Purdy: Snedeker's career makes for perfect country song

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Two years ago, after Brandt Snedeker won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, I asked him a crucial question.

Snedeker is from Nashville. Grew up there. Went to school there. Lives there. So I wanted to know which country song summed up his career.

He ducked my inquiry slicker than a pickup truck on an icy highway, answering: "A bunch of 'em."

Funny thing, though. He was right.

As a pro golfer, Snedeker has been up. He's been down. He's been over. He's been out. He's been high. He's been low. He's been ranked in the world's top five golfers only to fall out of the top 50 a year later. He's had injury problems and putting problems. I am not sure about his dog or his favorite swinging-door tavern, but Snedeker's career has had enough heartbreak and triumph to fuel several dozen song lyrics.

In other words, Snedeker is a perfect example of how cruel the game of golf can be.

But this weekend, I sense that the lyrics come Sunday sundown will be very upbeat -- with a big paycheck attached.

Snedeker is not leading the tournament. But he is just one shot behind Jim Furyk heading into the final round. And you could sense by Snedeker's body language that he thinks his chances are good. You could sense it by his words, too.

"I learned a lot about the way the golf course was playing today," Snedeker said after posting his 5-under round of 67 on Saturday at Pebble Beach Golf Links. "I can be more aggressive tomorrow, knowing the golf course was playing a little differently than I thought it was."

Know what? At the moment, this might be the happiest golf tournament on earth, given the gorgeous weather and the near-perfect playing conditions and Bill Murray tossing candy bars to the crowd. But entering Sunday's final 18 holes, Snedeker seems the happiest of the happiest.

"You're going to have a stretch of golf where you're not playing your best," he said, "and hopefully mine is behind me now."

Snedeker was speaking specifically about a bad stretch of holes he had Saturday -- but he could have been talking about the last couple of years in general. When he won here in February 2013, Snedeker was near golf's summit. He was ranked fourth in the world, and the only U.S. citizen ranked higher was Tiger Woods. Snedeker had won more money than anyone on the PGA Tour that year and had shot 10 consecutive rounds in the 60s.

But within days, his trajectory plummeted. Snedeker withdrew from the following week's tournament because of a rib injury. The problem nagged him for the rest of 2013 and beyond. In the 2014 season, he had zero top-three finishes and fell to 86th in the Fed Ex Cup standings.

Snedeker has been clawing back, with several recent top-10 finishes. But when he showed up at Pebble early last week, he was still not eligible to compete in this year's Masters.

To be invited, he needs to either win an event by April 5 or be ranked among the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings by then. Winning here Sunday would obviously take care of both problems.

So I will make the bold Snedeker call. The stars seemed align for it -- by which I mean, all the country entertainers who showed up to play in this year's Pro-Am field. They included Colt Ford, Clay Walker, Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum and Joe Don Rooney of Rascal Flatts. Heck, you can throw in Huey Lewis, who has covered some Hank Williams songs. And I'm guessing Kenny G has surely connected through the Nashville airport at least once or twice.

Yes, Snedeker will have some great competition on what should be a kick-butt day of golf. But each of his opponents has a kink in his armor. Furyk is way overdue for a first-place check, but he never has won a tour event in California. Matt Jones, tied with Snedeker for second, shot a 76 on the final day here last year to fall out of contention.

And what about those just behind Snedeker? Nick Watney's amateur partner is Giants catcher Buster Posey, and their two-man team made the cut, so that means there will be a lot of distracting "Let's Go Giants" yells from the gallery. Kevin Chappell said after his Saturday round that he's experiencing some neck issues because "the top vertebrae in my thoracic spine tends to move a little bit and impedes my motion." I have no clue what that means. But it sounds bad. So I'm ruling him out.

That leaves Snedeker. I expect him to be humming his way to victory Sunday.

"You get yourself in contention, good things happen," he said. "I know what needs to be done. I just need to go out and execute."

And this time when he holds the trophy, he'd better have a song title for me.

This article was written by Mark Purdy from Mercury News and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.