MYRTLE BEACH CLASSIC

May 8, 2026

Brandt Snedeker

Dunes Golf and Beach Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Brandt, a second round 5-under 66. Round looks really similar on the score card as yesterday. Was there much of a difference?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Not really. I drove the ball really good the last two days. I think I've only missed a couple of fairways. You know, made some putts. Left a few out there, but all in all, I have been playing pretty solid through the back, so it's been nice on a golf course like this that rewards there.

There's no real favor for guys who bomb it. It's just kind of get out there and play good golf and take advantage of your good swings. I did a good job.

Made some key putts today. Made a few putts inside 10 feet that kind of kept the round going. All in all, pretty solid.

THE MODERATOR: You're trying to make this a habit. You were in contention at Valspar a month and a half ago. What's it like being back in contention after not being there for a while?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, exactly. It feels good. That's why I do all the work at home and why I still lot of being out here on tours and getting in these kind of positions. It's nice to be here, especially on a golf course I really like.

I got to play here the last couple of years, and this golf course sets up for me. So excited to be here with a chance on the weekend. This is what you work for, so kind of turn the brain off tomorrow and go have some fun.

THE MODERATOR: Was there a moment outs there in your round today that you felt like you maybe made a part or something that kept that momentum going?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: I got off to a really solid start. On the ninth hole I hit a great 5-iron in there to about 8 feet, and that was my second birdie of the day. Once I made that putt, I was, like, okay, I got some momentum going. I kind of stalled out. I made a birdie, but I hadn't done much. I hit a solid iron shot and kind of got some momentum going.

The back nine I kind of just kept riding the momentum. Hit a bunch of good shots, gave myself a bunch of birdie putts, and was able to take advantage of it for sure.

THE MODERATOR: You played here both years before and missed the cut both times. What have you learned about those two years to bring to this week?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: It's all about hitting fairways here. Even though the rough is not long, when you're in the rough, it's very difficult to kind of judge it out of.

The greens here are extremely difficult to read. They're in great shape, but they're really hard to read. They're very subtle, it seems like, a lot of the times you get inside 8 feet, inside 10 feet. So it's taken me a while to get used to and to feel comfortable on them and to realize you're going to misread some. That's just the way they are.

A lot more patient this year than I was the last couple of years.

Q. How is the way you're playing now figure in ow your preparation for the Presidents Cup coming up?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Hopefully it's a positive. I'm still kind of watching how the guys are doing every night and still trying to be on the road when I can to see those guys.

I was up in Medina last week. I'm going to have to go up there again next week. So doing a lot of prep work when I have weeks off to go up there and check everything out.

It's a great blessing. It's a great problem to have, right, to play good golf, and also have something to kind of take your mind off of it. So the Presidents Cup is certainly doing that, and excited about the opportunity our guys have in front of them in Chicago.

Q. I saw you from 9 through 18, and you didn't miss a putt. What was the longest putt that you felt like, okay, I really to make this and did?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: I feel like I've been putting really well for about the last two months. When you have putts inside 5 feet and you feel like you're never going to miss one, it makes things a lot easier.

I feel like I've been putting well enough that if they're inside 5 feet, they're going to go in. From 5 to 10 feet they seem a lot easier. I hadn't missed a putt really inside 10 feet the first two days. You do that, you're going to be successful.

Q. You don't hesitate over them, do you? You step right up and bang.

BRANDT SNEDEKER: The more I think, the worse things happen. That's a general rule for my life. I try to take the brain out of it.

Q. Presidents Cup at Aronimink. You're familiar with it from the Ryder Cup and other things. How does that figure into your preparation? How do you talk to the guys when you start figuring out who the roster is going to be?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, it's in Medina. Obviously been there a few times, but it's a new golf course, so it's totally different. The last six holes have been redone, so it's different form from the guys have seen before.

We're going to treat it like any other major championship, any other big event. We're going to there and practice and prepare and treat it like the kind of event that should showcase some of the best players in the world.

I think, you know, the home course advantage is going to be overblown. It's a new golf course for everybody. There's no huge great knowledge of guys that have played there in years past. Do a lot of prep work, make sure the guys feel comfortable, and have the course set up the right way for them so we can take advantage of our strengths.

