Brandt

Snedeker

Snedeker has played just one event this season, posting a T59 in Napa before shutting it down with an undisclosed injury. His teacher, Scott Hamilton, shared a video of him recently and mentioned surgery but Snedeker appears to be ready for action as he’s in the early field for this week’s Memorial Tournament. Gamers should play the wait-and-see game before considering a reinvestment. Even in full health this hasn’t been a good spot for the Vanderbilt product, sporting five missed cuts, a WD, and a T60 over the course of his career at Jack’s Place.

Snedeker has dealt with hip and back injuries over the years. It’s unclear what caused this recent break but his instructor Scott Hamilton shared a video of Snedeker hitting balls again. “Pretty excited to have Brandt Snedeker back hitting post surgery.” There is no timetable for his return but this is encouraging that the wheels are back in motion for the nine-time PGA TOUR winner.

Snedeker is still searching for his lost form as he’s missed the cut in 14 (of 22) starts this season. He’s landed a pair of top 20s but nothing better than a T14 (The American Express). The 41-year-old is sitting on nine PGA TOUR titles but is winless since the 2018 Wyndham Championship.

Of all golfers in 2021, Mitchell golfed his ball most effectively as he made up for the highest percentage of his team scoring. Coming into this year’s event after a month away from competition, Mitchell will attempt to bring his 2022 form to New Orleans. He has been terrific this year, having made seven starts, five of which have gone for top-15 finishes. Missing only one cut, the steadiness and power off-the-tee Mitchell provides may allow Snedeker to free up as this year and TPC Louisiana have not been kind to him. 1-for-6 making the cut on this Pete Dye design, the 41-year-old arrives in miserable form, missing the cut in 6-of-7 starts. In his lone weekend appearance over the past two months, Snedeker did capture a top-20 finish at the Valero Texas Open where he led all players in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green.

The 41-year-old was attempting to become the first 40-something-year-old winner this season and was chasing his first TOUR victory since the 2018 Wyndham 87 starts ago. He opened with 73, got into position with chasing laps of 66 and bogey-free 67, but had nothing going on Sunday, falling to 4-for-12 as a 54-hole leader/co-leader. On eight (of 14) fairways and 11 greens in regulation, the Vanderbilt alum squared three bogeys at holes 5, 9 (missed par-saver from 3'5") and 18 (3-putt from 8'9"), gained 0.952 strokes off-the-tee but posted a -4.771 SG: Putting with 32 total putts. On a positive note, he’s now 5-for-5 at the Valero with five top 25s, however, hasn’t recorded an individual top-10 finish on TOUR since T6 here last year (27 starts ago). Snedeker did not qualify for this coming week’s Masters Tournament, missing his second straight edition, and wrapped the week here in San Antonio ranked 2nd SG: Tee-to-Green (10.926) though 69th (of 72) in SGP (-5.183).

The 41-year-old, who extends his par-or-better streak in the event to 19 rounds, matched the day’s low round with three others and will now be in the final threesome on Sunday with Beau Hossler (67), who he played with today, and Dylan Frittelli (70). He’s chasing a 10th TOUR title in 393 events, first since the 2018 Wyndham 87 starts ago, where he was the 54-hole leader by one and closed with 5-under 65 for a 3-shot, wire-to-wire victory. This is the Vanderbilt alum’s 12th 54-hole lead/co-lead, previously 4-for-11 converting, and first since the 2019 Safeway (Oct. 2018) 84 starts ago, where he led by three, closed in 2-over 74, and then lost in a three-man playoff to eventual champ Kevin Tway. Today, he penciled five birdies on 11 (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, posting 3.986 SG: Tee-to-Green and 0.722 SG: Putting, and is No. 1-ranked TTG thru 54 holes (9.975) though 49th SGP (-0.412). Snedeker, who checked in off five consecutive missed cuts, is a perfect 5-for-5 in the event with four previous top 25s and two top 10s, including a T6 last year (72-67-72-68) and a solo 4th on debut in 2011, where he was T3 at the three-quarter pole after being a 36-hole co-leader (69-72-70-71). This week is the 24th event of the PGA TOUR season and there’s been no winners yet from the 40-something-year-olds, and none since Lucas Glover (also age 41) at last season’s John Deere Classic. See link below to post-round comments.

Snedeker has been slumping lately, arriving on the heels of five straight missed cuts. After an opening 73, it made it 12 straight rounds without a sub-70 score. He flipped that script today as he locked in his irons to gain a whopping 4.72 strokes on approach, landing 15 greens along the way. This round could have easily been the round of the week, had he matched up the irons with a hot putter. Snedeker gave himself 13 birdie-or-better chances from inside of 16 feet today and he converted on eight of them. Gamers should monitor closely over the weekend to see if he can keep the momentum rolling after posting one of the best approach rounds of his career.

The 41-year-old, who moves over to the Nicklaus Tournament Course for R2, arrived off a season-best T36 at last week’s Sony, where he was T5 at the midpoint (66-65-68-70). This is his 10th appearance, missing his last two cuts (2021, 2018), and owns a couple of top 10s, most recently a best of T8 in 2012, prior to the current set of courses being utilized. The Vanderbilt alum owns nine TOUR wins in 386 events, most recently the 2018 Wyndham, and claimed the 2016 (multi-course) Farmers in Southern California prior to that. Today, he outpaced three bogeys with an eagle-3 and eight birdies on 13 greens in regulation, posting a sterling 1.385 putts per GIR.

Snedeker steadied 15 greens in regulation on day one but leaned on the putter today after finding just 12 GIR. Highlights included a 21'4" eagle splash at the par-5 ninth and a 26'4" birdie bomb at the 12th. In his post-round interview, he was most impressed with his off-the-tee performance so far. “Hopefully I can keep driving it the way I did the last two days, build on the momentum I have, and see a few more putts go in. Should be a lot of fun.” This isn’t Snedeker’s first taste of success at Waialae Country Club. He was the solo leader thru 36 holes of the 2016 edition before settling for a runner-up finish by week’s end. The Vanderbilt product arrived with nine straight finishes of T47 or worse so he could really use a big finish to rebuild some momentum.

Beginning the swing season on the wrong foot, Snedeker appeared to have found something in his game towards the end of fall. Missing the first three cuts of the season, the former FedEx Cup champion found the weekend in two of his last three outings on the PGA Tour. Gaining strokes on approach at the RSM Classic, Snedeker finished in a tie for 47th, his best results of the 2021-2022 season. If able to carry this momentum into Naples, Florida this week, he may very well replicate his 2015 QBE Shootout performance.