Brandt is the man. An alumnus of Vanderbilt University, Brandt has become one of the best players on the tour. He is a favorite, along with Tiger and Phil, to win the PGA Championship which will be played at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, NY, August 8-11. Brandt played stellar golf all weekend. On Saturday he hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation (88.89%). He had 27 putts Thursday, 27 Friday, 25 on Saturday and 26 on Sunday. His strokes gained putting Saturday was 4.265 which is outrageous considering the average for a player is 0.48 and the leader is Sergio Garcia (surprising) at .989. That’s four shots better than the best average. Strokes gained putting is defined by if a player holed some putts that are unlikely to be holed on average, he picks up shots (say from 10 feet or farther for example). If he misses putts that are typically made from that range (roughly six feet and in) he loses shots on the strokes gained. It’s a pretty interesting statistic though I like total putts per round better. It’s much easier to understand.
Sneds’ key holes yesterday were 12 and 16. On 12, a 202-yard par 3, Sneds hit his tee shot right, into the outer perimeter of the woods. His playing opponent, David Lingmerth, did the exact same thing. Sneds found his ball, which was very fortunate, but had a very difficult lie and a tough chip out of the woods under some debris. He chipped it to the fringe, which was a pretty good out, then chipped his third shot almost in the hole about a foot past it. He sank his putt for bogey to drop to -15. Dustin Johnson had just put his second shot on the 516-yard, par five, 16th, 18 feet from the hole and was putting for eagle. Johnson was @ -14 and if he sank his eagle putt, he would have the outright lead @-16. But Johnson missed just right of the hole and tapped in for birdie to tie Sneds at -15. Johnson then found disaster on 17, as he hit his tee shot out of bounds, and had a terrible time finishing the hole ending up with a triple bogey to drop back to -12 and drop out of contention. Jason Bohn, the 40 year old who played at Alabama, got in @ -13 and Johnson birdied 18 to get in at -13. Meanwhile, Snedeker had another key situation on 16. After hitting his second shot in the trap on the par 5, Snedeker, who is 26th in sand saves on the tour, blasted out to about 18 feet. He had a left to right breaker that the CBS commentator said everybody was missing to the right. Sneds read it perfectly and rolled it in for birdie and cruised home for the victory winning over $1 million dollars and moving up to third in the Fed Ex Standings behind Tiger (first) and Kuchar. Big deal for Brandt. It didn’t hurt that Hunter Mahan, who was leading at -13 after the second round and leading by three shots over John Merrick, and eight over Brandt, had to withdraw due to his wife going into labor with their first baby.I really liked Hunter for doing that. Can’t miss that epic moment in your life.
The compelling part of Sneds winning at the RBC Canadian is ever since Pebble Beach where he won the AT&T he has struggled with a bone degeneration disease that has caused him some serious problems. It’s very unusual for a young guy in his early 30’s to contract this. Brandt has cracked four ribs in six years and he hurt himself at the AT&T with five holes left in the tournament. He powered through that and won it, but has struggled ever since having to take a month off and then trying to regain his form from earlier in the season. He’s been getting injections to try and strengthen his bones. It’s been a pretty tough time for him. But it looks like he’s back to full health and playing the best golf of his life like Phl is right now.
I like Sneds, Phil and Tiger as my three elite guys right now with Johnson, Kuchar, Justin Rose and Mahan right behind them. I like one of those guys to win the PGA. I’ll have my preview and prediction Wed (Aug. 7) of next week. Meanwhile all the big names in the World Golf Rankings will descend on the 7,400-yard Firestone Country Club South Course this weekend for a huge tournament, the World Golf Championships–Bridgestone Invitational. Tiger has won there seven times. That’s incredible. This course will favor the longer hitters. Look for Tiger, Phil, Mahan and Johnson to be in the hunt for sure. Keegan Bradley won here last year. He may come out of the wood works this week. Jim Furyk seems to play well there too, but I don’t trust him that much in the clutch anymore. Can’t sink the clutch putts any more. Will have a preview and prediction Wednesday.