Players Championship: Brandt Snedeker ready to shine again at Sawgrass

Brandt Snedeker is hoping to put his final round Masters flop behind him by winning this week's Players Championship.

The American, who was in red-hot form at the start of the year, was in great position to land the season's opening major after taking a share of the 54-hole lead but his putter went cold on the final day and he finished tied sixth.

Although he played the following week at Hilton Head, finishing a low-key 59th, this is his first opportunity since Augusta to pit his wits against the world's best again.

Snedeker said: "This is our fifth major. There is no secret about it. It's one of the premier tournaments in the world to win. It's got probably one of the best fields in golf. If you win this tournament, you've done something really special."

The 32-year-old has actually missed his last four cuts at Sawgrass although he did manage a 12th place on debut at the Florida track in 2007.
"This is a tournament that's kind of weird for me," said Snedeker. "I absolutely love this golf course, love the tournament, and I played terrible here for most of the time I played. So a little frustrated, but it's great to be back.

"The golf course sets up really well for me. It's in great shape, despite all the rain they've had. I'm really impressed with how the fairways are, the greens are in great shape, and the rough is pretty thick, so it should be set up for a good week."
Positives

Looking back on his Masters disappointment, five-time PGA Tour winner Snedeker said he took plenty of positives from it.

"I know I was pretty depressed and pretty down afterwards because I really felt like I was going to win. I felt like I was playing great and doing everything the right way.

"But looking back on things, I accomplished a lot of my goals that week. I got in the last group, which if you look at the history of the Masters, it's a pretty good place to be. Your odds of winning increase dramatically if you're there.

"So that's a great positive I took out of it. I played really well for 54 holes, and if I putt the way I normally do on Sunday, I think I have a really good chance of winning that golf tournament. So I took a lot of really good stuff out of that."