After Brandt Snedeker claimed the Myrtle Beach title, an emotional scene occurred

Brandt Snedeker stood in the driving range hitting balls, waiting for his fate. He had been waiting for 2,821 days. What was another few minutes?

After shooting a final-round 5-under 65 at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, Snedeker found himself tied for the lead with Mark Hubbard at 18 under. When Hubbard teed off on the 18th hole, Snedeker hit balls to prepare for the playoff. Hubbard pulled his drive on the par-4 18th into the fairway and putt 126 yards. His shot went up 24 feet near the hole, leaving him with a broken, downgrain putt to force a playoff. Snedeker hit a few balls and then watched Hubbard’s putt miss the bottom.

Then, Brandt Snedeker’s emotions began to flow.

He tossed the hood over the driver’s seat and rested his head on Heath Holt’s shoulder as the tears came.

“Your mom is smiling down on you right now, buddy,” Holt told Snedeker as the 45-year-old let his emotions run wild. “I’m happy for you, brother, all your hard work. [Win] No. 10. Sure man. Good.”

It was a victory that earned Snedeker, who began the year on conditional status, a two-year release. It also gets him into next week’s PGA Championship and the 2027 Players. It was Snedeker’s first win since his mother’s death.

The path from number 9 to number 10 has been brutal for the 2026 President Cup captain.

Seven years, eight months and 21 days ago, Brandt Snedeker won the 2018 Wyndham Championship. Then, things fell apart. Snedeker underwent exploratory surgery in 2022 to repair his dislocated sternum joint. It took him eight months to return to competition, but he was not as good as before. Since the COVID pandemic, Snedeker has missed 68 cuts and produced only five top ten finishes. In 2024, Snedeker made just 7 of 26 cuts and did not record a top ten. His performance was slightly better last season, when he had three top 10s, including a T7 at the Memorial. Still, he finished 126 in FedEx Fall and entered the year with conditional status.

As Brandt Snedeker wrestled with his body and his game, doubts crept in. It’s only human to think that, after a checkup at 40, your best golf might be behind you – that the time to figure out what’s next has finally come.

“There have been points in the last few years that I didn’t think I could win again,” Snedeker said Sunday. “My golf game wasn’t very good. My body wasn’t feeling right. A lot of self-doubt. A lot of, you know, what do I do?”

But Brandt Snedeker didn’t want to throw in the towel. If it’s over, fine, but he wanted to empty the tank before the last bell. It turns out that Brandt Snedeker still had a lot to offer. You just had to dig.

“I did the only thing I know how to do, go back to work,” said Snedeker. “That’s all you can do. Stop looking around for solutions and look for answers; that’s what I tell people all the time. I don’t want excuses. I need solutions to problems. The solution was to go back to work and do what I love to do. And every time I did it, I got a little better and a little better and a little better and I felt like I could play.”

Slowly, Snedeker’s game began to return. It came very quickly. A good round here and there. A good result every once in a while. Then he started putting things together. He made the putter switch earlier this year and rode it into competition at Valspar. A shaky Sunday cost him a chance to win there, but his confidence is back. The insecurities are gone.

On Sunday, Snedeker started the day four shots behind Hubbard but lifted the board with five birdies in his first 15 holes. He missed a five-footer for birdie at 16 but then made a 20-foot birdie putt at 17 to take the lead by one. While planning Sunday’s offense, Brandt Snedeker kept telling himself to “play fearlessly.” He has gone through a lot to get to this point, to get back into contention on the PGA Tour. The hard part was already done.

“It’s a very easy thing to do, because what do I have to fear at my age out here?” Snedeker said. “You know, but it’s the hardest thing to do, because you want to control everything. You want to hold on to some of these things. Playing fearlessly means you can’t control everything. You have to let go and not worry about the outcome. What’s the worst that’s going to happen? I’m going to lose the golf tournament. Let me go.”

He came to the 18th tee believing that 19 under, his current number, would be good enough to win. A par will close it. But a sloppy bogey, the only one of the day, followed, and Snedeker was left sweating on the course at Dunes Golf and Beach Club.

He worked on his driver after a shaky swing on 18 that led to a bogey that he thought would cost him the tournament. He thought about the seven years since his last victory and the four since his surgery. He hit ball after ball as Hubbard tried to swing home.

Hubbard then missed, and Brandt Snedeker’s long back-to-back layup ended in Myrtle Beach driving range.

“It means everything to me,” Snedeker said through tears. “Not having my card the last few years, struggling to do what I love, you know, I still love to play the game the way I want to play it and show people how I can still do it. … I knew I was playing well. I just couldn’t put it all together. I hope it shows my family, my kids, something.”

“This hurts because I’ve won a golf tournament before. I’ve been through a lot since the last time this happened, I’m so grateful, I appreciate it so much and I’m trying to take it all in.”

As Holt delivered his message to an emotional Snedeker, the 45-year-old said the words as he leaned against his caddy’s shoulder, still trying to come to terms with something he, at times, thought was possible.

When asked what he told Holt as his emotions overcame him, Snedeker kept quiet and looked at the course that became the center of his tenth success, which had a different meaning than the other nine.

“Just that I love the man,” said Snedeker.