AUGUSTA, Ga. — Two years ago Brandt Snedeker was second at the Chattanooga Classic. This morning he’s second at the Masters.

Not every day do we see someone go from Nationwide to nationwide, from skipping around Black Creek to flying over Rae’s Creek, in a relative golf heartbeat.

“He’s tough,” two-time Masters champ Tom Watson said of Snedeker. “His touch is wonderful, and and he’s got great imagination. You bet I think he can win this tournament.”

Snedeker was great Friday — carding a 68 that featured five birdies. And if anyone needs more proof that the former Vanderbilt star can carry his contention through the weekend, listen to the fellow on his bag.

“He was even better yesterday,” caddie Scott Vail said, referring to Snedeker’s opening 69, “but he’s got it rolling.”

Snedeker had the massive gallery at the fan-friendly par-3 sixth rocking and rolling. His tee shot found the green but was less than pleasant, sitting dangerously on the far right knob of the putting surface. He needed binoculars to see the pin, would have to hail a cab with all-wheel steering to get there and could have used a Snapper push mower to clear a path through the sticky fringe that stood between him and the cup.

He stuffed his putter back into the bag, grabbed a lob wedge and gave pause to the patrons and every member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. Time for a little public-service announcement: Folks, do not try this at your local muni, club or back yard. Just don’t, trust me.

“I knew there were a couple of members worried when I took out the lob wedge,” Snedeker said. “I figured it would be OK if I didn’t take a divot.”

Well, Snedeker took his 60-degree wedge, picked it so clean Hazel could eat off it — “He didn’t even leave a scuff mark,” Vail said — and deposited it right where dreams happen.

Said Watson: “He was dead with a putter in his hand — and he knew it. The best he’s going to make is 4, maybe 5, and he chips it in for 2. It shows some imagination; that’s very impressive.”

“I felt like if I putt it, I would be on the front edge of the green,” Snedeker said of his miracle that is easliy one of this tournament’s leading highlights. “If it didn’t hit the hole, it was going 10 or 12 feet by, at best, if not off the green. It was just kind of one of those shots you’re trying to hit, and it came off just how I was trying to hit it.”

Snedeker’s career continues to take off at an alarmingly quick rate, but it remains pointed in the same direction he has always envisioned.

“You ask anybody in my family at all, they will tell you the only thing I said I was going to do my whole life was be a professional golfer,” said Snedeker, last year’s PGA Tour rookie of the year. “It’s one of those things — growing up, I always loved golf. I always played it and never had any inkling of doing something else.”

Snedeker talks like he plays, passionately and quickly. It’s emotion — like the kid-in-the-candy-store grin that followed that unbelievable birdie on No. 6 — matched with purpose.

Watson said his quick pace reminded him of himself 20 years ago.

“He plays confidently, and when he makes a decision, he goes and hits it,” Watson said.

It’s been that way for years in central Tennessee. Snedeker, pattering his game in part after Watson’s, took to the course at an early age, starting at some municipal tracks and at the West Plains Country Club.

“That’s actually where I started and played my first round,” Snedeker said. “My grandmother was the manager there and gave me my first set of clubs. I remember playing a little three-hole tournament and finishing dead last.”

The only thing dead-last about Snedeker today will be his starting time — in the final group with leader Trevor Immelman.

Oh, the dreams of professional glory that started 20 years ago in Nashville are alive well.

The scenes have changed: Nashville-area clubs have become golf’s cherished shrine. And the stakes: Three-hole junior events have become the Masters.

And the clubs: Those Watson-like Rams and Watson series wedges he used as a kid have become Snedeker’s own brand in a bag with his name on it.

Yes, the dreams remain, and so does the growing urge to emulate Watson yet again — and wear a green jacket.

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