It was Els' seventh top-10 finish in nine appearances here. Els, ranked No. 3 in world, is among three golfers ranked in the top 10 playing Harbour Town the week after the Masters. No. 7 Justin Rose and No. 9 Jim Furyk are the others.
Also in the field is the 2007 Masters champ, Zach Johnson, who hadn't seen Snedeker's emotional post-tournament interview but understood the feelings.
"It's an emotional roller coaster there," Johnson said. "It's one of those things where I think you put a lot effort into it, you put a lot of time into it, there's a lot of fatigue" and it leads to Snedeker's tears.
Snedeker remembered watching Len Mattiace break down in tears after losing the 2003 Masters to Mike Weir in a playoff, and wondered why a grown man would cry about losing a golf tournament.
Then Snedeker's opportunity faded and, "I realize why he wanted to cry, was crying like a girl whose prom date didn't show up," he said. "That's what I felt like."
Gill joked to Snedeker it was probably a bad sign for Nashville's country music crowd to pay attention.
"We write these kind of stories all the time," Gill told Snedeker, who's from Nashville. "We're seeing one unfold and we still feel bad."
Snedeker thinks the waterworks are under control.
Still, Snedeker wasn't sure how he'd react to more Masters questions this week and warned organizers, "Make sure there's a big box of Kleenex right here in front of my microphone just to make sure."
