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DEUTSCHE BANK CHAMPIONSHIP

September 5, 2010

Brandt Snedeker

NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS

Q. We'd like to welcome Brandt Snedeker to the interview room after a 4-under 67 in round 3 of the Deutsche Bank Championship. Why don't we start at the end. That's quite an interesting finish. Take us through 18 and then just general comments about the round over all.
BRANDT SNEDEKER: Okay, 18 was I guess an awkward hole to say it the best. It was a poor tee shot and -- it was an okay tee shot, I had a chance to go for the green and had 218, I think, to the front and tried to kind of finagle a hybrid in there and whiffed it, kind of mis-hit it and it went in the hazard, and thought I gave myself a good wedge number going in, a full lob wedge, and hit it pretty good and the wind just never carried it and kind of came up short.
And then at that point I actually stayed pretty patient, which was nice, and tried pretty hard on the pitch shot and it was one of those few pitch shots that came off perfect, hit my line right where I wanted to and it started rolling. It never really happens that way; normally when I start walking those pitch shots in, they lip out or hit something, and it was kind of nice to see it go right in the middle and kind of end my day with a par. It would have been a tough way to end the day as well as I played the last five, six, seven holes coming in.
All in all I kind of struggled around with the tee ball today, but my short game was fantastic. I chipped in a couple times and made some key putts to keep it going.
So hopefully I can get the driver straightened away and work on my speed a little bit on the greens and I'll be good to go tomorrow.

Q. Just talk about responding to that bogey with an eagle, and what did you shoot on that?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, it was a -- I three-putted the -- I guess the third hole from about 20, 30 feet and missed a two-footer and I did that the first day and same, similar situation, just a little short one. That kind of got me fired up a little bit, got me into the round kind of. Then hit a good tee shot on 4 just short of the green and had a very kind of straightforward, one of those pitch shots you dream about having that you think you should make half the time, and like the one on 18 it came off just perfect and went right in the middle.
And that kind of kick-started the round a little bit, got me going, got some good mojo going and played some good golf there for a few holes. It was kind of a good way to get over the hump of kind of getting the nerves out of it and get going in the third round.

Q. Just how important was that last shot to be able to maintain a one-stroke distance and stay in the final group?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, you know, over the course of a tournament every shot counts the same. I missed a few short putts this week that I'm kind of kicking myself right now. To end the day on a positive note and to make dinner taste a little better, maybe come out here with a fresher taste of mind tomorrow, a two-shot lead really isn't that much of a difference between a one-shot lead, still just one hole out here.
But we're both going to have to go out there and play some good golf tomorrow. There's a lot of guys right there with a chance, and Jason played fantastic today. I don't see him slipping up any tomorrow, so I'm going to have to go out there and shoot something low. It's kind of nice to have that as your mindset going into the day. Luckily I didn't fall too far behind today.

Q. You've been in this position before. What have you learned from those instances that you can perhaps use tomorrow?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: No, just try to slow down and stay patient. I have a tendency to kind of get wound up and get a little antsy and do stuff a little too fast. I'm really going to try to take my time tomorrow and enjoy the day. You don't get these days very often out here. I'm not Tiger Woods; I don't play in the last group every week, so it's kind of nice for me to do that and have some fun.
Jason is a great guy. I think that makes a big difference that we get along real well and have fun out on there on the golf course, so we'll both be relatively comfortable tomorrow and hopefully can feed off each other and hopefully separate ourselves from the field and make it a two-horse race tomorrow afternoon would be great.

Q. One of the running stories on TOUR this year, there's been 20-somethings winning so often. Obviously you're still a member of that club. Do you guys talk about that at all, and say, hey, we want to keep the old guys out of this?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: No, you know, I feel like us 20-somethings get a semi-bad rap sometimes because we're not 21 years old and winning every time we tee it up. We're still -- it seems like American golfers kind of come into our prime in our 30s. That's just the way it is. There's very few Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroys and Jason Days of the world. Just think of the way our system is set up over here. We play college golf, play amateur golf, and I wouldn't trade those days for anything.
Hopefully -- I look at Steve Stricker and those kind of guys who have had their rebirth of their career later on in their careers, and you see that you're not playing -- seems like for Americans they're not playing their best golf typically until their 30s. So we're all still learning out here.
You see all these guys kind of taking lumps right now on the last rounds trying to figure out how to play well, and hopefully I've taken my few recently and can kind of get over that hump tomorrow and play some good golf.

Q. Speaking of Stricker, he's looming there obviously and he hasn't made a bogey all week. Is that something that you just kind of have to deal with tomorrow?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, you've got -- Steve is an unbelievable player. He's been an unbelievable player for the last three or four years. He's got a chance I think to take over No. 1 this week if he wins. So I'm sure he's got a lot of motivation to go out there tomorrow. He's won here before.
Phil is right there. He played great today. I think there's a bunch of guys, Luke Donald who just got picked for the Ryder Cup, is coming out with a lot of confidence. There's a ton of guys that have a chance tomorrow, especially on a golf course like this where it's so firm and fast, greens are so fast, where a guy gets it rolling, he can shoot a really, really low one, but that being said, if you're off just a fraction, it's hard to make pars and putts and everything else that goes along with it.
Just goes -- I really think there's probably eight to ten guys that have a chance tomorrow, so it should be a free for all. Should be fun for TV.

Q. Are you superstitious, and will you think back to what you did the night before your victory a few years ago and try and do the same things tonight?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: I used to be a lot more so than I am now. I used to be really superstitious, and now as I've been out here for a few years, I realize that superstitions are what you make them. If you let them control you, they're going to control you, and if you just kind of do your own thing and go out there and try to relax -- the biggest thing for me right now it to get a good night's sleep and be relaxed and come out here tomorrow and have some fun. What that entails superstition-wise is nothing. I used to eat the same meal every night, used to make sure I wore the same thing every Sunday, put my socks on the same way, and after a few last-round 75s, that didn't last very long. So I figured out that it wasn't superstitions, it was more just me coming out here and being relaxed tomorrow.

Q. Just talk about that two-stroke swing on 16, your birdie, his bogey. What did that do for your momentum and confidence?
BRANDT SNEDEKER: Obviously I hadn't made a birdie in quite a few holes. I felt like I hadn't had many opportunities, and I had a good chance right there with an easy putt up the gut and make it, and Jason really looked unflappable today. He really didn't make -- that was the only bogey I think he made all day. He played fantastic. So I didn't expect that by any means.
But at that point we still had 20 holes left to go or 21 holes left to go for the tournament, so I wasn't really too concerned about him being two or three shots ahead of me at that point. We had a lot of golf left.
DOUG MILNE: Brandt, thanks for coming in, and best of luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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