Snedeker Hopes to Get Season Untracked at Pebble Beach


Brandt Snedeker's victory in last year's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am seemingly was the start of another great year. Coming off a two-title 2012 season, the Nashville closed with a stellar 7-under 65 to win last year's AT&T by two strokes over Chris Kirk.

But, despite another win in July in the Canadian Open, a career-best $5.3 million in earnings - $2.6 million of which he won in his first five events - and a third-place finish in the FedEx Cup standings, Snedeker was again waylaid by a chronic rib problem.

The injury flared up in the final round at Pebble Beach, when his drive on the 14th hole sent stabbing pains into his rib cage. Though he managed to hold on for the victory, he was forced to miss the next six weeks dealing with the problem.

Snedeker, now 33, was diagnosed with a condition called low bone turnover, in which the bones in his rib cage don't regenerate quickly, causing them to become brittle and break, a situation he's experienced in four of the past six years.

Compounding matters for Snedeker was a strained ACL in his left knee that occurred during a fall at a corporate event in China in November. Since then, he's returned to health, but his play has suffered, with his best finish of the new season a tie for 11th in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in January.

But the effervescent player known for his quick, no-dallying-around playing style is hoping to turn around his year this week at a place he's enjoyed past success. "I feel like my game's - even though the results aren't there - the game's actually really close. So I'm excited for the week to get underway and see how my game stacks up," he told reporters Wednesday.

Snedeker starts his "comeback" in the first round at Spyglass Hill. His amateur partner is longtime friend, investor Toby S.Wilt. They'll be paired with Brian Gay and Peter Ueberroth, the owner and co-chairman of Pebble Beach Co. and a former Major League Baseball commissioner.

Here's what else Snedeker had to tell the media about during a Q&A held on the eve of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am.

MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Brandt Snedeker to the interview room. Brandt won the 2013 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am. Start with just a few opening remarks and then we'll go to questions.

BRANDT SNEDEKER: It's always great to be back here. This is probably my favorite place in the world, let alone favorite places to play golf. So it's great to be back, especially with all these good memories coming back from last year. And I got the same partnership, weather looks okay the rest of the week, not great tomorrow, but should be a lot of fun. And I feel like my game's, even though the results aren't there, the game's actually really close. So I'm excited for the week to get underway and see how my game stacks up.

MODERATOR: Okay. Questions?

Q. You left here last year on a real roll. Can you talk about the season as a whole and how hard it was to try to get that momentum back.

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, it tough. Any time you got lot of confidence and a lot of momentum and you get hurt, you come back there's a lot of uncertainties as to how your body's going to feel, how your game's going to feel. And it was tough to getting that confidence I had at the beginning of the year. I felt I was at a stretch where I could do no wrong and everything seemed to be going the right way and I was at a low maintenance point in my golf swing, everything was great and then to find that confidence again - I had moments where I had it again last year, but I didn't have the consistency I had at the beginning of the year. So that was tough. So it's obviously a big thing I worked on this off season and it hasn't shown up yet, but it's really close. I was watching the footage last night of last year's tournament and I feel like I'm doing a lot of things a lot better than I was last year and just not quite coming through. So I'm excited for what this next couple stretches, next little stretch for me should entail some pretty good golf.

Q. Was there any particular part of your game that wasn't quite there?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: The putting was never quite the same as it was the beginning of the year. I know I ended up okay in the putting stats, but my putting has been bad the start of this year, it was mediocre at times middle of last year, just real streaky, which is unlike me. Normally my putting's pretty consistent. So I've been working on it hard and it's close, I can do it on the putting green, I just can't do it on the golf course. So it's frustrating, but that's golf. It makes you think you got to figure it out, it let's you know that you know absolutely nothing. And I'm still working on it and hopefully I can get the consistency back at some point.

Q. What was the injury, a hip?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Broken rib.

Q. Are you healthy now?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: I'm healthy. Yeah, its just, I tell everybody, my main goal at the beginning of the year is to stay healthy for a full year. So far I achieved my main goal for the year, I'm healthy and off to a good start in that aspect. And body feels great, so it's just about getting the golf game back to where it was.

Q. I know we talked about this at media day a few weeks ago could you talk about your thoughts as to the addition of Monterey Peninsula Country Club Shore Course to the rotation of the event?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: I think it's been a huge success for us as players. It's a great golf course, it adds a completely different aspect to the three course rotation just because of the different kind of golf course Monterey is. It's a shore course, there's a lot of open areas, it's a beautiful layout. So it's added a lot. I think the players love playing it, the amateurs love playing it, it's very picturesque and it's one of the favorite courses we play all year, so it's a great addition to the rotation.

