Brandt Snedeker captured PGA TOUR Player of the Month presented by Avis honors for his victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, garning nearly 50 percent of the vote. Phil Mickelson, winner of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, was second.

Send him your congratulations below.

Brandt Snedeker, the reigning FedExCup champion and current points leader, will not play in the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship next week at Doral due to a nagging rib injury.

Snedeker injured his ribs at the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation. He went home and received treatment from his trainer, Randy Myers, then finished second the next two weeks at the Farmers Insurance Open and the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

The soreness in Snedeker's left rib cage recurred when he played in -- and won -- the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. He has not competed since that victory, and his doctor in Nashville advised he take another week off.
 
“My ribs do feel better," Snedeker said. "However, the area is still tender and I feel that I need to take next week off and continue to rest.

"I want to make sure I am totally prepared to return for the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard and then the Masters."

In 2013, Brandt Snedeker has carded 16 of 19 rounds in the 60s, aided by his tee-to-green play.
(Gross/Getty Images)

By Bill Cooney, PGATOUR.COM

Brandt Snedeker owns one of the most complete short games on the PGA TOUR. He’s one of the best putters and one of the best with a wedge in his hands. But the reason he’s off to one of the best starts in recent memory is due to his improvement in driving accuracy and iron play – as he showed during his victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am over the weekend.

Just how good has Snedeker been from tee to green? And how much has he improved from past seasons? We can find out by going inside the numbers ...

6th  Where Snedeker ranks this seasons in greens in regulation, hitting 77 percent of greens. … This is amazing: In the past six seasons, Snedeker hasn’t ranked inside the top 100 in greens – even ranking 182nd in 2010. He ranked 132nd last season en route to winning the FedExCup. What does this mean? Well, if he keeps this up – and his putting remains solid (19th in strokes gained-putting) – he’s in for a major year (pun intended?) in 2013.

7  Number of players with multiple PGA TOUR wins that finished in the top 10 at last season’s Northern Trust Open at Riviera. … Six of those seven return this week – defending champion Bill Haas, Phil Mickelson, Keegan Bradley, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson and J.B. Holmes. Throw in Luke Donald, Adam Scott, Lee Westwood, Bubba Watson, Charl Schwartzel, Webb Simpson, Peter Hanson and Graeme McDowell and you have 11 of the top 20 in the Official World Golf Rankings in the field this week. Pretty tasty.

15th  Rank in driving accuracy for Snedeker, who has hit 68.42 percent of his fairways this season. … Here’s another reason for Snedeker’s surge this season. He’s only ranked in the top 60 once in the past six years in this category. In 2012, he finished 109th, hitting just 60.50 percent of his fairways.

20.2 percent  That’s the percentage of putts Snedeker has made outside of 10 feet since 2012. It’s the highest on TOUR in that timeframe (minimum 500 attempts). He’s 166 of 821. ... Snedeker is eighth this season in average distance of putts made at 4 feet, 11 inches. In 2012, he finished second at 4 feet, 8 inches.

33 of 37  Snedeker has carded 33 rounds under par in his past 37 attempts. … That dates back to the first round of the 2012 Wyndham Championship. Snedeker also has shot in the 60s in 16 of his 19 rounds in 2013. Pretty dominate stuff.

107  Birdies this season for Snedeker. … Not only is that No. 1 through six events this year, it’s the most birdies recorded through the first six events of a PGA TOUR season since 1983. Larry Mize (1985) and Craig Stadler (1985) previously held the record at 106.

1,282  FedExCup points for Snedeker. It’s the highest total through six events since the current system went into effect in 2009. … Yes, if you thought that was a hefty number at this point in the season, you’re right. Last season, Kyle Stanley also won early and led the FedExCup standings with 846 points. And get this: In 2012, Snedeker would have ranked 18th in FedExCup points with 1,282 following the Wyndham Championship, which is the end of the Regular Season.

