Background and career
Brandt Newell Snedeker (born December 8, 1980) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He won the 2012 FedEx Cup with a victory in the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club, a win that moved him into the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career. In February 2013 after winning the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, he moved to a career high of No. 4 in the world. On August 16, 2018, he shot the tenth sub-60 round in the history of the PGA Tour, scoring an opening round 59 at the Wyndham Championship.
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, to parents Larry and Candice Snedeker, Snedeker was introduced to golf by his maternal grandmother, who managed a golf course in West Plains, Missouri. He attended Harding Academy and Montgomery Bell Academy for high school. Snedeker graduated from Vanderbilt University, where he was initiated into Kappa Alpha Order by the Chi Chapter. He won the U.S. Amateur Public Links in 2003 before turning professional in 2004.
Snedeker played on the Nationwide Tour from 2004 until 2006, when he finished ninth on the tour money list after victories at the Showdown at Somerby and the Permian Basin Charity Golf Classic, earning a PGA Tour spot for 2007. While on the Nationwide Tour, Snedeker earned two wins, two runners-up, 12 tops 10s and earned $549,564.
In January 2007, Snedeker shot a 61 in the first round of the Buick Invitational, which tied the course record. He led the tournament by three strokes after 36 holes, but finished in third place with a 74 in the third round. He made eight consecutive cuts starting at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in January and ending at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, during which he recorded three top-25 finishes. In four tournaments in April, he made two cuts including a finish of T16 at the Verizon Heritage. From May to June, Snedeker made the cut in two of four tournaments, including finishing with a tie for 12th place at the Players Championship. Snedeker then went on a hot streak starting at the Stanford St. Jude Championship on June 10. He finished in a tie for fifth at that tournament and by doing so surpassed $1 million in earnings on tour in 2007. He finished in a tie for 23rd at the U.S. Open the following week. In early July he recorded two top-10 finishes, including a tie for 10th at the Buick Open. This finish put Snedeker into the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time. Later in July, Snedeker finished in a tie for 7th at the Canadian Open. A fortnight later he played in the PGA Championship for the first time and finished in a tie for 18th place. Snedeker picked up his first PGA Tour victory the next week at the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina. This win propelled him to a world ranking of 55th. The Wyndham Championship was the last regular season event before the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Snedeker entered the playoffs in 9th place in the point standings. He played in all four playoff events, recording finishes of missed cut, T47, T14 and T29. Snedeker finished in 20th place in the final points standings, which earned him a bonus check of $225,000. Due to his fine debut performance on tour, Snedeker was named the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year for 2007. He entered 29 PGA Tour events in 2007, making 23 cuts. He had one win, a third-place finish, six top-10 finishes and 13 top-25 finishes. He earned $2,836,643 which put him in 17th on the final money list and he finished 2007 ranked 47th in the world rankings.
Snedeker began the 2008 season with a tied for 10th finish at the Mercedes-Benz Championship. He finished tied for 9th at the FBR Open in February and tied for 8th at the PODS Championship in March. Snedeker recorded his first top-10 in a major at the 2008 Masters, where he finished tied for third. He went into the final round in second place, two strokes behind eventual winner Trevor Immelman but Snedeker shot a final round 77. Following his third-place finish at the 2008 Masters Tournament, Snedeker reached a new high of 32nd in the world rankings. Snedeker finished in the top-10 for the second time in a major at the 2008 U.S. Open where he finished tied for 9th. For the rest of the year Snedeker struggled to maintain his early season consistency and did not record another top-10 finish for the season. Snedeker made 19 of 26 cuts on the year and recorded five top-10s, seven top-25s and earned $1,531,442 while finishing 34th in the FedEx Cup standings. Snedeker struggled in 2009, making only 14 of 26 cuts and failing to make the cut in 9 of his first 12 tournaments. His play improved in the summer as he had two consecutive top-5 finishes, a tie for 5th place at the AT&T National, and a tie for 2nd place at the John Deere Classic. These were followed by two more top-5 finishes at the RBC Canadian Open and the Wyndham Championship. Despite this mid season form he missed the cut in all four of the years majors. One factor contributing to Snedeker's uneven play in 2009 was his health. He missed seven consecutive tournaments in the middle of the season due to a rib injury. Snedeker finished the season 55th on the money list. Snedeker started the 2010 season well with a top-10 finish at the Bob Hope Classic which he then followed up with a runner-up finish at the Farmers Insurance Open. Snedeker played consistently throughout the early season making eight consecutive cuts through to April. However he then missed five of his next seven cuts and did not record a single top-25 finish until the U.S. Open where Snedeker finished in a tie for 8th place at Pebble Beach Golf Links, his best ever finish in the U.S. Open. For the rest of season he played steadily and recorded two more top-10s at the Wyndham Championship and the end of season playoff event the Deutsche Bank Championship. Snedeker ended the year 48th on the money list.
Snedeker had an inconsistent start to the 2011 season missing his first cut at the Bob Hope Classic, but followed that up with two consecutive top-10 finishes at the Farmers Insurance Open and the Waste Management Phoenix Open. This was then followed by a further two missed cuts and a withdrawal from the Honda Classic to attend the birth of his first child. He returned to the tour with a 4th-place finish at the Transitions Championship and then at the year's first major championship, the Masters Tournament finished in a tie for 15th. The following week Snedeker had a chance to win his second PGA Tour title at the Valero Texas Open but made a number of mistakes on the back nine on Sunday which cost him victory, eventually finishing alone in 4th. Snedeker won his second PGA Tour title at The Heritage, beating Luke Donald in a sudden-death playoff at the third extra hole. Snedeker shot a seven-under-par round of 64 to recover from six shots back on the Sunday to tie Donald. The first two extra holes were parred by both players, but when Donald's par chip missed on the third extra hole, Snedeker sealed the win. This victory took Snedeker to 38th in the world rankings. In November 2011, Snedeker underwent elective surgery on his right hip in order to fix a degenerative issue. This sidelined him for six to eight weeks at the end of year, however Snedeker confirmed he wished to have surgery at this stage in order to be fully fit for the 2012 season. Snedeker finished the season 14th on the money list.