Q. What do you think about the quarterback lineup with Peyton coming in, now you got Brady, Manning, Rodgers, Alex Smith, why do quarterbacks migrate to golf?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: I don't know the - you'll have to ask them that. I guess it's the preparation and the wanting to master something that I guess that they haven't had time to do. Something I see a lot of quarterbacks later in their career playing a lot of golf. So I guess it's a similar motion and they're used to competing and want to still compete. Those guys are all unbelievable competitors. I think you see that come through the most and see a lot of those guys take that competitiveness into golf. So I think that's why they like being here.

Q. Speaking of which, this is a tournament you're playing with amateurs and celebrities and three different courses, the greens, a lot of guys don't come to this event as a result, is it a different mindset for you because you got to be more patient you're going to have longer round out here?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: I think that you got to embrace it. You've got to enjoy the fact that you get to meet some different people you normally wouldn't meet. I made a lot of great friends playing this tournament throughout the course of my career. I enjoy the week. I have a great time with it. Some guys can look at it as a negative. There's always going to be those guys that do that. And that's fine with me. It means that it weeds out some guys that don't want to be here. And I have a blast with it. I made a lot of great friends through the years doing it and the golf courses speak for themselves, they're some of the best in the world. So a chance to see some good old friends and play some great golf courses is a win/win for me.

Q. When you look back to last year, is there any one particular thing that stood out in your mind this week last year?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Just the way I managed my game was, I kind of used that as my model of how I should play golf. I did a great job here over the course of the four days. I managed myself really well, didn't leave myself any tough up and downs or short side myself or make any mental mistakes really, it was pretty flawless from that side. It's something that we all try to do and that's so hard to do. That's one thing I looked back on and realize how sharp I was mentally handling everything and trying to get that edge back. It's always a constant battle, trying to find that happy medium between being too intense and being relaxed and patient and being aggressive. So it's something you're constantly working on and it frustrates you because you feel like you have it and it leaves you and you got to try and find it again, so I think that's why I love the game.

Q. Are you intense right now?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: I'm always intense. (Laughter.)

Q. What's, can you give us a health update. Is everything good?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: I'm great. Yeah. I cannot wait to have a press conference where we don't talk about my health. I realize I got to go through a stretch where I'm actually healthy so I can avoid those questions, but the health is great.

Q. Did you have a wrist issue?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: No, not at all. Just, I mean, wear and tear. I'm almost 34 now, body's getting old. Body's just not holding up.

Q. That's going to go over well here. That's great. That's great. What is the, in your mind, what is the secret to putting poa or is there one?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: No secret. I think the biggest thing you got to do is hit your putts solid. If you hit them solid you have a great chance of staying on the line. And you still got to be aggressive. You got to hit the putt with some pace to give it a chance. You got to hit it two to three feet by the hole and accept the fact that you're going to have to make a lot of those this week. I think guys that try to or I did, at San Diego, my speed was off, and I was barely getting putts to the hole and they weren't going in accordingly, so you need to be aggressive and still hit putts pretty hard and make sure that you're hitting them solid. If you miss-hit a putt here it's got no chance whatsoever. So it's great. I think that's why I loaf poa so much, because it puts such an emphasis on how you hit the putt and how you strike it and the pace of which your putts are going in the hole at.

Q. I know that a part of your new health and regimen and wellness regimen has been a recent change in diet. Would you talk about what you did there and how that's going for you?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, it's miserable, but it's - I cut out soda, cut out lots of any saturated fats, fast food, that kind of stuff. And that's kind of my two things that I love doing. So it's been tough, I've been on it for about three weeks now and body feels better - I'm not happier, because I'm not eating the stuff I love - but my body feels better. It's just something I got to do. I got to be proactive for the rest of my career. I've had way too many injuries for a guy my age, so I'm trying everything I can think of to counteract that and diet is one of those things I can do. So we're trying it and see how it goes. And hopefully I can get through, if I get through a whole year without an injury, I'll probably stick to it.

Q. You were talking about watching last year's replay of the tournament. We happened to be watching that last night. And I noticed you were talking about the way you approach putting the greens. You had about a 5 footer for par on number 8 that almost jumped out of the hole coming back, you hit it so hard. Can you give us a little feel for your thought process on that putt?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Well, I think it's probably the same thought process on every putt. There's certain putts you can be aggressive with and certain putts you can't. I remember that putt, it was a left to right putt and it was still up the hill a little bit, so it was one I could still be aggressive with. And on poa annua greens, if you hit putts firmly and hit them solid, they got a really good chance of going in. And I was putting really well last year, obviously, so I was hitting a lot of putts really firm and accepting the fact that I might hit a couple four or five feet by and I made a lot of putts doing that. So I think I hit all my short putts really firm. I always hit them three or four feet by and it was no different on that one.