$2,859,920  The official earnings this season for Snedeker. … Not bad, eh? Consider this: That total was good enough to finish 26th on the 2012 PGA TOUR money list.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS ARCHIVE

Week 2: Sony Open/Humana Challenge

Week 3: Humana Challenge/Farmers Insurance Open

Week 4: Farmers Insurance Open/WM Phoenix Open

Week 5: WM Phoenix Open/AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

Snedeker's full swing has continually improved under coach Todd Anderson. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR)

By Travis Fulton, Director of Instruction, PGA TOUR Academy

It’s fun to watch the game when a player gets into a groove where the game appears to be easy. We all know the game of golf is anything but easy, but when you watch Brandt Snedeker play right now it appears to be exactly that.

Snedeker is a player that if you were forced to draft a putter in fantasy golf, the Vanderbilt grad might be at the top of your list. His decisive approach countered with a compact and square putting stroke have always been a lethal combination. But what’s appealing to me these days is his ball-striking. Snedeker and his coach Todd Anderson have done some great things to get his full swing to match the level of his skills with the flat stick.

One of the things we can learn from Snedeker’s swing is how he takes the club up the plane during the backswing. What I like about it is how he hinges the clubhead up and rotates the lead forearm. These movements are critical because they promote a good shoulder turn and position the shaft on plane with a square clubface. This position really sets the stage for the club to come down on a good plane angle and path into impact. 

One of the most common errors amateurs make with their backswing is they don’t hinge the clubhead up but rather drag it to the inside and well under the initial plane. This usually leads to a lack of rotation in the lead forearm, creating a steeper plane with the shaft at the top of the swing. As a result, the shoulders don’t turn as well, setting the stage for the club to come down on a much steeper plane angle and inevitably an out-to-in path through impact.

So as we continue on with the 2013 season and watch Snedeker continue to make things look easy, watch closely how he hinges the wrists and rotates his lead forearm to the top of the swing. Take a picture of this position at the top if you can and begin to work to get your shaft and clubface in these alignments and watch just how easy the downswing can be.

Travis Fulton is the Director of Instruction at the TOUR Academies at TPC Sawgrass and the World Golf Village. For more information on the TOUR Academy, click here.

By Dr. Gregg Steinberg, Special to PGATOUR.COM

For the hottest player on the PGA TOUR, lucky No. 13 provides great fortune to Brandt Snedeker, the 2013 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am champion. Recently, the Golf Channel illustrated that Snedeker’s pre-shot routine takes a consistent 13 seconds. Amazingly, this pre-shot time was exactly the same for his driver swing, his mid-iron swing, and for his putting.  Nothing changed, regardless of situation.

Of course, it is not the ominous “13” that is helping to produce such great results.  Rather, being consistent is giving Snedeker greater emotional control.

Think about your life. Do you take the same route to work every morning? Do you go to the same restaurants? Consistency is vital to our lives. We need consistency. Being consistent gives us peace of mind.

In Snedeker’s case, the consistency of his routine tells his body (subconsciously) that the current pressure situation on the PGA TOUR is not different from playing back home with his buddies.  His lucky “13” helps him to stay relaxed and keeps his swing in beautiful rhythm, whether it is the first round of the year or the final back nine of a major.
   
However, a change in his routine would provide a subtle signal that something is different (for example, the situation is more important) and an increase in anxiety will result. An increase in anxiety usually produces a quicker swing than normal and this would produce a poorer shot on the course.

The point of Snedeker’s routine extends beyond just having a consistent time element, however. You should also have the same actions and thoughts in every routine. If you have seen Snedeker play, you will notice he has incorporated a hip swivel into his routine, and he does this every time prior to his swing.

While you may not want to do any subtle dance moves prior to your golf swing, I would recommend placing these “3” critical actions into your routine:

-- Take a deep cleansing breath at the start of every routine, from your full swing to your putting. Breathing pushes out anxiety.

-- Visualize where you want the ball to go. This will increase your confidence as well as reduce any nerves.

-- Make a positive self-statement for closure. We believe what we say.

Be consistent in your routine and it will not be luck contributing to your great play.

