speechless.

Kevin, 30, won the Safeway Open with a closing series of clutch golf, including his holing a 12-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole to beat Ryan Moore at the Silverado Resort in Napa, Calif., after making birdies on the 17th and 18th holes in regulation.

It was Kevin’s first PGA Tour victory, coming in his 91st start. He had never finished better than third before.

“He always told me I had the talent,” Kevin said of his father. “I don’t think I believed him until now.”

RELATED: How much money every player earned at the Safeway Open

Golf is a sport in which fathers pass down their passion, playing with their sons and daughters, but in the history of the PGA Tour only 10 fathers and their sons have now each won tournaments. The Tways become the first since Kevin Stadler won the Waste Management Phoenix Open in 2014 to join dad Craig Stadler as tour winners.

“I think he’s probably crying, to be honest,” Kevin said when asked what his father’s reaction might be in the immediate aftermath of his son’s victory. “He’s pretty proud of me. It’s been a long road, but this is why you work hard right here.”

Other factors are involved, too, and on a windy Sunday, Brandt Snedeker was among them. It was his tournament to lose and he did just that, squandering what once was a five-stroke lead on the back nine, shooting a final-round 74 and winding up in the playoff with Tway and Moore. The latter two each birdied the first playoff hole, the par-5 18th, while Snedeker parred it to end his bid.

Tway and Moore again birdied the 18th, the second playoff hole, and moved over to the par-4 10th. Each hit the fairway, but Moore’s second came up just short of the green and he made par. Tway, outwardly calm, unnaturally so for one in uncharted territory, followed with his winning birdie putt, his fifth straight when you add the two to finish regulation and three in the playoff.

“It felt amazing,” Tway said afterward. “I wanted to do a little more, but thought it might look weird with a fist pump.”

He did a small one. Act like you’ve been there before, they say in sports, and Tway did so, perhaps guided by the demeanor with which he plays.

“Honestly, I was just trying to hit good shots,” he said. “Trying not to think about it. I stayed patient in the regular round. Kind of got hot at the end. Birdied the last five holes, actually [two in regulation, three in the playoff]. That always helps. I’m kind of at a loss for words. I’m pretty happy.”

That makes two of them, Kevin and the man he listens to more than any other, the man on his shoulder with the voice in his ear.

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By Joel Beall
PARAMUS, N.J.—A week after shooting a 59 and winning the Wyndham Championship, Brandt Snedeker has pulled out of the Northern Trust.

The PGA Tour initially announced a chest issue as the reason for Snedeker’s WD. However, the PGA Tour Communications Department later clarified Snedeker was dealing with back spasms.

“I thought I’d be okay to play today after hitting some balls this morning, but after consulting with the training staff, we feel it is best to err on the side of caution,” Snedeker said.

The 37-year-old was sidelined for parts of 2017 after suffering a rare (for golfers) sternum joint injury, one that impacted his game this season in return.

“This was an injury that I probably talked to 15 doctors over the course of these last 12 weeks or 14 weeks, and not one of them had ever really seen it in a golfer before,” Snedeker said last year at the RSM Classic. “They’d never really run into this kind of injury without a blunt force trauma to cause it. So the uncertainty of how to fix it, the uncertainty of can it be fixed without surgery, will it go away, will it not? It’s just tough when you don’t have any real idea of how you’re going to fix it.

“It gets to a point where it gets so inflamed and so sore, my sternum was moving independently of each other. So it literally felt like my sternum was cracked or broken. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t do anything if I went and practiced for an hour. But if I go hit a ball and wait 10 minutes, I was OK. But if I practiced or did anything like that, it would just really get to a point where it hurt to breathe, hurt to move, hurt to do anything.”

The issue reemerges at a critical time for Snedeker, who was hoping his win in Greensboro, coupled with a strong push in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, would lead to a Ryder Cup bid.

“I think I’m a great teammate, I do a lot of stuff that’s really important for match play,” Snedeker told Golf Digest on Wednesday at Ridgewood. “I’m a very positive guy, easy to pair with, good short game. So I can help out in those atmospheres, and more importantly I just want to be a part of the guys. It’s fun when you’re on those teams being a part of it and enjoying that time together as a team. It’s something we always cherish and can’t get enough of.”

Snedeker started the week 30th in the FedEx Cup standings, giving him plenty of cushion into next week’s event at TPC Boston and the following event at Aronimink. He said he hopes to play in next week’s Dell Technologies Championship.

The post Brandt Snedeker withdraws from Northern Trust with injury appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
PARAMUS, N.J. — Brandt Snedeker didn’t look tired on Wednesday morning at Ridgewood Country Club, though he had every reason to be. The 37-year-old is coming off an emotionally, mentally and physically draining victory at the Wyndham Championship, one that included a history-making 59 on Thursday and a 29-hole, marathon Sunday that got way more nerve-wracking than he hoped it would. No one would have blamed him if he was running low on energy.

That was far from the case when he arrived at the Mastercard Club, where he’d be competing in a Topgolf event alongside Keegan Bradley and former USC football great Reggie Bush. Sneds was his normal upbeat, always-smiling self as he snapped photos with fans, trash-talked Bradley and, ultimately, won the competition on his final swing. The man can do no wrong.

