Snedeker Wants More After Big Junior Year 6/28/02

By Jimmy Davy, Originally appeared in the Flagship

A few years ago, teen-ager Brandt Snedeker was paired in a Nashville golf tournament with two veteran players at Harpeth Hills.

His older brother, Haymes, who was on the Ole Miss golf team at that time, expressed concern about the pairing with his father, Nashville attorney Larry Snedeker, as they watched play.

The teen's playing partners had started a happy hour early. Golf etiquette suffered and so did young Brandt, who often was ignored and left alone on the green before he putted out.

His brother, a many-times champion of the annual Music City Invitational Tournament, suggested that perhaps it would be best if Brandt asked to join another group before his game suffered.

The father said something to the effect that it would be best for his development as a championship golfer if he had to compete in these circumstances which tested the young player's mental toughness, his patience.

"I remember that. It didn't bother me as much as it did my brother. But I did learn a lot about courtesy on the golf course,'' the Vanderbilt junior said, laughing.

Being taught and learning things on the golf course has been a way of family life for the Snedekers.

His father has been a low handicap player in Nashville for years and his brother, now an assistant golf course at Ole Miss while he finishes law school, was a first team All-Southeastern Conference player for the Rebels.

But it appears that the family saved the best golfer for last. Brandt this past golf season was first team All-SEC and second team All-American, carrying a 70.6 stroke average for the improving Commodore team.

"I am playing real well, practicing very hard and feeling like I am very close to a breakthrough senior year at Vanderbilt,'' Brandt said. "I don't want to lose the edge I felt while playing in the NCAAs.''

Snedeker was the only Commodore in the national tournament and missed the top 20 when he bogied the final hole of the 72-hole. He wound up 23rd at even par with four consecutive 71s on the Ohio State golf course at Columbus.

"I was 2-under par a lot of times during the tournament, but I would have finished in the top 20 without the final hole bogey,'' he recalled.

Despite a solid junior year, the one-time Tennessee high school champion at Montgomery Bell Academy is disappointed that he got close, but never won a title.

His fine play in the last SEC tournament found him in 12th place individually, powering the Commodores to a fourth place team finish. But he has not known the joy of collegiate winning and he's frank to say that it has left him unfulfilled.

After all, he is accustomed to being presented championship trophies on the 18th green. He won the American Junior Golf Association national title at Springhouse Golf Course and the State Maxfli Junior and twice was winner of the Tennessee high school championship. He is two-time champion of the Nashville municipal amateur and for the last two years as qualified for the USGA National Amateur tournament.

"I have improved every year, but I don't have a win. But I think that with the preparation that I have planned for this summer, that I am about to open the door to another level for my game,'' Snedeker said.

One of the doors about to open is international competition. He is one of eight collegians who were selected to play in the USA-Japan Cup Matches, July 16-17, at The Glen Club in Glenville, Ill.

"It is a Ryder Cup for college golfers,'' Snedeker said. "I am honored and excited to participate in such a first class event.''

He will also play in the Western Amateur in Chicago next month and he is certain to be among the top contenders in the 87th Tennessee Golf Association State Amateur, Aug. 6-9, at Ridgeway Country Club in Memphis.

That's a big plate of pressure golf that he will squeeze around his internship in the Vanderbilt sports information office at McGugin Center.

He says that NCAA Tournament pressure, added to the SEC tournament experience has him prepared for whatever comes up.

"It was great experience for me in the NCAA because for the first time I was able to see where I stood among the best players in the nation,'' Snedeker said. "I played well and under control, but there were some scary times.''

The weather was one scare factor. Rainstorms threatened almost daily and Snedeker was particularly vulnerable to early cuts from the field before four rounds could be played. He watched the clouds with great interest.

"If the weather got real bad, the NCAA officials could have cut the field to the low six players who were not at the tournament as part of a team. Since I was the only Vanderbilt player at the tournament and was never in the low six, I could have been cut very easily,'' he said.

His brother Haymes was not at the NCAA tournament site, but the phone was handy and encouragement made its way to Ohio. "From the SEC on, Haymes was really encouraging. He has played against a lot of these players and let me know how tough it was going to be,'' Brandt said. "He knows the pressures.''

Brandt says that his father has also been supportive, making sure to keep him motivated as he plays in strange and tougher golfing waters.

"You know how dads are,'' Brant said, laughing.