Bio: Dr. Gregg Steinberg is regular guest every Tuesday on “Talk of the Tour” heard on the Sirius/XM PGA TOUR radio. He is a tenured professor of sports psychology and has worked with many PGA TOUR players. You can see more about him at www.drgreggsteinberg.com and you can e-mail him at mentalrules24@msn.com

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Brandt Snedeker and Toby Wilt have played literally hundreds of rounds of golf together back home in Nashville, Tenn.

Nothing, however, was quite like the 18 holes they shared on Sunday. Not playing in the final group on the final day of AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with dual titles on the line.

Snedeker was trying to win the fifth PGA TOUR event of his career after runner-up finishes each of the last two weeks. And he and the investor, who endowed the scholarship Snedeker attended Vanderbilt on and has become a close friend, were trying to win the pro-am portion of the tournament once known as the Crosby Clambake.

Turns out, the two succeeded on both counts.

Snedeker said Wilt had a calming influence on him as he fired a 65 on the way to a two-stroke win over Chris Kirk. And Wilt nearly gave the two the outright title when he narrowly missed a long putt on the 72nd hole -- instead, they shared the pro-am title with Michael Letzig and John Erickson at 31 under.

"He knew what to say when I was kind of hurting and not playing my best, and he knew what to say when I was playing great and we had a lot of fun talking about everything but what we were doing, and that's what you need out there," Snedeker said. "You need somebody to keep your mind off what's going on and focus when you need to.
 
"We've played so many rounds of golf together and I kept thinking of how special it would be if we could win this as a team, because I'm sure he had a great time today playing in the last group of a PGA TOUR event watching me.  But I want to make sure that we both walked out of here with a trophy, our goal was to walk out with two trophies today and for us to do that was a very special thing."

Jordan Spieth and Dallas Cowboys quarterfinal Tony Romo; Patrick Cantlay and surfer Kelly Slater; Brad Fritsch and signer Huey Lewis were among six teams tied for third, two strokes back.

By Fred Albers, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Brandt Snedeker used to be a great putter and an inconsistent ball-striker. That has changed. He is 11th in greens in regulation and 25th in strokes gained-putting this season. Compare those numbers to 2012, when he was 132nd and first, respectively. What accounts for the difference? Snedeker says he was giving away too many shots by shooting at too many pins. He is more concerned now about angles off the tee. Snedeker is still frustrated with his putting this year, claiming he is missing his line on many of the greens, but his course management has improved so much that he is able to win without his usual putting stroke. He hit 13 of 14 fairways in the final round and for the week found 56 of 72 greens while ranking eighth in strokes gained-putting. That combination will win an awful lot of tournaments this year.

Toughest hole: They used the back tee on the ninth hole, stretching the par 4 to 496 yards and golfers struggled. It was the toughest hole on the course, playing to a 4.286 stroke average. There were just five birdies the whole day while golfers stumbled to 20 bogeys. Just hitting the green wasn’t enough. Snedeker played safely to the middle of the green and then three-putted for bogey. The green slopes from left to right and with a front right hole location, golf balls putted from above the hole would race past the cup and off the green. The safe miss was not into the center of the green but short of the putting surface. Golfers who chipped from in front of the green were able to save par. Those who putted from above the hole walked away with three-putt bogeys.

Learning experience:  It was a great week of golf for James Hahn but he called his final round “bittersweet.” Hahn lamented a missed eagle putt on the second hole followed by another miss for birdie at the third. Those early misfires hurt his confidence for the remainder of the round and he had trouble both trusting and hitting his line. Hahn says the great lesson he learned from playing in the final group: He has to become a better putter under pressure.

Last look: Scott Tway would not leave the 18th green until Snedeker had hit the green. Tway caddied for Chris Kirk and his man had just birdied the final hole to post 17 under. Snedeker had a two-shot lead and played into the 18^th from just 139 yards. Tway stood his post, just making sure any chance of a playoff had been eliminated. Once Snedeker hit a 9-iron to within 30 feet of the cup, Tway conceded his man would finish second and joined Kirk in the scoring trailor.