He can only hope that trend continues this week at the Northern Trust, where he comes in 30th in the FedEx Cup standings after entering Wyndham in 80th. Suddenly, Snedeker would appear to be a legitimate threat to win his second FedEx Cup and, more intriguingly, a candidate to steal a captain’s pick on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

That was not a prospect he or anyone else was considering this time last year, when a nagging rib injury forced Snedeker to call it a season before the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He was able to make a return at full health this past November, but up until June, didn’t appear to be much of a factor on tour, failing to register a single top-10 in his 15 starts back.

But as he’s proven in the last three months, while these comebacks take time, all it takes is one good week to flip the switch. A T-6 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic that included a second-round 62 was a good start, but a T-48 at the U.S. Open and a missed cut at the Travelers Championship soon followed. Still, Snedeker knew things were coming along nicely, something he proved two weeks later at the Greenbrier, carding a final-round 64 to tie for third, his best finish since a T-3 at the 2016 Wyndham Championship.

“I started hitting the ball better and playing better [at the Greenbrier], kind of getting out of my own way and started doing some positive stuff,” Snedeker said. “It was really good. Then I go to the British Open and play terrible after a couple good weeks, and then I end up going to Canada and find something, start playing good there.”

A T-8 at the RBC Canadian Open marked his third top-10 in six events as he continued to trend in the right direction. Two weeks later came an 11-under 59 at Sedgefield Country Club, which he backed up with 67, 68 and 65 for a wire-to-wire victory, his first since the 2016 Farmers Insurance Open.

“To be able to go out there last week and get it done, to know that this has been coming for awhile, I felt it for awhile and to be able to step up there and do it was really special.”

Those good feelings have bled over into this week, as Snedeker comes in re-energized and refocused, knowing there’s still much work to be done, especially if he wants to be seriously considered by American team captain Jim Furyk. Given how he’s played of late, it’s certainly a thought he’s entertained.

“Yeah, I mean it’s there, but I’ve got to go play great golf next four weeks to do that,” Snedeker said. “It’s always in the back of your mind because you want to be a part of it. But to do that I’ve got to go out there and play well.”

For Snedeker to earn this late-season consideration is not only a testament to this hot streak, but how well he fared at Hazeltine National in 2016, posting a 3-0 record and coming up clutch on the greens. But his best trait may have been that Snedeker energy, as he memorably ignited the Minnesota crowds and his teammates every chance he got. That’s the element that, if selected, he hopes to bring once again.

“I think I’m a great teammate, I do a lot of stuff that’s really important for match play,” he said. “I’m a very positive guy, easy to pair with, good short game. So I can help out in those atmospheres, and more importantly I just want to be a part of the guys. It’s fun when you’re on those teams being a part of it and enjoying that time together as a team. It’s something we always cherish and can’t get enough of.”

With Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods almost certainly taking up two of the four captain’s picks slots, that leaves very little margin for error for Sneds over these next few weeks if he wants one of the two remaining spots. Judging by how he responded to everything he’s faced over the last week, and the last year, you might not want to bet against him.

The post Brandt Snedeker on his Ryder Cup chances, and the element he could bring to the U.S. team if chosen appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
For 71 holes, C.T. Pan played well enough to earn his first PGA Tour victory at the Wyndham Championship. Rounds of 65, 64 and 67, plus a bogey-free, six-under round through 17 holes on Sunday put him at 20 under on the final tee, tied for the lead with Brandt Snedeker, who wasn’t as sharp on Sunday as he had been in a week that began with a round of 59.

Then came Pan’s worst swing of the week on Sedgefield Country Club’s 18th tee, as his ball sailed well right of the fairway, hitting the cart path and then a cart and bouncing out of bounds. It led to a double-bogey 6, after which Snedeker finished par, birdie on his final two holes for a comfortable, three-stroke victory, the ninth of his career. This marks the second time he’s won the Wyndham Championship, the first being is first PGA Tour victory. While that one came at a different host site at Forest Oaks Country Club, Snedeker was still clearly emotional to win the event a second time, especially after battling through an injury a season ago.

“I guess I’m turning into Bubba Watson, wanting to cry every two seconds,” said Snedeker, who posted a final-round 65 for a 21-under 259 total. “Being my first tour win, having Wyndham believe in me in 2007 when I was a 26-year-old kid and be my longest term corporate sponsor out here, to do it here, to shoot 59 on Thursday, to be in the lead all week and deal with that pressure every night and step up to the plate today and shoot 65 when I had to, it means the world to me. My family’s here, so a lot of stuff going on that’s making me emotional.”

Snedeker now is one victory away from double-digit PGA Tour wins. It is his first victory since the 2016 Farmers Insurance Open, and it moves him to 30th in the FedEx Cup standings, meaning he’ll now have a legitimate shot at winning the FedEx Cup for a second time, the first coming in 2012.

