Blog: Masters a tough, but valuable experience

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Editor's note: Brandt Snedeker began writing a blog for PGATOUR.COM after he won the Wyndham Championship last year. This is his first installment since finishing third at the Masters Tournament three weeks ago.

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Brandt Snedeker

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Masters was tough. I'm not going to lie to you. It was not a very fun Sunday or Monday. I realized that losing is part of life, though, and how you handle it says a lot about you. It was the first time I'd been in that kind of situation, under that kind of pressure. And like I have told everybody, I don't regret anything that happened Sunday. Everything happens for a reason. I feel great about the way I played and the way I handled myself. Honestly, I wish I hadn't gotten emotional after the round was over, but that just shows people how much I cared about it. That's just who I am -- it's part of me being a golfer and I'm not going to hide that in any way shape or form. So it's all good. It was just kind of tough to get over everything with that being the one tournament I would like to win more than anything else and coming that close in just my second time there at Augusta National. The last couple of weeks have given me some perspective, thought. I realized how well I did play, and I can look at the positives. I finished third in a major and accomplished a lot of really good goals that week. I had a chance to win on the back nine Sunday, which is all you try to do each week. It didn't work out, but it will before too long. It was a very good learning experience. It's something that needed to happen, and I'm glad it happened this early in my career so I can get over that hump and keep moving forward.

The reaction has been unbelievable. I could never have envisioned the fans supporting me the way they have. At Hilton Head, they were all there rooting for me, which was fantastic, and I can't thank them enough. I don't think the fans realize how important they are to what we do. At the end of the day, they're the ones who are paying to watch us play and they're the reason we get to play for the kind of money that we do. So we all owe them a debt of gratitude. The guys I play against have been great, too. They've all come up and said something to me. They've told me that we all have to go through things like this and figure it out. They've encouraged me. They've told me that I played great and to look at the positives. That's what I am trying to do.

One particular call sticks out, though, Tom Watson, who was one of my idols growing up, called me the Monday after the Masters. The call came out of the blue. I wasn't expecting it at all. We kind of played phone tag all week, and I finally caught up with him on Friday while he was playing -- and later winning -- the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am. Tom was super nice, too. He talked through the last couple of rounds with me and told me what he saw on TV. I thought it was great that he watched in the first place. He told me some of the stuff that he'd done over the years when he hasn't played as well as he wanted in those situations. Hopefully, I can bend his ear a little more often now and try to learn some stuff from him. Anytime you get that kind of wealth of knowledge there and he's willing to talk to you, it's pretty special. He sat there and talked to me for a half hour and I'm sure I bugged him to death asking questions. But it was great. It was all stuff I needed to hear. He was so nice to call me. I got to know him through Andy North. He and Andy are great friends, and they just won the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf last week. Anyway, I had set up to play with Andy in the Par 3 Contest, and Tom ended up joining us. So I got to know him there a little bit there and then we were paired together in the first two rounds. I never really told him he was one of my idols growing up. I didn't want to put them on him while we were playing, but I told him later. It was pretty special to play with him in my first Masters as a professional.

The last few weeks have been a little crazy, needless to say. The Verizon Heritage was great -- exactly what I needed after the Masters. It was a very relaxing week. I didn't play as well as I wanted to, but I had some friends down for the weekend I was able to relax and hang out on the beach a little bit. Then I took last week off to try to get my mind right, get physically ready and just basically recover. It was great. I went tarpon fishing for a couple of days down in the Keys. My fiancee's uncle is a fishing boat captain down there, so we stayed with them and relaxed. I caught a 140-pound tarpon, too. I couldn't even get it up into the boat, it weighed too much. So I have pictures of it in the water. It was a relaxing way to get away from golf a little bit. Then last weekend, I starting working hard again and getting back into shape. I'm still swinging good so hopefully, I'll play well this week at the Wachovia Championship. I put in a lot of hard work with Todd Anderson and Randy Myers, my swing coach and fitness guy down in Sea Island, Ga. I think we're getting my game to where we want it to be finally -- a little less swing-oriented and a little more just playing golf. I am starting to have fun again. I absolutely love Quail Hollow, too. It's an old style golf course, and the greens are perfect. You've got nobody to blame but yourself if you don't play well. I'm looking forward to playing this week. I'm ready to move on and play some good golf.