For more than two weeks now, Brandt Snedeker has heard from the well-wishers. The notes and letters, the e-mails and phone calls keep coming from people who watched Snedeker's final round at Augusta National Golf Club and felt his pain. They saw his tears, too.

"When something bad happens to somebody, you really don't know what to say," Snedeker said on the eve of the Wachovia Championship. "You don't want to say the wrong thing. That's what I'm getting. I get more smiles and people just not knowing what to say.

"People have gone out of their way, and I can't really thank them enough because it's really helped me kind of move on from it and try to hopefully play better and win it next time, you know?"

Tom Watson is somebody who knows, for sure. And that's why the phone call from Watson meant so much to Snedeker.

Watson let his fair share of big tournaments slip through his hands before learning how to close the deal. Once he did, Watson, a two-time Masters winner, became one of golf's greatest champions.

"You could not have asked for somebody to do that the way he did," Snedeker said. "He called and we talked for about a half hour. Probably one of the highlights of my life was having him tell me he watched the round on Sunday and tried to help me out here and there, what he thought I did wrong and where I could improve on it."
There was much more, of course. Watson told Snedeker to hold his head high, and, if he ever needed to talk again, to feel free to call.
           
Snedeker started the final round at the Masters in second place and trailing the leader and eventual champion Trevor Immelman by 2 strokes. With the green jacket waiting to be claimed, Snedeker shot 77. Afterwards, in his press debriefing, Snedeker broke down. It was then that the realization hit him. He had come so close and had come up so short. He couldn't hold back the tears.
           
It's one thing to have the winner shoot 69 or 70 and win a major championship if you've played well yourself. There is only one way to look at that and it is to say, "Well done, Mate." It's easy to put a good face on that scenario.

It's quite another for him to shoot 75, as Immelman did. Snedeker's anguish was fueled by the knowledge that the biggest triumph of his life was there for him and he couldn't close the deal.
           
The tears made Snedeker, a strong young athlete, very human and, for a moment, very frail. And it made it very difficult not to be sympathetic.
           
Watson saw all those things in him, too, like the rest of us. Like all those people - some acquaintances but many more strangers - who have tried to console Snedeker in the days since, Watson felt the urge to say something.

"(Watson) told me about losing his first U.S. Open when he was in the last group and shooting 81," Snedeker said. "I don't know how to put it but it made me feel like I had somebody to talk to about it, somebody that does the same thing, and he was very nice."

Yes, Snedeker will lean on Watson again.

"I'm probably going to wear him out," Snedeker said. "He's probably going to change his phone number because I'll call him so much."
Here's betting Watson won't mind the calls and won't change his number.

In his day, Watson had to find a way to beat Jack Nicklaus. In his day, Snedeker's challenge is Tiger Woods. Snedeker can pick Watson's brain on the subject because if Snedeker is ever going to become a major winner and a champion to be reckoned with, he must prove it someday against Woods.

"Any time you have a chance to jump up there and put your name in the mix at a major or a big tournament and try to stay toe-to-toe with Tiger, it's something you need to do," Snedeker said.

"It was a great experience at the Masters, being there on Sunday and playing and seeing how well - in my case not well - I held up under pressure. So you've got to put yourself in situations to learn."