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RBC CANADIAN OPENJuly 22, 2014Brandt SnedekerILE BIZARD, QUEBEC THE MODERATOR: I'm assuming any time you hear your name as defending champion it feels pretty good, but being an RBC ambassador, as well, it's got to be a very special week for you, so start off by telling us what it's like to be here this week. BRANDT SNEDEKER: It's always great to be back at a place with a lot of good memories, obviously being an RBC ambassador this is a big week for us, as to come back as a defending champion and to defend the title I've had a lot of success in, even before last year, it's exciting. I obviously haven't played Royal Montreal before, but I've heard great things about it, and I remember watching the Presidents Cup on TV and seeing a great finishing stretch of holes and realizing it probably is going to be the determining factor this week on who wins and who doesn't is how you play that last great stretch of golf. So excited about getting out there and trying to defend my championship. Q. Can you just recap last year after Hunter left and what your first awareness of him leaving, when you found out he was leaving, and then also did you follow up, you said you were going to get him a baby gift after? BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, I remember Hunter, I think I was on hole No.7 on Saturday when I saw Hunter's name was not on the leaderboard anymore, and I started putting two and two together at that point. I was playing a great round of golf. I think I shot 8‑ or 9‑under par on Saturday last year and kind of vaulted myself into contention. It was a great fortunate break for myself. Hunter was playing great. He would have been a tough guy to catch over the weekend. I can't remember how big his lead was, but he had quite a significant lead after Friday. I did follow through and we made sure we sent a couple nice baby gifts to the Mahans for baby Zoë. It was a special week for us, a special week for him, something we'll probably both remember for the rest of our lives. I know I will. Obviously I was probably the benefactor of a little fortunate early baby, so stuff like that happens every once in a while. Q. The relationship you've had with RBC since you signed off as one of the brand ambassadors for them, I've had a chance to talk to Ernie Els about it and to Graeme about it. What's your perspective on the relationship you have? How do you see it from your personal level? BRANDT SNEDEKER: It's been a great partnership. RBC obviously is an icon in the business industry up here in Canada but becoming more of an icon globally, as well. It's expanded a lot over the last four or five years, and a leader like Gordon Nixon who's done an unbelievable job as CEO of the bank who's kind of taken the bank and made it to the global brand that it is, I feel very fortunate to have been involved with them for the last three years. They've been great partners. They've helped me a lot in my career. I feel like they've been a good luck charm, so to speak. The minute I signed on with them I went on a great FedExCup run and ended up winning the FedExCup. They've been very special in that aspect, and they've been huge for golf. If you look at what they've done on the PGA TOUR between hosting two tournaments, the brand ambassadors that they have, the amount of quality people they have working for them out here on the PGA TOUR and partnering with them, it's a very, very special and fortunate relationship for both of us. Q. Gordon basically saved Heritage; I'd be interested to know your take on it. BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, he did. They stepped in one of the longest running tournaments on the PGA TOUR and one of the players' favorite tournaments at the RBC Heritage and stepped in and saved it from going away. It was literally within a two or month of not existing anymore, and I was the last guy to win it before the RBC took over in 2012. I won it in 2011, and I remember doing a media day and there was a lot of question marks whether they were going to be back or not. It was a tough couple months for them, but Gordon stepped in and did an unbelievable job turning that tournament around and really put a lot of money and effort and time into it, and it's turned into back where it is, one of the premier events on the PGA TOUR, and obviously what he's done with the Canadian Open, I can't think how many years they've been sponsoring now, but they've done an unbelievable job of making the field as strong as possible and having some of the best players in the world playing here. Q. What are the chances if you didn't have the affiliation with RBC, you're actually defending here, but this has come to such a tough point in the schedule for so many players, you, Graeme, after the British and before the‑‑ this is quite a significant stretch of golf. And secondly, this is the case with a lot of tournaments now outside the World Golf Championships, maybe Jack and Arnold's, the FedExCup, the majors, you could play 15 or 16 events without even discussing the Canadian Open or Greensboro or so on. BRANDT SNEDEKER: Definitely, without Gordon's leadership there would be a whole lot of guys that probably weren't here this week. I've got a relationship here and Wyndham Championship. Those are two weeks a lot of guys take off, so I've got a big stretch here ahead of me, and without those relationships I don't know if they've be on my schedule or not. I'm fortunate enough to have two great relationships with not only Gordon Nixon and RBC but also with Steve Holmes and Franz Hanning at Wyndham, and they're