Brandt Snedeker got everyone’s attention with a 59 last Thursday at the Wyndham Championship.
It put a huge smile on the faces of the Wyndham folks, Sneds is their guy, he’s their rewards ambassador, he’s the guy they were pulling for on Sunday.
The latest member of the 59 club followed that up with 67 then 68 and needed a good one on Sunday, there were a bunch of guys on his heels, ready to snatch what the Wyndham folks hoped would be Brandt’s.
They were hoping it would be his second in their event and his ninth on the PGA Tour.
He didn’t disappoint.
Things were getting pretty tense at Sedgefield Country Club late in the afternoon. D.A. Points challenged early but fell off the pace late.
Webb Simpson was an attention-getter with a 62 that got him to 18-under while Sneds was still hard at work on the back nine.
Then there was pesky C.T. Pan, nipping at Brandt’s heels, refusing to go away, looking for a first win on the PGA Tour.
Make that more than pesky.
Pan briefly took the lead with a birdie on the par five 15th, got to 20-under then Sneds made his own on the hole everyone could reach. They were locked up at 20-under, a playoff not out of the question.
Missed birdies at 16 and 17 left Pan needing one at 18 to take the clubhouse lead. Disaster struck when his tee shot sailed too far right and out-of-bounds. He’d end up with a double-bogey six, fell back to 18-under and tied for second with Simpson.
“I had some noise in my head,” Pan said of his moment before the fateful tee shot. He took it in stride. “Overall I feel good about the way I played. Just one bad shot. It’s only my second year on tour, I’m still learning.” His consolation is knowing his runner-up finish jumped him from 108 to 63 in the FedEx standings.
As for Snedeker, he was the class of the field this week, winning this one for the second time. The first came in 2007 when he was Rookie Of The Year and the Wyndham folks took an instant liking to him and hired him. “They were my first big sponsor,” Snedeker said after he made one last birdie on his day, a curling 20-footer at 18 that had him more than fired up..
“To be able to step up and shoot 65 when I had to means a lot,” said the kid from Nashville who is on the comeback after a chest injury messed with his game last year.
He’s back and pumped about this win. He’s made huge progress since he started working with Butch Harmon. His swing looks great and that putter is still his most dependable weapon.
“I’m excited about the playoffs,” said the guy who won the playoffs and the FedEx Cup back in 2012. “I’ve won the FedEx before. I’m looking forward to this.”
In case you missed it, Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk played and finished T4 at 17-under. Perhaps he had a little chat with Snedeker afterward.
You see, a lot of folks are projecting one of those captain’s picks to Matt Kuchar, who hasn’t won since 2014.
Furyk may want to take a very, very serious look at Brandt Snedeker.
And if the Nashville Cat makes a bit of a playoff run, then it should become a no-brainer.
We’ll say it right now — put Snedeker on the Ryder Cup team.
He’s earned it.
2 Comments
baxter cepeda
Tom I’m usually pretty busy on Sunday coaching first Tee or at a junior tourney or even an ocean water polo tournament. Theres always something so like many golfers these days I often dvr my tourneys for Monday mornings.
Well… I cannot glance at my email Monday morning without you killing the results from sunday.
We’re in a new era T. Its Taboo to force feed people sports scores in the dvr era, certaintly within 24 hours of the event. Not even espn does that in their emails subject.
Im sure im not the only one of your ‘readers’ dealing with this inconvenience.
Maybe if the weekends winner wasn’t so clearly provided in the subject of your emails more people would stay subscribed And the ones whom want to learn who the winner was will click to find out.
I mean for all the over the top ways used as click bate, why not use something as simple as click here to see who won!
Food for thought because while your insights are questionable at times, I really respect you do what you love and wanna see you succeed. But only so long as you stop ruining results for me by simply glancing my email.
Tom Edrington
Sorry you feel that way Baxter…..we have to go with who is relevant. This is a big comeback for Brandt and the pressure was on him to go and win after shooting that 59 in the first round.