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Golf: Snedeker’s Latest Win Dropped Into His Lap
Doug Ferguson | January 30, 2012

Brandt Snedeker celebrates his playoff victory on Sunday. (AP Photo) Brandt Snedeker celebrates his playoff victory on Sunday. (AP Photo)
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San Diego. Brandt Snedeker won the Farmers Insurance Open in a playoff not even he thought was possible.

Kyle Stanley led by seven shots early in the final round on Sunday, and he still had a four-shot lead as he stood on the 18th tee at Torrey Pines in California. Just like that, he went from being anointed a rising star to a meltdown that ranks among the most shocking in golf.

Snedeker, in the group ahead of him, hit wedge for birdie and a 67, then drove up to the media tent for an interview as the runner-up. He arrived in time to watch Stanley spin a wedge into the water, then three-putt from 14 meters for a triple-bogey 8 and a 74.

Two playoff holes later, both were in shock.

Snedeker’s tee shot hopped over the green and would have gone into a canyon except that it bounced off a television tower. He chipped to about 5 feet and made the par. Stanley three-putted again from just outside 45 feet, his five-foot par putt catching the right lip.

“It’s just crazy,” Snedeker said. “To get my mind around what happened the last 30 minutes is pretty hard to do right now. My heart is out to Kyle. I feel bad for him to have to go through this.”

Stanley, whose power, poise and polish were on display all week, was reduced to tears. His eyes were glassy and his lip quivered as he tried to answer questions, a sad ending to an otherwise spectacular week along the Pacific bluffs.

“It’s not a hard golf hole,” Stanley said. “I could probably play it a thousand times and never make an eight.”

But he did on Sunday, a painful lesson for the 24-year-old out of Clemson.

Snedeker is making a habit of these comebacks. In all three of his PGA Tour wins, he trailed by at least five shots going into the last round. At Hilton Head last year, he came from six shots back and wound up beating Luke Donald in a playoff.

This one was handed to him.

Associated Press