If every PGA Tour tournament came down to an easy drive, chip and two-putt finish, Gig Harbor’s Kyle Stanley would have won the Farmers Insurance Open on Sunday afternoon in San Diego.
But in golf – like all sports – there are no scripted finishes. There are no 18th-tee concessions or short-putt gimmes.
As the sun began setting on the majestic Torrey Pines South Course, Stanley sure looked to be headed toward his first professional win.
He had bobbed and weaved to avoid disaster. He had made pressure-packed putts for virtually the entire round. And he walked to the final tee with a three-stroke lead.
But he lost that lead – and then the tournament – to Brandt Snedeker in two extra holes after both finished 72 holes in 16-under-par 272. Stanley shot 2-over 74 in his final round – after leading by as many as seven strokes.
“I told him I was sorry. There was nothing else you can say,” Snedeker said. “You feel bad for anybody to go through that.”
First, the 72nd hole.
Stanley laid up to 80 yards for his third shot to the par-5 hole, the green guarded in the front by a pond.
That wedge shot landed 30 feet past the hole, spun back and gained speed as it headed off the green and into the water for a penalty stroke.
Matt Stanley, Kyle’s father who took an early Sunday flight out of Sea-Tac to see the final round, said by the gallery’s reaction, most thought the ball would stop on the lower plateau of the green.
“(The reaction) then tailed off to groans – it was really strange,” Matt Stanley said. “Kyle said he hit it exactly where he wanted to.”
The 24-year-old dropped another ball, and hit his fifth shot out of the rough almost the same distance. But the ball rolled to the back of the green, leaving the Bellarmine Prep product a 45-foot putt.
All he needed was two putts to win. But after his first putt stayed above the hole, he missed a 4-footer, and walked off with a triple-bogey 8.
“Looking back, I don’t really know what I was thinking,” Kyle Stanley said. “It’s not a hard golf hole. … I could probably play it a thousand times and never make an 8.”
The sudden-death playoff began at No. 18. And both golfers made birdies.
On the second, the par-3 16th, both faced knee-knocking putts to save par. Snedeker rolled his in from 6 feet. Stanley’s bid from a few inches closer grazed the right edge of the hole and ran by.
Soon, the shock fully set in. Stanley, normally stoic and controlled, was choked up with emotion throughout his press conference.
Text messages began pouring in from family, friends and fellow tour players, lending the golfer heartfelt support.
Later, PGA Tour veteran Robert Garrigus, who lost the 2010 St. Jude Classic in the same manner – an 18th-hole triple bogey, followed by an extra-hole defeat, tweeted: “If anyone knows how Kyle Stanley feels, it’s me and he will win more than one tourney before his time is up. Just needs to keep grindin.’ Sorry, bud.”
Kyle Stanley had a quiet dinner Sunday night with his family – his dad, mother Michelle and sister Kristen. They talked about the fateful ending. They chatted about all the support he was receiving. He even laughed a time or two.
“I thought he showed an incredible amount of courage,” Matt Stanley said. “To have something like that happen, when it seemed like he was going to get his first professional victory … it was hard. But we are proud of him.”
TEEN SETS RECORD
New Zealand amateur Lydia Ko, 14, won the the women’s New South Wales Open by four strokes in Sydney to become the youngest winner of a pro golf tour event.
Ko, the world’s top-ranked women’s amateur, broke Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa’s mark of 15 years, 8 months, and Australian Amy Yang’s women’s record of 16 years, 192 days in the Australian Ladies Masters.
The South Korean-born New Zealander shot a 3-under 69 to finish at 14 under for the tournament, four strokes ahead of Becky Morgan of Wales.
WOODS FADES
Tiger Woods talked all week about his improved ball control — then it let him down in the final round of the Abu Dhabi Championship.
Woods resembled the Tiger of old the first three rounds before shooting an even-par 72 in the final round to tie for third behind winner Robert Rock and U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy.
The 117th-ranked Rock shot a 70 to finish at 13-under 275 and beat McIlroy (69) by a shot. Woods was another stroke back along with Thomas Bjorn (68) and Graeme McDowell (68).
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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