Stanley tries to benefit from Sunday fiasco
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Kyle Stanley after losing the Farmers Insurance Open in a playoff to Brandt Snedeker == a tournament in which Stanley held a three-shot lead going to the final hole.
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Robert Garrigus saw no reason to stick around for the finish.
He had watched enough of the final round at Torrey Pines to see that Kyle Stanley, whom he described as "exploding with talent," had a three-shot lead and was headed for a sure win. Garrigus left for the spa to get a massage.
It did not take long for him to figure out what had happened.
"I got back to my car, saw my phone, and it was blowing up," Garrigus said. "I had six or seven text messages. I had four or five voicemails. I wasn't talking to anyone on Sunday, so there was no need for anyone to call me."
- What: Phoenix Open, TPC Scottsdale, Stadium Course, 7,216 yards, par 71.
- When: Today-Sunday.
- TV: Today-Friday, Golf Channel, 4-7 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, Golf Channel, 1-2:30 p.m. & KDKA, 3-6 p.m.
- The skinny: Mark Wilson is the defending champion. ... Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson are also in the field. ... Tiger Woods will play his first PGA Tour event of the season next week at Pebble Beach.
He did not have to read a single message. He did not have to listen to a voicemail. He knew.
"I looked at my phone and thought, 'Uh-oh. He blew it,' " Garrigus said Monday.
Among his priorities this week at the Phoenix Open was to find Stanley and offer the kind of advice that only comes through experience. Garrigus has every bit of that.
He had a three-shot lead on the final hole of the 2010 St. Jude Classic when he plunked his tee shot into the water, took a drop, then tried to go at the green not realizing the size of his lead. He went left of the water into the trees and eventually made triple bogey. He lost in a three-man playoff. Stanley can relate to the triple bogey, the water and a playoff.
He did everything right on the final hole of the Farmers Insurance Open, even taking a sand wedge instead of a lob wedge for his third shot over the pond to a hole location in a bowl at the front of the green. What happened next surprised him. His shot landed behind the hole and raced off the front of the green and into the water.
After a drop into the first cut to eliminate even more spin, he landed his shot on the top shelf and three-putted for triple bogey. On the second playoff hole, he missed a 5-foot par putt and watched Brandt Snedeker pose with a trophy that should have been his.
First Published February 2, 2012 12:00 am
