Farmers Insurance Open interview: Brandt Snedeker

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DOUG MILNE:  Brandt Snedeker, off to a great start with a bogey‑free, 7‑under, 65 today.  Obviously, a tournament very near and dear to your heart as is testament by today's round.  Just a few comments on the round and we'll take some questions.

BRANDT SNEDEKER:  Obviously, a great start.  It was nice to be back here defending.  The golf course is in great shape and to play the way I played today was nice.  I drove the ball really well, didn't make too many mistakes, and, when I did, my putter saved me which was nic
It was a great day, but I realize we've got three more of them to go, and I've still got the hard course to go, so not too much excitement yet.

Q.  Brandt, what is it about San Diego?  It seems like this is where your career really started launching?  You won here last year.  You ended up winning the FedExCup.  What is it about this course, these courses, this place?
BRANDT SNEDEKER:  I wish I could tell you.  First of all, it's great to be here.  I love being here, which is great, puts you in the right mindset for the rest of the week when you're excited about being in a place.  The golf course for some reason just fits my eye really well.
The greens, I have no problems adjusting to these greens whatsoever.  I come in hitting the ball right speed, reading the right lines, and when you do that, and you have that kind of confidence, it kind of bleeds into the rest of your game.  So I never really panic around here.  I always know I'm one round away from playing really well.  So it kind of all blends into being a great fit for me.

Q.  You talk about the birdies and the putter saving you some other times.  What were the keys out there?  Because just glancing up at different things you're doing, it looked like you had a couple of really good saves.
BRANDT SNEDEKER:  I did, I made a good par putt on 12 today, the par‑3, about a six‑footer that really kept my round going.  Then I just played the rest of the way pretty solid.  I made a great par on my 12th hole, number 3.  Made a good six‑footer, eight‑footer there for par.  It's funny you look back over the course of the round and it's all the pars that kept me going.  Made two good par putts on 3 and 4, and that really kind of kept the momentum going, and then, 7 and 8 it was really nice to get two birdies late in the round to kind of sneak up there on the leaderboard.
So took advantage of my good opportunities and made the best of my bad shots which is great.

Q.  And you had the save par on the last.
BRANDT SNEDEKER:  Yeah, yeah, a bad tee shot, and a good par to end the day.  I didn't want to bogey the ninth hole.  It's kind of one of the easiest holes out hire, so to finish that way was nice.

Q.  We threw out a Tiger statistic that was awe‑inspiring the other day.  But here's another one.  You're minus‑52 here.  How do you explain that?
BRANDT SNEDEKER:  I can't, you know.  It's funny, you look at all the golf courses I should play well on, this should not be one of them.  This is a long, difficult golf course with lots of rough and hitting a lot of iron shots, and my strengths is driving and putting so, it doesn't really add up well around here.
But for some reason it's been good to me.  I always seem to be starting the year, I'm always really fresh.  The game always feels sharp, so the west coast has always been good to me.  So just kind of build on that and take confidence from it and use that to my advantage.

Q.  You said that you don't panic out here.  Under what circumstances do you ever panic?  You look like a cool customer.
BRANDT SNEDEKER:  All golfers have panic in them at some point.  It's just a matter of when you're comfortable on the golf course, and something doesn't go your way or you get off to a slow start, you never get out of your routine and you never lose patience.  If you're on a golf course you're not necessarily comfortable on or something's making you uncomfortable, when you panic, you kind of get out of your routine, you lose patience and bad things can happen.
Out here I seem to never do that.  I always feel like my next good break is right around the corner, or my next good swing is around the corner, and it just bleeds into my game.

Q.  You're obviously doing the things that you're familiar with doing on this course.  But there is another guy right on your tracks who is doing something that he's very familiar with on this course in Tiger Woods.  Have you looked at the scoreboard to see what he's done today?  And I don't think it comes as a surprise to you either that he's had success today?
BRANDT SNEDEKER:  Yeah, I think he's won here more times than I've won on TOUR, so I think he knows this place pretty well.  And I think he's very similar to me.  He loves putting on these greens.  The greens, once you had a feel for them and you get rolling on them, you can make a lot of putts and he's got that feel for them.
We've got three more days to go.  There is 155 guys I'm still worried about besides him, so we have a lot more guys to worry about.

Q.  Tiger has never gone super low on the North like you did in '07.  Do you think that going that low that first visit here kind of set you up for a nice mindset for the North?
BRANDT SNEDEKER:  Yeah, I definitely think you pull back‑‑ the pins are typically the same.  You pull back all those good memories.  You pull back how to use your strategy around the golf course and where can you and can't miss it and stuff like that, and that definitely plays a role into it, for sure.