Snedeker peaking at perfect time?

IRVING, Texas -- Brandt Snedeker, a runner-up at last week's Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, views this week's AT&T Byron Nelson as the next opportunity to improve his game -- rain or shine.

"Yeah, it's part of life here out on tour, you know," Snedeker said Wednesday at the very wet TPC Four Seasons Resort driving range as he prepared for an afternoon pro-am. "You're not going to have good conditions every week."

Snedeker made bogey Sunday on No. 13 at Colonial, then closed with five pars to finish at 67, a stroke behind winner Chris Kirk. Snedeker at one point Sunday led by two strokes. He missed a 12-foot birdie putt on No. 18.

"I definitely felt like I had a good chance to win the golf tournament and should have, at least worst-case scenario, been in a playoff," he said. "Didn't do it, didn't make the putts when I needed them. Very disappointing, leading there last week."

Still, Snedeker believes Colonial was a nice rebound for his game. He missed the cut at last month's Masters and at The Players Championship earlier this month. Between those events, Snedeker finished out of the top 25 in two other tournaments.

"There's lots of positives," he said. "I hadn't been playing very well before that, so it's good to get back in the mix of things and have a chance. Hopefully, this week I can build on that."

Snedeker, who won the AT&T Pebble Beach in February, is ninth in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup standings and 32nd in the World Golf Rankings.

"I played good last week and had a chance to win last week," he said. "I like where my game's headed."

Snedeker's stumble at Colonial's 13th hole came after a lengthy delay caused by playing partner Rory Sabbatini, who was unsure where to drop after landing in casual water behind the green. Sabbatini eventually called for a ruling, adding to an already long wait for Snedeker, one of the fastest players on tour. On Wednesday, Snedeker only blamed himself.

"It was a three-putt," he said. "No, no. No, not at all. It's just part of playing on tour. You're going to have stuff like that creep up. No, it didn't affect anything."

Casual water could be a common occurrence at the Nelson, too.

"Obviously it's some of the worst rain you all have had here in Texas, so it's going to make the golf course play soft," Snedeker said. "It's going to be a tough test, because typically when you have wet conditions the ball's not going to go very far and the rough's going to be really, really thick because they haven't been able to cut it."

While 11 players have withdrawn for various reasons, Snedeker is on a roll, and he has faith the course will hold up.

"I don't want to lay off, and the golf course last week had a ton of water, and the grounds staff did a great job and the golf course played great," he added. "I look for the same this week."

This article was written by Eric Zarate from Fort Worth Star-Telegram and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.