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VERIZON HERITAGEApril 15, 2008Brandt SnedekerHILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Brandt, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at the Verizon Heritage. Well, it was a wonderful week last week. BRANDT SNEDEKER: It was, yeah. JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Great memories, a lot of learning. BRANDT SNEDEKER: A lot of learning. JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: And lots of smiles. BRANDT SNEDEKER: Lots of smiles and a few tears so I kind of had everything wrapped up into one. JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: It's been a couple days. Obviously you can't put it completely into words, but just talk about the week a little bit and then we'll talk about the tournament here. BRANDT SNEDEKER: The week is obviously going to be something I remember for the rest of my life. It was a great week. Obviously a lot of disappointment on Sunday. I think you all kind of saw the emotions run over. I don't regret anything that happened on Sunday. I don't regret how I played. I don't regret how I handled myself afterwards. I just felt like that's who I am. I left it all out on the golf course on Sunday and I was just emotionally drained from the week. The pressure finally got to me, I guess, and I hadn't really felt it all week and on Sunday when I got done I saw my family and let everything out. I felt good. I got home Sunday night and had dinner with my fiancee and went to bed and woke up Monday and felt great. I drove up here on Monday and realized that I finished third in the Masters as my first time as a professional, got to play in the last group two days in a row, jumped up in the World Rankings, made a bunch of FedExCup points, because my main goal for this year is to get back in that Top 30, get in that playoff system, get in the TOUR Championship. I did a lot of great things last week, and instead of harping on a bad last round and what -- unfortunately what everybody saw was -- I didn't want anybody to think that I was emotional because I felt like I was crying over spilt milk or something like that. I was emotional because I came to close to living out one of my dreams and I wasn't able to do it. It's part of life, part of golf. Obviously I need to grow up a little bit more and mature a little bit. But everything that happened on Sunday happened for a reason, and it's obviously going to help me grow as a person. JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Now you're here in Hilton Head, relaxing, enjoying this place. I don't know if you played here last year. BRANDT SNEDEKER: I did, yes. Actually Mr. Wilmot actually gave me a sponsor exemption in '05, I believe, so kind of a special place in my heart. They've always been great to me here, and I love this place. I can't wait to tee it up on Thursday. Q. Are you normally an emotional person? Have you ever been that emotional before? BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, I joke with people. Everybody has asked me that question since then. I'm not. I can't remember the last time I cried like that. That's probably why it happened there, because I needed a good cry. When it comes to family and comes to things that I love, I am very emotional, and that just shows you how much I love that golf tournament. If there's one tournament in my life that I would want to win, it would be that one. I came very close to doing it, and just kind of spilt over, and I tried to pull myself together but couldn't do it. That's just part of growing up. I'll figure it out. Q. What kind of reaction have you had from other people, and have you been recognized in public more? BRANDT SNEDEKER: That's been the most -- fans kind of helped me get over what happened Sunday the most. I've gotten more emails, more texts, more notes from people just saying they were so proud of the way I played. I mean, I can't believe people actually feel sorry for me. People actually have stopped me on the golf course, and I cannot tell you how many people were following me playing today or at dinner last night saying they felt so bad for what happened. I'm sitting there smiling, saying, I just finished third in the Masters; nobody died, we're fine, life goes on. It's not a big deal. I was like, there's a whole lot more important stuff in the world to worry about than me crying because I played one bad round of golf. It's been phenomenal. It's really kind of helped me get over it. I've had more people from Nashville and Sea Island and everywhere just kind of rally around me. It's been unbelievable, that kind of support. I cannot thank them enough because it really makes me feel great about what I did there and kind of helps me heal about it and gets me excited about playing this week and hopefully trying to do it all over again, hopefully have a little bit better Sunday. Q. Are you the type of person that will go back and play that last 18 over again hole by hole? BRANDT SNEDEKER: You know, I don't really play it over. I definitely look back on my round and tried to see what I did wrong, where I could improve, what I need to look at. I feel like I -- I definitely didn't feel like I went through any bad routines or did anything bad. 13 was obviously a pivotal shot. I didn't hit it good on Saturday and I didn't hit it good on Sunday. I think all in all, my putter left me. I putted great all week on Thursday through Saturday and Sunday I missed a bunch of six- and eight-footers. With the wind, it was a tough day to putt, it was a tough day to do anything, and I guess maybe a little bit of inexperience kind of came in there possibly. But I was very excited -- I was very happy with the way I held myself together, and things could have gotten a whole lot worse than they actually did. Just kind of chalk it up to being my first major and in contention on Sunday. Live and learn. Q. 77 sounds like a big number, but with the conditions and such on Sunday, does that make it a little easier for you to get over? BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, I mean, it was a tough day. I think 73 or 74 is a great round of golf on that day and I shot 77. That sounds terrible. I made a ton of bogeys. I made an eagle and a birdie and I still shot 77, so that kind of shows you I had the full mixed bag that day. Yeah, it makes it easier to get over, I think. Q. Trevor shot 67. BRANDT SNEDEKER: I mean, definitely. If I had gone out there and we