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SANDERSON FARMS CHAMPIONSHIP

September 17, 2019

Brandt Snedeker

Jackson, Mississippi

DOUG MILNE: We'll go ahead and get started. Brandt Snedeker, thanks for joining us for a few minutes, making your first start in the Sanderson Farms Championship, first start of the 2019-20 season. I was looking back at last season, six top 10s. Among them was a near win, playoff loss in your first event of last season, the Safeway, which ultimately resulted in a 24th place finish in the FedExCup, another trip to the TOUR Championship. Before we get started, why don't we just kind of recap that season and lead us up to where you are today.

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, you know, it was all in all a pretty solid season last year. Obviously disappointing when you don't get a win on the resume for the full season out here on TOUR, but I played really solid, had a lot of good opportunities, and just for whatever reason just wasn't able to get that W.

But any year you make it to the TOUR Championship, you've had a solid year. I'm really excited to build off that. I feel like I had a lot of really positive stuff happen last year to get back to where I feel like I belong, and it's a big reason why I decided to come here. I feel like I've heard so many good things about Sanderson Farms and what they've done, now it being a full-field event, all the bonuses that go with that, full FedExCup points and Masters invitational, all the things they've done here, just a great place for me to start.

Hadn't really -- still feel like I'm in the season right now. Didn't really have a whole lot of time off, but that's good for me. I was playing great in the year off, and a little rest did me some good, so I'm excited about teeing it up this week and seeing if we can't start my year off the right way with a win.

DOUG MILNE: Have you had a chance to get out and see the course yet?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: I have not. I'm getting ready to go out and see it this afternoon, but done a lot of research on it and realize it's a great golf course for me. It sets up really well. It's kind of an old-school, more of a putting contest where the greens are perfect. Guys seem to go pretty low here. Got to put the ball in the fairways off the tees, obviously with it being all Bermuda, so those kind of things kind of bode well for me. So excited. That's a huge reason why I'm here also is because of the golf course. Can't wait to get out there and see it.

DOUG MILNE: My last question, the fall events have proved so beneficial for so many players. If you could just kind of talk a little bit about your fall schedule, what you're looking at coming up.

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, the fall schedule has actually taken a more and more important kind of role over the last three or four years. People don't realize that it used to be when they first started this fall schedule, you could take the whole fall off and start in January and it wouldn't be that big of a deal. Now you start in January and you are so far behind the 8-ball because there's so many tournaments, so many big tournaments in the fall now that you're kind of forced into playing a lot more in the fall.

I'm playing this week, I'm playing next week at Safeway, and then Las Vegas after that. So three in a row to start the year out, and we'll kind of see, reevaluate after that. So it's really important. You see so many guys kind of lock up a great year in the fall, kind of set themselves up for success for the rest of the year, and you really need to get off to a fast start so you can kind of -- not coast, but pick your schedule wisely, make sure you're rested. I think as most people saw at the end of last year, there was a lot of fatigue taking players over just because of the new schedule. We hadn't played a March through August schedule like that ever, and so it makes -- I think it makes the fall more important so you're able to kind of pick and choose your spots a lot better than kind of having to force yourself to play a lot in the summertime because there's really not a lot of time to take off.

Q. (On what winning in the fall can do for a season.)
BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, you saw it last week. Joaquin set himself up for a great year winning the first event of the season at Greenbrier. These events are so important. You see it every year, guys get off to a fast start. They're able to kind of parlay that into an unbelievable year. These tournaments now are very, very important. I would venture to say you won't see a guy make it to the TOUR Championship anymore without playing some in the fall. It's just not going to happen. There's just too many events. There's a third of our schedule -- I think it's a fourth of our schedule is almost done after the fall.

It's really important to get off to a fast start. That's why these tournaments have taken on a new meaning.

Q. Do you have any connections to Mississippi?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: I do. My brother went to Ole Miss, so I have a lot of connections down here. My brother spent undergrad at Ole Miss, went to law school at Ole Miss, was assistant golf coach there for a couple years. I've got a lot of his friends here in town, so they were excited. He's going to come up for the weekend and see some old friends. Went to a bunch of football games in Oxford over the course of my career. I feel like I've got some connection to Mississippi, and excited to be out here playing.

Q. (On how the 2019 season format played out).
BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, you know, I think guys are waiting until kind of December when we have some time off to reevaluate how everything went. I think everybody would say to a tee that they've played a lot more golf this year in a much more condensed period of time than they have in years past, and so trying to find that right balance is going to be tough. Guys just don't really -- haven't really figured it out. This year is kind of a trial year. Next year is going to be kind of different, too, because we have the Olympics next year, as well. These first two years aren't a real great judge of what the schedule is going to look like going forward, so it's just kind of waiting and seeing and kind of reevaluating. But definitely I think most guys would say to a tee that January -- March through July or end of August went really fast, a lot of tournaments, a lot of big tournaments back-to-back to back, which is great for TV and great for our sport. We've just got to be -- as players we've got to be smarter about making sure we're rested and ready to go for the end of the year.

Q. You kind of alluded to it earlier, but there's some mental gymnastics that go with (indiscernible).
BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, you have to kind of reset your brain. It's totally different, new season. What happened last year was great, but it doesn't matter now. Like you're starting over from scratch. You've got to have that mentality of this is a completely new season. I'm going to try to take the positive momentum I had from last year at the end of the year when I was playing really well, try to use that to my advantage, but realizing that that's great and all, but doesn't count towards this year at all. I've got to get off to a fast start and get moving. There's definitely a sense of urgency for me at least these first few events to make sure I get off to a good start.

Q. What does researching the course mean to you?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: Just getting to know -- not Google. It's a little bit more intense than that. I kind of look back at past history, who won here, what those scores were. I know it was a little bit different time of year, but you get a sense for the kind of golf you have to play on every golf course. So just making sure the golf course kind of fit my eye, it would make sense for me to be here. There's certain golf courses that me not being a long hitter I've got to kind of pick and choose where I play so I'm not going up against the 8-ball playing against guys that have a four-shot advantage over me before I even tee it off, and this is one of those golf courses that kind of fits right up that alley.

Q. With trying to play less to rest up for the schedule, do guys do more to get familiar with golf courses without actually being on them?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: I wouldn't know. I wouldn't say that. I mean, I do lots of work just trying to make sure that -- using past historical data to kind of find out what successful golf looks like on those golf courses to make sure it lines up with what I do well.

Q. Expectations for this week as you're season opener, temps are going to be kind of mid-90s. Just talk about that.
BRANDT SNEDEKER: I'm here to win. I feel like I'm playing good enough to do that. I love playing in the heat. As I'm getting older, it makes my body feel better. I live in Nashville just up the road. It's been 100 degrees there every day the last two weeks, so I'm used to it now.

You know, I'm excited about being here. This event deserves to be by itself. It's kind of cool now to have its own date. I think they've done a great job, Sanderson Farms has done a great job supporting the TOUR, and I'm excited to be here to support them and hopefully get a win and get that cool trophy.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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