Orlando: When last seen on a golf course, Brandt Snedeker was capping off an amazing run by winning the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. He mentioned his ribs being sore, but never let on that the pain began to increase over the last four or five holes that Sunday. That was five tournaments ago.
Snedeker, who also missed the U.S. Open last summer because of a rib injury, returns to competition this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He said his rib muscle was strained on the left side, which was causing the pain. And while the two rib injuries are not related, there is concern about why it keeps happening. "I had about every test run you can possibly have run," Snedeker said. "The good news is I'm completely healthy. The bad news is I'm completely healthy. So I don't know why it keeps happening. I was kind of hoping that something would creep up that would lead me to see why this keeps happening, and nothing came up. So just have to chalk it up to bad luck, I guess, and get back healthy."
He could have returned last week in the Tampa Bay Championship, but sat out one more week as a precaution. Instead, he added the Houston Open next week, with everything geared toward being ready for the Masters. His expectations haven't changed, even though Snedeker surely accumulated some rest over the past month. He was considered the hottest guy in golf, finishing runner-up in consecutive weeks to Tiger Woods (Torrey Pines) and Phil Mickelson (Phoenix) before winning at Pebble.
So strong was his performance that Snedeker remains No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings, even though Woods has won twice. He remains No. 4 in the world. "I'm probably the freshest guys on the PGA Tour right now because I haven't played in five weeks, and I'm probably one of the few guys that is really excited about the next stretch of golf," he said. "So I feel great about it. I just want to give myself a chance on Sunday. With a great field like this, would be a lot of fun."
Snedeker watched plenty of golf on television. He moved into a new house in Nashville. But is he still the hottest guy in golf? "I am not playing anywhere near as well as Tiger Woods is right now, so we can answer that question and get that out of the way," Snedeker said. "He's playing unbelievable golf. That being said, I'd love to see him on Sunday afternoon and see how I stack up against him. He's sharp right now. I've got to develop that again."
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