Backspin: Experience a factor in Stanley's collapse

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When Kyle Stanley rinsed his approach shot on the 72nd hole Sunday at the Farmers Insurance Open, it brought back memories of Robert Garrigus at the FedEx St. Jude Classic.

On a memorably sweaty day in Memphis two years ago, Garrigus blew a three-shot lead on the final hole after pulling his tee shot into the water, then finding the trees on his next shot while trying to go for the green from an awkward position.

Garrigus triple-bogeyed the hole and went on to lose a three-way playoff that was won by Lee Westwood.

Same number of holes to play. Same number of strokes led by. Same result in the end.

That day in Memphis, Westwood figured he'd come up short. By the time he finished signing his scorecard, though, he knew he'd better warm up.

Ditto Snedeker, who was in the middle of his post-round interview with the media when Stanley's meltdown started to unfold on the television off to the side of him.

"I was sitting in here literally an hour ago wondering if I was -- completely content with a second place finish," Snedeker said Sunday night. "I thought I played well and I was happy with where I was.

"Then Kyle hit the water on 18, and it piqued my interest a little bit. I still thought he would get up and down or make double and still win."

When he didn't, Snedeker's focus changed, and he wrapped up the interview, headed to the practice green and two playoff holes later beat Stanley with a par.

Just as in Garrigus' situation, experience played a role in sudden death.

Garrigus was 377th in the world and had never led a PGA TOUR event on the final day, while Westwood was of course far more experienced.

Stanley, making his 42nd start on TOUR was trying to win for the first time on Sunday, while Snedeker had already won twice on TOUR -- one of which came in a playoff less than a year earlier when he beat Luke Donald at Harbour Town.

"If anybody had an advantage, I did, because I had done that a couple times before," Snedeker said. "Kyle probably wasn't in his best frame of mind at that point after doing what he did on 18."

Understandably, Stanley wasn't in the best frame of mind afterward either.

Asked how he would deal with the emotions of the loss, Stanley, fighting back tears, said, "I don't know right now. It's tough. I mean, it's really tough to take."

It might be tough to take now, but Stanley will get over it. He has too much talent not to and anybody who watched him at Torrey Pines could see that.

And all he has to do is look to Garrigus. Five months after his meltdown in Memphis, he shot a final-round 64 to win the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic.

Without that experience at TPC Southwind, Garrigus said, he wouldn't have been able to win at Disney. I think the same will hold true for Stanley.

THE BACK NINE: 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. Stanley on his approach shot that spun back into the water on 18: "I had to land it 15, 20 feet past it. I didn't think it was going to spin that much." I say why even flirt with 15-20 feet when a double bogey wins the golf tournament? One player called me right after it happened and wondered why Stanley didn't just hit it to the back of the green, or into the back bunker to take the water completely out of play. Stanley said he wasn't nervous but added, "Looking back, I don't really know what I was thinking. It's not a hard golf hole. It's really a pretty straightforward par-5. I could probably play it a thousand times and never make an 8."

2. No wonder Torrey Pines is one of Brandt Snedeker's favorite courses. Sunday's win was his third straight top-10 in the event and fourth overall in six career starts there (3rd/2007, T2/2010, T9/2011). That includes a course-record 27 on the back nine on the North Course in 2007. With a record like that I'd like the place, too.

3. There's a reason it's been more than two decades since a player made the Farmers Insurance Open his first win: Torrey Pines is a tough golf course. That was evident Sunday (as you'll see in my Stat of the Week). The last guy to do it, by the way, was Jay Don Blake, who shot a 67 in the final round to come from two back in 1991.

4. Stanley's opening 54-hole total of 198 tied the tournament's 54-hole record held by Tiger Woods (2008) and Woody Blackburn (1985), and right now I'm sure he couldn't care less about that.

5. Stat of the Week: Zero. That's how many bogey-free rounds there were on Sunday at Torrey Pines. To put that in perspective, there were five just a day earlier on the South Course, which was more than a stroke harder in the final round that it was in the third.

6. Even though he finished second in South Africa two weeks ago, Ernie Els' putting woes continued to rear their ugly head again this week. He took at least 30 putts in ever round -- and as many as 34 -- in his TOUR season debut at Torrey Pines. That added up to four straight rounds in the 70s and a tie for 52nd.

7. Five or so years ago there was a lot of talk about where the next great American golfers were going to come from. Turns out, you needed to look no further than the 2007 Walker Cup team. Who was on that team? Stanley for one, along with Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Chris Kirk, Colt Knost, Trip Kuehne, Jamie Lovemark, Billy Horschel, Jonathan Moore and Webb Simpson. Johnson, Kirk and Simpson have all won at least once on TOUR; Fowler and now Stanley each have one second-place finish.

8. Your how-things-have-changed moment for this week: A year ago, Keegan Bradley had to Monday qualify for this week's Waste Management Phoenix Open.

9. We'll have to wait another week to see Tiger Woods play, when he makes his PGA TOUR at Pebble Beach, but it's pretty evident he's getting more and more comfortable with the swing changes he's been working on -- even if he did struggle Sunday in which he hit just two fairways and six greens while making zero birdies on the back nine. For a lot of players, that would've resulted in a pretty high number. For Woods, it was an even-par 72. It just happened to come at a bad time.

Monday Mailbag

"Who's your top pick for an American major winner this year? European?" -- Anders Sigdal I'm not sure what you mean by top pick. Judging by how Brandt Snedeker has played this year, and how Augusta National sets up for him, I think he could be a contender at the Masters. But I also think Tiger Woods will be. Dustin Johnson, Webb Simpson and Steve Stricker should all contend at one major or another, too. On the European side, the three I like best are Lee Westwood, Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy. All three are playing an extremely high level of golf at this point in their careers and all have experience on that level with McIlroy having already won a major. "New year, new clubs. What clubs of choice would you recommend a single handicapper?" -- Hayley Barlow I'm probably the last guy to ask that question to since I'm not a single handicapper myself, but I can point you in the right direction. Golf Digest's annual Hot List is as good as it gets in terms of breaking down different clubs for players of varying levels, including the single-digit handicapper. Have a question for the mailbag? Email brianwacker@pgatourhq.com, or tweet it to @pgatour_brianw.

Forward Spin: Who I like this week

If there's a better party in golf, I don't know where it is. That's what the Waste Management Phoenix Open is all about. On the golf side, the most compelling player to watch is Phil Mickelson. He has not gotten off to a particularly good start this year, with a tie for 49th at the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation and then a missed cut last week at the Farmers Insurance Open. But he's won twice at TPC Scottsdale and has deep roots in the Phoenix area going back his days at Arizona State. His putting has been shaky thus far, but perhaps TPC Scottsdale will stir up some good play. One player I do think will play well there: Pat Perez. He's finished T22 and T14 in his last two starts, lives in Scottsdale and tends to play well in the desert.