Brandt Snedeker is back where he hasn’t been in a long time — right in the mix on a Sunday — and he knows it.
After years of battling inconsistency and going a long stretch without lifting a trophy, the 45-year-old American has surged into contention at the Valspar Championship with a bogey-free 67, reaching nine-under-par and giving himself a real chance to win again.
But perhaps the most telling part of his performance came not from the scorecard, but from his mindset.
“Nobody expects me to be here at 45. Nobody expects me to win,” Snedeker admitted. “So I’m going to have the most fun trying to prove people wrong — and probably prove myself wrong that I can still do it.”
It’s a statement that captures both the doubt surrounding him in recent seasons and the quiet belief that has kept him going. Despite missing four cuts recently, Snedeker insists he never lost faith.
“I kept having hope. I was doing so much good stuff at home that I knew I wasn’t far off,” he explained.
His resurgence this week has been built in an unexpected way. While his long game hasn’t been at its sharpest, his short game — and especially his putting — has carried him.
“Even though it looked bogey-free, it was definitely up and down,” he said. “But I was rolling the ball so good, chipping the ball so good. If I can get my long game under control, I’ve got a great chance tomorrow.”
That renewed confidence on the greens comes after a major change: abandoning the same putter he had used for 23 years.
“I had the same putter for 23 years,” Snedeker revealed. “But the data showed everything was better with the new one — the stroke, the roll, everything.”
The switch to a mallet putter has transformed his game almost immediately. “When you putt well, everything else gets easier,” he added. “It’s been a lot of fun to play stress-free golf.”
Now, with one round to go, Snedeker finds himself chasing a milestone — a 10th PGA TOUR victory that would carry extra weight after such a long wait.
“My goal is just to give myself a chance,” he said. “If I get to the 10th tee tomorrow with a chance to win, that’s all you work for.”
There’s also a sense of perspective. At this stage of his career, competing against younger players, simply being in the fight means something.
“It would be really special to win again,” he admitted. “I want to show myself, my kids, my family that I can still do it.”
Snedeker has been here before at Copperhead, even sharing the final group with Tiger Woods in 2019. Now, years later, he gets another shot — not as a favorite, but as a veteran with nothing to lose and everything to prove.
And that, perhaps, makes him more dangerous than ever.