had perfect conditions and no reason I shoot 77 and Trevor shoots 67, then I'm probably coming here feeling pretty bad about myself. But I feel like I still played good and I feel like I'm still playing good. Q. You finished 16th here last year, made the cut first time you got in. Do you feel like you're a much better player each time coming into the tournament? BRANDT SNEDEKER: I hope so, yeah. I definitely think my game is a whole lot sharper now than it was last year and even in '05 when I played here. I love this golf course. It's right up my alley. I just feel so relaxed being here. The people here are great. We've rented a house this week and just kind of could not have asked for a better week following what happened last week. It's kind of put me in a great frame of mind for this week and cannot wait to tee it up. Q. You being from Nashville, I've got to ask, are you going to get a great country song out of this? BRANDT SNEDEKER: I don't know. I had Vince Gill, who's a good friend of mine, called me and left me messages all weekend telling me how great it was, and he called me yesterday and told me, it's okay, life goes on. He says, if there's any way I can help you, we'll figure it out. I told him thanks, and I called him back, and he said, you know, it's pretty bad when everybody in country music is pulling for you and they all feel bad about you. We write these kind of stories all the time and we're seeing one unfold and we still feel bad. I was like, that's life; it's not a big deal. So many people back in Nashville were pulling for me. I told everybody, I feel the worst not about what I did but I just feel like I let a bunch of people down. People were really pulling for me on Sunday. It was unbelievable the amount of people that were out there, that were cheering for me in Nashville or Sea Island cheering for me. That's what I feel the worst about because they were pulling for me harder than anyone else and I feel I let them down a little bit. But there will be other opportunities and we'll try to make them proud some other way. Q. One thing I thought about when I saw you in the interview, the person that came to my mind is Brett Favre. BRANDT SNEDEKER: No, I wasn't thinking about Brett Favre. Brett Favre is different because Brett is an accomplished, unbelievable athlete, and I guess he cried a couple times. I think about Len Mattiace when Len Mattiace cried at The Masters. I remember sitting there trying to pull myself together. I remember watching Len Mattiace cry, going, why is this guy crying about losing a golf tournament? I was sitting there bawling my eyes out, trying to pull myself together, I was like, I know how he felt right now; I realize why he wanted to cry, was crying like a girl whose prom date didn't show up. That's what I felt like. I sympathized with him completely. I can't wait to find him and I might want to give him a big hug and say, I know what you were feeling like; it's no fun. Q. Knowing you were playing here the week after that, did you ever consider not playing? BRANDT SNEDEKER: Never. I love this place too much. Steve Wilmot has been way too nice for me to do that to him, and they do a great event and I can't wait to tee it up. Q. Wondering about the range of emotions walking off the green Sunday at Augusta and then coming out here and trying to tee it up here. Is that the greatest range of emotions you've ever experienced in golf? BRANDT SNEDEKER: Pretty close. I tell everybody this, I didn't really get nervous on Sunday. I thought I was going to be a whole lot more nervous than I was. I got on the golf course and got done and that's when it kind of all hit me. I realized what was going on for the week, the kind of pressure and everything finally got to me, and that's when the emotion came out. Sunday night was tough kind of sitting there having dinner, having a glass of wine trying to decompress and figure out what just happened. Monday I couldn't have felt more refreshed and excited to be coming here. So it's kind of a complete 180. I don't know why it was that way. It was just because I got a chance to reflect and realize that life is not really that bad. I still get to play a game for a living. I still get to come here and have a great week. If you had told me at the beginning of the week of the Masters I was going to finish tied for third and lose to Tiger Woods and Trevor Immelman, I would have probably said I'd take it right now and watch it on TV. You've just got to have some perspective. Q. Have you already noticed more people recognizing you? BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, I mean, dinner last night was a bit weird. I went to dinner at Redfish last night and people stopped by my table. I feel bad, I feel awkward for them because they don't know what to say. I think they feel bad and they don't know how to -- they were saying, we were pulling for you so hard on Sunday. Sorry it didn't work out. Literally I had probably five or six people stop and say that. It's so nice of them to do it. I can't thank them enough. It's kind of odd for people to recognize me. I hope they don't stop doing that. It's great to feel people caring for you like that. Q. You made a lot of money, didn't you? BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, that's another plus, too. It always helps when you finish third in a major. I made a lot of money. It was a great week. FedExCup points were huge, World Ranking points were huge, Ryder Cup, moved into the Top 10 on the Ryder Cup points, which is huge. So I accomplished everything I set out to do for the week except win, so it was a great week. Q. You've been known for your love of Waffle House. Did that figure into your Masters week at all? BRANDT SNEDEKER: No Waffle House, no. There's one on the way of the golf course every day, but it was jam packed. I just couldn't stop and do it. I'll probably have Waffle House this week. I think there's one on the island somewhere. I'll find it. Even if there's one off it, I'll go find one somewhere. I was joking with my agent before we walked in here, I didn't know how I was going to react to all this, I didn't know being around all y'all, what the questions were going to be like. I said, make sure there's a big box of Kleenex right here in front of my microphone just to make sure something goes wrong. JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you for joining us. End of FastScripts |
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