Brandt Snedeker goes wire to wire at Wyndham Championship

Brandt Snedeker goes wire to wire to win his ninth PGA Tour title at Wyndham Championship

Brandt Snedeker grabbed all the headlines during the first round of the Wyndham Championship on Thursday when he shot the ninth 59 in PGA Tour history to gain a four-shot lead after the opening round.

From there, the 37-year-old American produced rounds of 67-68-65 to finish three shots clear of C.T. Pan and Webb Simpson to secure his ninth PGA Tour victory – 11 years since his first at this very tournament. 

Snedeker went wire-to-wire but had several players hot on his heels, leading by just one after others charged when completing their weather-delayed third rounds. He even briefly lost his lead on Sunday with a bogey on the 13th, but regained a share at the top on the 15th and ended with a 20-foot final-hole birdie putt to guarantee victory. 

Pan, who had come to the final hole tied for the lead, double-bogeyed the last, and with Snedeker’s birdie ended tied for 2nd place with Webb Simpson, who shot a stunning 62 on the final day of the touranment. 

For Snedeker, who has struggled with injury last year, it meant the world that his kids could see him with a trophy. 

“It means the world to me that I have not failed them finally,” Snedeker said. “It’s a great teaching lesson for them. They’ve seen how hard I’ve worked. They’ve seen the amount of time I’ve spent away from them trying to get to this point, so it’s good for them to see, hey, it works, pays off.

“I guess I’m turning into Bubba Watson and wanting to cry every two seconds out here. But being my first Tour win, having Wyndham believe in me in 2007 when I was a 26-year-old kid and being my longest term corporate sponsor out here and a family really … to do it here, to shoot 59 on Thursday, to be in the lead all week, to deal with that pressure every night, to be able to step up to the plate today and shoot 65 when I had to means the world to me.

“If you keep your head on straight and do stuff the right way and keep working your tail off, you do get rewarded. So I think more than anything else, I’m more proud of that fact.”

It’s been a difficult road the past two and a half year’s since his last win, and he said his mental strength clearly showed over those last 18 holes. 

“Today’s when you find out, okay, am I going to hold up, is the stuff I’m working on working, is it TOUR-tested in a sense, and it was great to hit some quality shots down the stretch.”

“(I’m) a lot stronger than I thought I was. I still got a lot of great golf in me and I’m excited about the FedEx Cup Playoffs. I’ve done this before, I’ve won that thing, I can’t wait to try to make a run at Atlanta and try to win the FedEx Cup Playoffs because I’m playing great.”

And Snedeker thinks he’s hitting form at the right time heading in to the playoffs. 

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

WITB: Brandt Snedeker

Driver:
Bridgestone Tour B JGR prototype (9.5 degrees), with Graphite Design IX-6X shaft

Fairway: 
TaylorMade M3 (15 degrees), with Fujikura Pro 73 Tour Spec shaft;
TaylorMade M3 (19 degrees), with Fujikura Pro 85 Tour Spec shaft

Irons:
Bridgestone J15 Cavity Back (4-9), with Aerotech SteelFiber i95 S shafts

Wedges:
Bridgestone J40 (48 degrees), J15 (52 degrees bent to 51, 56 degrees bent to 55), Titleist Vokey Design prototype (60 degrees), all with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts

Putter:
Odyssey White Hot XG Rossie

Ball: 
Bridgestone Tour B X