Stanley eager to move on
Torrey Pines collapse painful learning experience for golfer
Robert Garrigus didn’t see any 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 threeshot lead and was headed for a sure win. Garrigus left for the spa to get a massage.
It didn’t 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 voice mails. I wasn’t talking to anyone on Sunday, so there was no need for anyone to call me.”
He didn’t have to read a single message. He didn’t have to listen to a voice mail. He knew.
“I looked at my phone and thought, ‘Uh-oh. He blew it,’ ” Garrigus said Monday evening.
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 smothered 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 made triple bogey. He lost in a three-man playoff.
Stanley can relate only 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 surprises him still. 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 threeputted for triple bogey. On the second playoff hole, he missed a fivefoot par putt and watched Brandt Snedeker pose with a trophy that should have been his.
Stanley was still in shock when he faced the media. His eyes were glassy with tears. His lip quivered. He answered every question, even if he had to stop at times to compose himself. Looking back, he realizes that was part of the healing.
“I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve a little bit,” Stanley said Tuesday at the Phoenix Open. “It was very tough to swallow. But one of the things I learned is I think you need to really be prepared for whatever this game can throw at you.
“It’s a crazy game,” he said. “It can love you; it can hate you.”
Stanley, like Garrigus, was going for his first PGA Tour victory. Stanley, who grew up in the Seattle area, was an All-american at Clemson who played in the Walker Cup. He is in his second full season on the PGA Tour, so naturally skilled and polished that his long-term outlook is better than some of the rookies who won last year.
His family was with him Sunday night, along with a close friend and his agent. He managed to eat. The sun came up the next day. He just signed up for Twitter a few months ago and picked up about 4,000 followers in 24 hours, those who felt badly for him or were impressed how he handled himself in defeat.
Stanley recalls watching Rory Mcilroy’s collapse at the Masters last year — and how graciously he faced the press after an 80 — and quickly pointed out that Mcilroy was a U.S. Open champion two months later.
He believes something good is coming his way, and although the support has been overwhelming at times, Stanley is not interested in dwelling on Sunday at Torrey Pines.
“There’s not much anyone can say at the time to make you feel better,” he said. “It’s just kind of a gut check. I’ve got to dig deep. And out of this whole process, I’m going to figure out a lot about myself.”