Q. I don't know how much you've seen Jordan Spieth play and I'm curious what you think as to why he's made the transition so quickly from college to pro, where a lot of guys are coming out of college early, it seems like, and discovering there's a lot of good players out here, it's hard to kind of make that impact, but he's obviously broken through a lot quicker. Why do you think that is?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: I think if you spend five minutes with the kid you see why. He's a very mature 20-year-old. He's got a great head on his shoulders. He plays like a 40 year old veteran out here. Never gets he might get upset with himself, but he never hits shots, he never compounds his mistakes, he never makes all the rookie mistakes that you would think somebody like him would make. And he does a great job of staying in the moment and doing all those things that it takes, I think takes years to learn. He obviously found the secret. Maybe I should ask him what he does. But he does a great job of doing that. And he's talented and the kid's got a lot of talent and a lot of heart and I love seeing kids that are like that, that want to compete and he just wants to compete. And that's a hard thing to find. You find too many people that come and don't want to compete and he wants to get in the middle of it and compete. And I love seeing that in young kids.

Q. There was this about your health - no. (Laughter.) Have you ever been in intimidated?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Intimidated?

Q. Yeah.

BRANDT SNEDEKER: You mean on the golf course or.

Q. I guess what I'm getting at, to be really direct here, there was a feeling, if we go back a decade or so ago, when Tiger was doing this, of how much people were intimidated and I think there's a feeling now, and maybe it's just age or whatever, that players coming through now are getting so much better, your Jordan Spieth example, etcetera, that stuff is long gone. And just from your own experience I guess I'm curious I think when you came out was there -

BRANDT SNEDEKER: The first time you play with a Tiger in a tournament there is an intimidation factor. I think the second time you play with him, you kind of realize he's a normal person. That there's not this robot that is unbelievable, he's actually a normal guy and hits occasional bad shots too and plays golf just like we do. So I think the first time you play with him, you kind of get used to it. And then as you play with him more and more you get more and more used to it. Now, I wasn't out here on Tour when he was blowing everybody away by 15 shots, so I don't know what it was like out here and what guys thought about it. I just, I think anybody I mean I I don't see intimidation as a factor I shouldn't say I don't know how to say it. I don't think intimidation really plays in golf any more. I think guys come out here with the mindset of I'm going to win and I don't care. You know, I'm going to go play as good as I possibly can and see what happens.

But the first time I played with Phil I was intimidated. I mean the guy's won 40 times, you know, so once you get used to seeing them and playing with them and being around them. I think it's different. The first time I played with Tiger I was intimidated just because I hadn't played with him before, I didn't know him.

Q. Vijay?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Vijay a little bit, yeah. I mean the first time I saw Greg Norman I was intimidated coming out here, just because I never met him before. I don't know. You have no clue what to say to these guys, you have no clue how to interact with them. I was just a fan like everybody else was, so the first time you meet those guys you don't know if they're good guys or if they're going to tell you to go screw yourself or whatever.

Q. Is that what Greg said?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Greg actually was great to me the first time I met him. But I guess that's the intimidation factor you're playing with somebody who you have only seen on TV and you never spent any time with and you have an idea in your mind of what they're going to be like, but you don't know until you get in the moment, so there's always that uncertainty I guess is the best way to put it.

Q. Did that stem from their personalities or in Tiger's case just the fact that he won so many majors?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Just that these guys are the best in the world at what they do. Any time you're around the best in the world you kind of give them their due respect. I mean that's, I think that everybody in golf should have that respect for whoever, whoever has come before you, that's played that great, that they are owed a certain amount of respect for what they have accomplished on the golf course.

And as a young kid coming out here, when you see them for the first time, it's awe inspiring, because these are guys you look up to, you want to model yourself out of, you want to play the way they played and win the tournaments that they have won. So I think that's probably part of it is you're seeing guys that you have grown up idolizing, you've seen guys that you have a certain idea in your mind about and you get to meet them or play against for the first time, it's something different, you've never have that feeling before. So it's as I've gotten older, I've gotten more and more used to it and realized how to go about it. But the first couple times I did it, it was tough.

Q. What do you think young kids thing think you're like?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: They probably hate me. (Laughter.) No, I don't know. I don't think of myself that way. That's what's so funny is I've been out here for seven years and I don't think of myself as one of those guys. That's, you know, that's done all this stuff. I'm just still this kid trying to figure it out in my mind.

Q. You said you were old a minute ago.

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, I know you, but I look at Phil whose 43 I think whose won 40 times. I've won six. I got a long way to go. I'm still a kid in my mind compared to him. Or Davis is another guy I looked up to a lot. He's won 20 times out here, you know. So still feel like I'm learning every year and learning a lot of stuff. So I feel I've only been out here for seven years, those guys have been out here for 30. So it's a little different.

MODERATOR: Okay. Well, thanks for your time, Brandt, good luck this week.

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Thanks.

The transcript for the above interview is courtesy of ASAP Sports.