Q. The sternum surgery that you had, I think, what, three years ago or came back from it three years ago. How has that gone? What was that like to go through that? Did you think your career was over at some point?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, it's doing great. Can't thank Dr. Elrod, my ortho back in Nashville, enough. He kind of did experimental surgery on it. Kind of had to talk him into it, and it's been really successful.

My chest feels great. I don't hardly have any arthritic pain, any pain in there at all anymore. I dealt with it probably five or six years of just kind of living in pain every day.

To have that gone has been a huge relief. So it's been fun to be able to go out and practice and do what I want to do without any pain. That's been great. The body feels really good.

When you are 45 years old out here and your body feels like your mind does, you'll take it. I've battled through a lot of injuries in my life. To feel this good at 45 is a blessing.

Q. Is it fun to be a 45-year-old playing with these younger guys and beating them?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: It's not fun to see where they're hitting it versus where I'm hitting it, but it is fun to be able to go out there and kind of play a golf course like this where not necessarily how far you hit it is important. It's about where you hit it and kind of where you leave it and playing smart golf. So this course rewards that for sure.

Q. You had great success in Hilton Head as well for years. Is there anything about this part of the country that you really enjoy?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: This course kind of reminds me a little bit of Hilton Head. Being here and seeing the tall pine trees, seeing the coastal water, seeing the golf course in the shape that it's in, it's eerily similar. Obviously this has got a little bit more undulation than Hilton Head does and probably not the same kind of golf course to a degree, but it plays very similar.

You have to put the ball in the fairways. The fairways here are really tight, they're really narrow, very similar to Hilton Head. The greens there are difficult to read at Hilton Head. They're very similar here. Very difficult to read. Even though there's a lot of slope on them, it feels like when you get them in the right sections, they're really difficult to pick up the nuances of the green.

Definitely a lot of similarities there.

Q. Is this almost like a revival? Like he was talking about, 2011, 2012 maybe, I guess the highlight of your career. You won at The Heritage. You were on the Ryder Cup team and all of that. Then you have to go through the injury that you went through. Now this is almost like a second life, isn't it?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, I'm really enjoying the Presidents Cup and what they've kind of -- what that's kind of made me do. It's kind of made me get out of my shell a little bit and spend some time with some guys and get to know these young guys a lot better and forced me to do things I probably wouldn't have done otherwise, and it forces me to get out there and play well.

My kids have got older now where they want to see me do well. I want to show them that I'm still capable of playing out here and beating some of these guys. Lots of great things going on in my life right now, so excited about the opportunities in front of me.

Q. Just following up on that, is this a week where maybe you've had conversations with some of the American players or younger players, or have any of them come up to you and sort of you discussed the Presidents Cup?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: I've talked to some guys. Been texting with some guys that have been mainstays on the team, and my job the next couple of weeks is to kind of get these young guys out and get them together and spend some time with them, get to know them.

I'm always a text away from these guys. I was texting with Cameron Young after last week and telling him how proud I was of him of how great he played. I've kind of been in the ears of the guys.

When I was at Medina last week on what we need to do course setup-wise with what they like, what they favor, and that kind of thing. Always kind of a text away from these guys.

I kind of also want to leave them alone in these big events. They don't need anything else on their plates. We have plenty of time to get ready in September, so kind of enjoy the meat of their season right now.

They have PGA coming up and a bunch of big events. Obviously Truist this week. They need to focus on playing great golf, not on me bugging them with mundane stuff right now.

Q. Is there any point on your schedule this year that you say, okay, this is when I shift into full-blown captain's mode as opposed to being competitive out here yourself?

BRANDT SNEDEKER: Yeah, I think once the British Open happens, the Open Championship happens, the team will be pretty much for the most part solidified. I think once that happens, it will be kind of full all hands on deck.

Hopefully by then my assistant captains will be picked, and we'll have all of us in a room to kind of go through scenarios and figure out what we need to do and kind of making sure everything is set up for the guys so when they show up, they can go out and play great golf and have a blast.