“I’ve still got a lot of great golf in me,” Snedeker said. “I’m excited about the FedEx Cup Playoffs, I’ve done this before. I’ve won that thing. I can’t wait to try and make a run in Atlanta and try to win the FedEx Cup Playoffs, because I’m playing great. It’s going to be a lot of fun the rest of the year.”

While it will be no easy task to come from behind and win the whole thing, Snedeker is confident he has as good a chance as anybody. Not surprising from a guy that just went wire-to-wire to win.

“Pretty hard not to think that,” he said. “I just shot 59 on Thursday and won the tournament, so I’m kind of one of those players that gets on hot streaks and runs them while I can. So hopefully I can keep doing that.”

Pan, who finished with a final-round 66, earned a T-2 result at 18-under 262, his best result of this season and his first inside the top 10. It also matches the best finish of his career, which came at the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open. After starting the week 108th in the FedEx Cup standings, Pan moved to 63rd, putting himself in great position to play at least three more weeks.

He’s joined by Webb Simpson, who fired an eight-under 62 to vault up the leader board on Sunday. Simpson’s Ryder Cup captain, Jim Furyk, shot a seven-under 63 on Sunday, which put him in a tie for fourth with D.A. Points.

The post Brandt Snedeker holds off C.T. Pan for his ninth career victory at the Wyndham Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By E. Michael Johnson
Brandt Snedeker used an opening 59 and a 72nd-hole drive out of bounds by C.T. Pan to win the Wyndham Championship, but to say Snedeker backed into the win would be shortchanging the Tennessean who now has nine wins on the PGA Tour.

That’s because although Snedeker’s well-known prowess on the greens was mostly absent on the weekend. Snedeker hit 17 of 18 greens Sunday, helping him not only avoid the big mistake, but also putting him in good enough position to cash in six birdie opportunities—including one at the last to put a capper on the round—for a final-round 65 and his second Wyndham title.

Snedeker’s irons are Bridgestone’s J15 CB, a cavity-back players iron model. Interestingly, Snedeker does not use steel iron shafts like most tour pros, instead opting for Aerotech Steelfiber shafts that weigh 95 grams (about 30 grams less than standard steel shafts) with a stiff flex. The Steelfiber is a graphite shaff that is designed to perform like steel but with the dampening and weight benefits of graphite and is also used on the PGA Tour by Matt Kuchar, among others.

Another tip of the equipment cap also belongs to the Titleist Vokey prototype 60-degree wedge that Snedeker used to produce a nifty up-and-down from greenside rough for a critical birdie on the 15th hole. In all, Snedeker ranked second in strokes gained/tee-to-green for the week.

And more importantly, first on the leaderboard at day’s end Sunday.

What Brandt Snedeker had in the bag at the Wyndham Classic

Ball: Bridgestone Tour B X
Driver: Bridgestone JGR prototype (Graphite Design IX-6X), 9.5 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade M3, 15 degrees
5-wood: TaylorMade M3, 19 degrees
Irons (4-9): Bridgestone J15 CB; (PW): Bridgestone J40
Wedges: Bridgestone J15 (51, 55 degrees); Titleist Vokey prototype (60 degrees)
Putter: Odyssey White Hot XG Rossie

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By Christopher Powers
Brandt Snedeker has done two of the hardest things in golf already this week in breaking 60 and then backing it up the following day with another strong round. Yet Sunday he faces his most daunting task this week following the suspension of the third round at the Wyndham Championship, where Snedeker played just seven holes on Saturday before inclement weather intervened. With 29 holes left for Sunday, his quest for career victory No. 9 just got that much harder.

Snedeker fortunately gave himself extra breathing room, playing the first seven holes at Sedgefield Country Club in two under on Saturday. The putter was rolling nicely once again, as Snedeker made a 59-footer from off the green at the par-4 second for his first birdie of the day. His second came at the par-5 fifth, where he laid up from the right rough and then stuck his third shot to nine feet and holed the putt. When play resumes on Sunday at 8 a.m. EDT, Snedeker faces the 374-yard par-4 eighth, where he’ll begin the day at 16 under, good enough for a three-shot lead over Brian Gay.

Gay, 46, posted an even-par 70 on Thursday, but has vaulted into contention by playing his last 30 holes in 13 under, including Saturday’s six under start through 12 holes that included a front-nine 30. The four-time tour winner has not won since the 2013 CareerBuilder Challenge, but has given himself chances at a fifth victory in what has been a late-career revival in 2018. He has finished inside the top 10 five times, including a third at the RSM Classic. His $1.8 million in earnings already is the most he’s made on tour since 2009, when he won twice and made more than $3.2 million.

Also through 12 holes and in the mix is Trey Mullinax, who is at 12 under thanks to a four-under start to his third round. He’s tied for third with Keith Mitchell (three under through eight holes), C.T. Pan (one under through seven holes) and D.A. Points (even through six holes).

The leader in the clubhouse is Michael Thompson thanks to his third-round seven-under 63 that saw him climb 34 spots on the leader board. He’s at 11-under 199 through 54 holes. Sergio Garcia is also at 11 under following a two-under 33 on the front nine, which was all he was able to get in.

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