Conditions: Pebble Beach was in the best condition I have ever seen in February. During the rainy winter months, the golf course is usually soggy. Not this year. The greens retained some firmness, even with rain on Thursday night and Friday morning. There have been years when the ball hits the green with a “squish.” This year, the same shot would hit the green and release. The fairways also had a degree of firmness and the combination was noted with approval by the entire field of players.

Fred Albers is a course reporter for SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio.  For more information on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio, click here.

After two runner-up finishes this season, Brandt Snedeker broke through for his first victory of the year. With this victory, the defending FedExCup champ ...

· Earns 5^th career PGA TOUR win at the age of 32 years, 2 months and 2 days in his 171^st career start.

· Extends exempt TOUR status by one year through the 2018 season.

· TOUR wins: 2007 Wyndham Championship, 2011 RBC Heritage, 2012 Farmers Insurance Open and 2012 TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola.

· Records second win in last six starts on TOUR dating to last start of 2012 at the TOUR Championship.

· 2012 FedExCup champion retains the No. 1 spot in the current FedExCup standings.

· Wins in sixth start at Pebble Beach – missed the cut in two of previous three starts here (2009 and 2011).

· 2013 starts-made cuts-top-10s-wins (not including this week’s start): 4-4-3-0.

· Becomes first player since 1990 to follow up two consecutive runner-up finishes with a win.

· Has been in the top-4 of the standings at the end of 12 of his 19 rounds on TOUR this season.

· In 19 rounds thus far in 2013, has 16 rounds in the 60s and 18 under-par rounds.

· Has had a round in the 60s in 16 of his last 17 rounds on TOUR. A 75 in the second round of the Farmers Insurance Open is his lone miss.

· Is 33/37 for subpar rounds in official TOUR events, dating to the start of the Wyndham Championship in August of last year. The week before the Wyndham Championship, missed the cut at the PGA Championship.

· Converted second straight opportunity when holding the third-round lead/co-lead.

By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. --  Brandt Snedeker saved his low round of the week for when he needed it most, closing with a 65 to win the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Snedeker set the tone for the day when he made a 4-footer for eagle at the second hole to pull out of an overnight tie for the lead with James Hahn. Snedeker never looked back, patiently taking avantage of his opportunities and building as much as a four-stroke advantage before edging Chris Kirk by two strokes.

The victory was Snedeker's second in his last six starts dating back to the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola -- where he also won the FedExCup. Snedeker, who leads the current points standings, had finished second each of the previous two weeks and was third in the PGA TOUR's season-opener on Maui.

"Feels great to finish one," said Snedeker, who fell to Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines and Phil Mickelson in Phoenix. "The last two weeks, playing great but running into two Hall of Famers really motivated me to go out (and prove) that I can play good and handle the lead.

"I love being in this position and today was a lot of fun."

With the round of 65, Snedeker has now shot in the 60s 16 times in 19 rounds this year. He is a cumulative 82 under for 2013 and has risen to No. 4 in the world.

Kirk, who won the 2011 Viking Classic, closed with a 66 to take sole possession of second at 17 under. The Georgia grad now has two top-5 finishes in four starts this year.

"We've had a lot of tournaments like that on TOUR this year where somebody has really just kind of  blitzed the field," Kirk said. "I felt like I played well enough to win a golf tournament, and came up a little bit short. But I'm really happy with my day."

Hahn ended up in a third-place with with Jimmy Walker and Kevin Stadler at 14 under. Hahn is making the most of his rookie campaign on TOUR -- he also tied for fourth at the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation where he held a share of the first- and second-round leads.

"This week was the best tournament I've had so far," Hahn said. "But being so close to winning a golf tournament, playing in the final group, it's a little bittersweet.

Stadler shot 65 while Walker, who tied for fourth two weeks ago at the Farmers Insurance Open, closed with a 66. Hahn finished with a 70.

Brandt Snedeker finally has a victory to go along with an impressive start to the 2013 PGA TOUR season. Snedeker won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Sunday in Pebble Beach, Calif., holding off a host of challengers on the back nine at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Want to congratulate Snedeker on his victory? Just leave him a note in the comments section below and we'll deliver it to him.