not only two of my sponsors but they're two of my really close friends, and they've done a lot for the game of golf and a lot for these tournaments, and I feel like I'm obligated because we're partnering together but also because they're really good friends of mine, and they do so much for the game of golf, and they're not asking for a whole lot in return. They're asking you to show up and play at a great event, at great golf courses. You can see that reflected this week in the field that you have. You have a bunch of guys that probably could have finagled their way out of playing this week if they wanted to but they chose not to because of the relationship with RBC and Gordon. Q. Talk about the state of your game. It's different I would expect being a defending champion when you're not playing the same golf course. Looks like kind of a mixture for you. BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, it's been obviously not the kind of year that I was anticipating. I made a switch about a month ago, switched teachers to Butch Harmon, and it's been a good switch. I feel like my game is finally back to where I know I can compete again and play again. Not that it was ever that far off, but I've got the confidence back and I know what I am doing, which has been great the last two weeks, three weeks that I've worked with him and feel like I'm on the right path. I'm excited about this last stretch of golf. I've defended before at the Wyndham Championship at a different golf course and then played pretty well the next year when we went from Forest Oaks to Sedgefield. I'm excited about that, still have great memories here, and even though I haven't played this golf course, it still feels great to be back and seeing my name on the leaderboard or seeing my picture around here, it gives you some confidence knowing that you've done it before, you can do it again. Q. Tell me what Butch is telling you that Todd wasn't. BRANDT SNEDEKER: You know, it's not really any one specific thing, it's just‑‑ it's the exact same thing Todd was telling me, just in a different way. Sometimes you need that. You work with somebody for a long period of time and you hear the same thing over and over again, and you need somebody saying it in a different manner or a different way so that it clicks. It's clicked the last couple of weeks, and I feel a lot better about it. Butch is very, very easy to work with. He's very, very simple. He's not into overhauling golf swings and changing anything that I've done my whole career, so it was a very easy transition for me, and I'm excited about working. I'm excited about getting to the golf course for the first time in a long time, and it's really, really fun to go out and hit balls now and work on it. Q. Just briefly to go about your Canadian connection, after you won last year, if I remember correctly you went to Oshawa and played just a round of golf the next morning with your caddie because they were honoring him at Oshawa. Just struck me at the time that it would have been really easy for you to say, no, not going there. BRANDT SNEDEKER: Well, Scott has been on my bag for a long time. He's one of my best friends in life, and they were having a big day for him the Monday after Canadian Open. Me winning happened to be a coincidence. I was planning on being there anyway, so it made the day even more special, the fact we won the Canadian Open the day before. We had a great day. He grew up at Oshawa Golf Club, and for him to be honored there, it was a lot of fun for both of us to be there and kind of enjoy that victory together that day, play a little golf and have a little fun and kind of get your mind away from the rest of the year that we had in front of us. Q. The caddie‑player relationship can be pretty transitory at times but you've had a long one with him.  Why? Why has it worked out for you? He ended up with you if I recall correctly because he was actually caddying for Derek Gillespie on the Web.com when you guys met, right? BRANDT SNEDEKER: Correct. Q. That's a number of years ago now. Why does it work for you guys? BRANDT SNEDEKER: I think Scott is very, very good at his job. He works his tail off. He and I get along really, really well on the golf course. When you have a close friend who also is a great caddie, it makes for a perfect relationship. You see Bones and Phil have that relationship. I'm a guy that does not like to change stuff very much. If people are working hard and doing the right stuff, I'm very, very inclined to keep things as is, try to keep the variables to a complete minimum because a lot of stuff changes out here all the time, depending on your golf swing, whatever it may be. Scott has been with me through thick and thin. He's seen me at my best and some of my worst, so he's always kind of a comforting ear and eye to have behind me letting me know what's going on and getting his honest opinion with my game and where we need to go and where we need to get better. Q. Do you know a lot about Canada because of it? BRANDT SNEDEKER: Obviously I really don't have a choice. I hear about it every day. I hear about the Maple Leafs all season every off‑season, how great they're going to be the next year, I guess like every Maple Leafs fan thinks. It's fun. We're both sports junkies, so to hear the other side of sports, I'm not a big hockey fan, but I've become a hockey fan over the last five or six years, to hear about the Blue Jays and whatever else is going on. He's a Toronto fan through and through for sure. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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