Pebble Beach Pro-Am: Brandt Snedeker relieved to book Masters berth
Tuesday 17 February 2015 11:47, UK
Brandt Snedeker admitted he had struggled to keep his emotions in check after wrapping up an impressive three-shot victory in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
The American has endured a lean 18 months since his last PGA Tour win at the 2013 Canadian Open, tumbling out of the world's top 60 and leaving himself in danger of missing the Masters for the first time since 2010.
But Snedeker's superb performance on the Monterrey Peninsula propelled him back to 31st in the world rankings to guarantee his place at Augusta National in April as well as the first World Golf Championship event of the year at Doral in a fortnight.
"It feels awesome," said a tearful Snedeker, who dropped only one shot in 72 holes and finished on 22 under to break his own scoring record for the tournament, which he set when winning the title in 2013.
"I'm emotional right now, tt's been a long time since I felt this feeling and it's really special. It was a great day, I didn't play perfectly, but I fought really well and I'm just so thankful that this week is over now. It was stressful.
"Probably the only time I've cried walking off 18th green was this week, because everything I've done the past year-and-a-half I've put my wife through. When you're not playing good, the home life is not always great because you take it out somewhere and she's been a huge supporter of everything I've been doing."
Snedeker recently turned to coach Butch Harmon in a bid to arrest his slide down the rankings, and the move played handsome dividends as he marched to his seventh career PGA Tour title.
Confidence
"Butch did a great job of kind of helping me understand how I swing the golf club, what I need to do to be successful," he added. "The great thing about Butch is he's not technical at all. He instills confidence in you when you don't even realise he's doing it.
"There was so much on the line today, so much stuff going on in my mind I had to quiet down. I got emotional on the 18th green because I suddenly realised how important this win is for me.
"It gets me back on track to where I feel I belong. I want to be relevant again and I think I'm relevant again. I don't like playing golf not feeling like I can compete and win."
Meanwhile, Dustin Johnson was delighted to earn a tie for fourth place after a closing 66 - his fourth sub-70 score of the tournament - in only his second start since returning to action following a six-month self-imposed absence.
The big-hitting American missed the cut in his first outing since July at Torrey Pines last week, but he atoned with his best performance at Pebble Beach since winning back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010.
"Second week back out playing and it keeps feeling better and it's getting close, it's going to be really good here soon," said Johnson, who had just 22 putts in the final round.
"My short game's feeling good, my touch is coming back, and I really feel like I'm swinging well, so I think that next week's going to be a good week too."
Johnson shared fourth on 17 under par with Jason Day, who is looking forward to a two-week break after following up his victory in last week's Farmers Insurance Open with another encouraging display in California.
The Australian has finished in the top four in three of his four PGA Tour starts this year, and he will skip the Northern Trust Open and the Honda Classic to recuperate ahead of the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Miami at the end of the month.
