Brant Snedeker determined to bury his Aussie PGA demons

Brandt Snedeker went agonisingly close to winning the Australian Open in 2007.

American golfer Brandt Snedeker plays a shot during the Pro Am round at Royal Pines yesterday.

Brandt Snedeker went agonisingly close to winning the Australian Open in 2007.

“That’s definitely something that’s fresh in my mind, being back here in Australia,” Snedeker said.

“I lost the Aussie Open by a shot to Craig Parry. I had to call a penalty (shot) on myself on the 14th hole in the last round. That one shot proved pretty costly and cost me a playoff chance.

“So it’s great to be back with those good feelings, those good memories in my head but I also came down here for a reason.

“I’m here to win and obviously I think I’m playing some good golf. The results haven’t really shown it lately but I’m playing pretty well.

“I’m playing a lot better than I have been … so I’m excited about that.”

Six years later, there was agony again in the lead-up to the Australian PGA.

“I was in China during an outing the day after HSBC in 2013 and I had a Segway taking me to and from a hole all day,” Snedeker said. “I got through the whole day no problems and I was taking it back in and, being the idiot that I am, I decided to see how fast these things can go and hit a sprinkler head. It threw me off and I landed on my knee funny and heard pop — and I knew something was wrong.

“I flew back home and I had a slight tear in my ACL, cracked bone, bone bruise and all kinds of bad stuff. So it was disappointing, as I was looking forward to coming down here and I was playing some pretty good golf at the time.

“You know it’s great to be back now filling this commitment. So it’s all worked out in the end.”

Snedeker is back at the PGA this week, intent on breaking his drought on Australian soil. He starts the tournament today at Royal Pines at the Gold Coast on the second line of favouritism behind Queenslander John Senden.

Senden won’t be a pushover. His form at the Masters and Open suggests he is building towards something — he finished second at the Masters behind Peter Senior and then in a share of 13th at the Open behind Matt Jones.

Yesterday, Senden outlined his plans to eventually win the triple crown of Australian golf, something few players have achieved.

“I mentioned it at Huntingdale, I mentioned it at the Australian Open and I feel like my game’s in good shape,” Senden said.

“I just have to be strong and believe that I can do it and keep doing the work to try and get there. It’s not to do anything out of the ordinary, it’s just about playing solid and doing my work well, and I think that hopefully I can be in contention come the weekend.

“I want to keep playing competitively well at home until hopefully I can get all of them. It would be great. I’ve seen so many great players — Greg Norman, Peter Senior, Peter Lonard and all those guys — that have won all the three and hopefully one day that I could possibly put myself in with those names.”

First of all, he’ll need to get past Snedeker. The world No 38 has missed his past two cuts at the end of a year in which he won again on the USPGA Tour at the AT&T Pebble Beach.

He is making up for lost time this week, having stewed on his loss at the Australian Open for nearly a decade. A victory in the PGA would be the ideal catalyst for the next season on the USPGA Tour.

“Hopefully all the work I’ve put in kind of gets me started on the right foot,” Snedeker said.

“It’s great to be back and try to get that first win in Australia and be relevant again down here, and so hopefully I can kind of make this not an every-five-year trip, an every-couple-of-years trip.

“I love coming down here.”