Brandt Snedeker stood on the range hitting balls, waiting to discover his fate. He had waited 2821 days. What was a few more minutes?
After shooting a final round of 5-under 65 in the ONEflight Myrtle Beach ClassicSnedeker found himself tied for the lead with Mark Hubbard at 18. As Hubbard made his way to the 18th hole, Snedeker hit balls to prepare for a playoff. Hubbard pulled his drive on the par-4 18th into the rough and stretched to 126 yards. His wedge shot went 24 feet from the hole, leaving him a tough, weak shot to force a playoff. Snedeker hit a few balls and then watched Hubbard’s shot miss low.
Then, Brandt Snedeker’s emotions began to flow.
He lightly tossed a headgear onto the highway turf and buried his head in Heath Holt’s shoulder as the tears came.
An emotional victory for 45-year-old Brandt Snedeker.
It’s his first win since his mother died.
His caddie was there to hug him right after he won ❤️🩹 pic.twitter.com/70WnHvCHTG
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 10, 2026
“Your momma’s smiling at you right now, buddy,” Holt told Snedeker as the 45-year-old vented his emotions. “I’m so happy for you, bro. All your hard work. What a comeback. (Win) No. 10. Way to go, man. Awesome.”
It was a victory that earned Snedeker, who began the year on conditional status, a two-year exemption. It also gets him into next week’s PGA Championship and The Players 2027. It was also Snedeker’s first win since his mother died.
The road from victory no. 9 in number 10 has been brutal for 2026 President’s Cup Captain.
Seven years, eight months and 21 days ago, Brandt Snedeker won the 2018 Wyndham Championship. Then, things fell apart. Snedeker underwent experimental surgery in 2022 to fix a joint in his sternum that was separating. It took him eight months to get back into racing, but he wasn’t who he used to be. Since the COVID pandemic, Snedeker had missed 68 cuts and posted just five top 10s. In 2024, Snedeker made just 7 of 26 cuts and did not record a top 10. His play was slightly better last season, where he had three top 10s, including a T7 at the Memorial. However, he finished 126th in the Fall FedEx and entered the year with conditional status.
As Brandt Snedeker struggled with his body and his game, doubt crept in. It’s only human to think that, after experimental surgery in your 40s, your best golf might be long behind you—that it’s finally time to figure out what’s next.
“There are points in the last two years that I didn’t think I could win again,” Snedeker said Sunday. “My golf game wasn’t very good. My body wasn’t feeling right. A lot of self-doubt. A lot of, you know, what am I doing?”
But Brandt Snedeker didn’t want to dismiss it. If the ride was over, that’s fine, but he wanted to empty the tank before the final bell rang. It turns out that Brandt Snedeker still had more to give. He just had to dig it.
“I did the only thing I knew how to do, go back to work,” Snedeker said. “That’s all you can do. Stop looking around for solutions and look for answers; that’s what I tell people all the time. I don’t want excuses. I need solutions to problems. The solution was to go back to work and do what I loved to do. And every time I did it, I kept getting a little bit better and a little bit better and a little bit of confidence like I started growing up and playing.”
Slowly, Snedeker’s game began to return. It arrived with a rush. A good round here and there. A good result every now and then. Then, he started putting things together. He made a shooting change earlier this year and entered the race at Valspar. or Sunday’s upset cost him a chance to win there, but his faith had returned. The self-doubt is gone.
On Sunday, Snedeker started the day four shots behind Hubbard, but got on the board with five birdies in his first 15 holes. He missed a five-footer for birdie at 16, but then holed a 20-footer at 17 to take the lead by one. As he orchestrated Sunday’s charge, Brandt Snedeker relied on a message Sunday from his daughter, Lily, telling himself to “play without fear.”
He’s been through a lot to get to this point, to get back into contention on the PGA Tour. The hard part was already done.
“It is the easiest thing to do, for what have I to fear at my age here?” Snedeker said. “You know, but it’s the hardest thing to do because you want to be in control of everything. You want to hold on as hard as you can for some of these things. Playing without fear means you can’t control everything. You have to let it go and not worry about the outcome. What’s the worst that’s going to happen? I’m going to miss the golf tournament.”
He reached the 18th round believing that 19 under, the number he was currently at, would be good enough to win. A pair would seal it. But a sloppy bogey followed, his only of the day, and Snedeker was left to tee off on the fairway at Dunes Golf and Beach Club.
He worked on his driver after a shaky swing on 18 led to a bogey that he thought would cost him the tournament. He thought about the seven years since his last victory and the four since his surgery. He hit ball after ball as Hubbard tried to navigate his way home.
Then Hubbard lost, and Brandt Snedeker’s long drive back ended at a Myrtle Beach driving range.
“It means everything to me,” said a teary-eyed Snedeker. “Not having my card the last two years, trying to do what I love, you know, still have a passion to play this game the way I want to play it and show people how I can still do it. … I knew I was playing well. I just hadn’t been able to put it all together. I hope it shows my family, my kids, something.
“This is probably as emotional as I’ve won a golf tournament before, for sure. I’ve been through so much since the last time this happened, so very grateful, very grateful for it and I try to take it all in.”
As Holt delivered his message to an emotional Snedeker, the 45-year-old mumbled the words as he pressed them against his shoulder, still trying to come to terms with accomplishing something that, at times, only he thought was possible.
Asked what he said to Holt as his emotions overwhelmed him, Snedeker paused and glanced toward the track that became the site of his 10th career victory, one that had a different meaning than the other nine.
“I just love the man,” Snedeker said.
