‘Nobody expects me to be here’: Presidents Cup captain Brandt Snedeker contending into Sunday at Valspar Championship

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — If you hear intently to the Valspar Championship, you will hear an oft-repeated theme from the PGA TOUR gamers on the sector: Focus on the driving force.

Hitting it within the fairway, avoiding the tree line and hazards and setting your self up for a superb second shot is most essential at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course.

But not from Brandt Snedeker.

The 45-year-old is in competition on the PGA TOUR after a third-round 67, the place he hit eight of 13 fairways and 7 of 18 Greens in Regulation, however transformed an ideal 11 for 11 in Scrambling. He led the sector in Strokes Gained: Putting, was first in general Strokes Gained and heads into Sunday at 9-under, two photographs again of Sungjae Im’s lead.

“The only thing I really care about when I’m putting is inside 6 feet,” mentioned Snedeker. “If I make my putts inside six feet, then I feel like everything else will take care of itself.”

Snedeker,

who will be captaining the 2026 US Presidents Cup Teambegan the day 4 photographs again from the lead and picked up birdies on three of his first holes, together with putts from 16 and 17 ft. He added yet another birdie on No. 11 and saved a clear card, critically enjoying the “Snake Pit,” the Copperhead Course’s last three-hole stretch, in even par on a day the place so many fell to their clutches.

All in all, he made 116 ft of putts, the fourth-most within the subject.

Snedeker had used the Odyssey Rossie II putter for his total profession on the TOUR however determined to change to the TaylorMade Spider mallet a number of weeks in the past, within the midst of lacking 4 straight cuts to begin his 2026 season.

“Everybody seems to be going to (the TaylorMade Spider mallet), it has been winning out here,” he mentioned. “When I got it, I did a bunch of data, so I got on a bunch of putting monitors and saw how the ball rolled, what it did to my stroke, and everything was better. So when you have actual data telling you that the stroke’s better, the ball’s rolling better, everything is better with this new putter, then it makes the transition easier. It’s not a feel thing.

“And the largest factor is getting used to the velocity. Every putter rolls a bit bit totally different, so getting used to how briskly it comes off took me a pair weeks to do it, however now I really feel like I’m fairly adjusted.”

Snedeker’s most recent of his nine wins was at the Wyndham Championship in 2018, and he’s struggled to reach the same level of golf since returning from surgery for his sternum in 2023, despite feeling like he has all of the pieces to succeed. Now, it’s just a matter of putting them together.

“My well being might be the perfect it has been in 10 years out right here,” he said. “I really feel actually good. My vitality stage’s actually excessive. … I saved having hope, man, I actually did. I used to be doing a lot great things at residence that I knew I wasn’t far off from how after I performed my finest.

“And nobody expects me to be here, to be honest with you, at 45. Nobody expects me to win tomorrow. So I’m going to have the most fun trying to prove people wrong and prove probably myself wrong that I can still do it.”