Snedeker conquers stress of success
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The conclusion was even more “Being in the lead satisfying Sunday. all week and dealing
By the time Snedeker birdied with that pressure,” Snedeker
- said after his ninth ham Championship title, he had PGA Tour victory, “and conquered the stress that came then shooting a 65 when following a course-record round I had to. I knew it wasn’t three days earlier. going to be easy. I knew
“I wanted to desperately win somebody was going to this tournament,” he said. come out and put a charge Snedeker shot a 5-under par 65 on me. It’s really great to rise to the occasion.”
Snedeker, whose primary sponsor is Wyndham Worldwide, also won the 2007 Wyndham Championship, but that was held at Forest Oaks Country Club. That Country Club, completing a day in which he played 29 holes.
Snedeker’s 21-under 259 was good for a three-shot victory on C.T. Pan, who double-bogeyed on No. 18, and Webb Simpson.
Snedeker, who shot 59 in the opening round Thursday, overcame a bogey on No. 13 before recovering for a birdie two holes later.
“This means the world to me,” Snedeker said. “To do it in
one, kind of everything comes full circle. . . . I’ve still got a lot of great golf in me.”
on the PGA Tour, hit his tee shot 72nd hole. He was playing in the group in front of Snedeker.
“It’s my fault,” said Pan, who’s from Taiwan. “I can learn something from it. It’s only my second year on the Tour. I’m still trying to learn from the best players out here.” Simpson, the 2011 champion, shot 62 in the last round. He was within a shot after his birdie on No. 17 capped a three-hole stretch with birdies. Moments later, it was a three-way tie when Snedeker used three putts on No. 13.
But Simpson, who lives in Charlotte and played collegiately at Wake Forest,
round after an errant tee shot on No. 18.
Jim Furyk was fourth, shooting 63 for his best round of the season
Pan caught Snedeker with a birdie on No. 11, but Snedeker matched that to retake the lead at 20-under.
Pan was aiming to become the tournament’s second winner in six years with his wife as the caddie. Patrick Reed won in 2013.
Snedeker wrapped up the stormdelayed third round Sunday morning by playing 11 holes and clinging
round. Snedeker was 2-under for the third round, but even across the 11 holes played in the morning.
Points bagged an eagle on the par-3 second hole with a 152-yard shot from the fairway but was only 2-under the rest of the way.
Brian Gay, who was coming off rounds of 63 and 62 for his best two rounds in the same tournament on the PGA Tour, had trouble getting cranked up in the final 16-under.
• CHIP SHOTS: Nick Taylor, Harris English and Sam Saunders were among the golfers to do enough to qualify for next week’s FedEx Cup playoffs to be among the top 125 in points. Saunders, who’s the grandson of the late
and tied for 45th place, reaching the playoffs after failing to qualify the past three years with a chance to clinch a spot in this tournament.
• Warnings of severe weather approaching were posted around the course by mid-afternoon, but those problems stayed away and play was uninterrupted. A day earlier, storms forced a suspension of play so 30 golfers completed their third rounds Sunday morning. … Next year, the tournament moves two weeks earlier under the PGA Tour’s revamped schedule, but it