Stanley rebounds from devastating loss
Kyle Stanley rebounded from a devastating loss to win the Phoenix Open, overcoming an eight-stroke deficit Sunday in a comeback as unlikely as his collapse last week at Torrey Pines.
In tears seven days ago in San Diego after blowing a big lead — dropping the final strokes with a triple-bogey eight on the final hole — and losing a playoff, Stanley took advantage of Spencer Levin’s meltdown Sunday to win his first PGA Tour title.
“I’m not sure what I’m thinking right now,” Stanley said. “I just needed to focus on playing golf. I needed to put last week behind me.”
He cried again, this time tears of joy.
“I just want to thank my mom and dad. They’ve done a lot for me. I’m speechless,” Stanley said in the scoring area moments after the victory.
Ben Crane had a 66 to finish a stroke back.
Levin, six strokes ahead entering the round and seven in front after one hole, shot a 75 to finish two strokes behind Stanley.
“I just didn’t have it,” Levin said. “Maybe I was looking ahead too much and trying too hard. What are you going to do? I tried my best.”
The 24-year-old Stanley, the longhitting former Clemson star from Gig Harbor, Wash., birdied the par-5 13th and par-4 14th to take a onestroke lead at 15 under.
Levin, winless on the PGA Tour, birdied the 14th to regain a share of the lead, but dropped back with a double-bogey seven on the par-5 15th.
“I really feel for him,” Stanley said. “You don’t want to wish that on anyone. He’s a very good player. … I feel bad for him.”
Stanley parred the final three holes, playing a great recovery shot from under cactus to the right of the short par-4 17th.
He birdied Nos. 2, 3, 8, 9 and 11 to get to 13 under, and within three strokes of the faltering Levin.
Levin birdied No. 4 to reach 18 under, but bogeyed Nos. 4 and 6 and dropped two more strokes on Nos. 11 and 12 to let Stanley into the mix.
“I don’t really know,” Levin said. “I felt all right early.” Did this victory erase last week? “Not really,” Stanley said. “I’m never going to forget that.”
D.J. Trahan had a 66 to finish fourth at 12 under, and Brendan Steele (64) was another stroke back along with Kevin Na (65) and Bubba Watson (70).
Phil Mickelson shot a 73 to tie for 26th at 6 under.
“I felt good,” the former Arizona State star said. “I just couldn’t quite get it going.”
Lawrie holds on for Qatar win
DOHA, Qatar / Former British Open champion Paul Lawrie chipped in for an eagle and a birdie on his way to winning the wind-shortened Qatar Open on Sunday, shooting a 7-under 65 to hold off Jason Day and Peter Hanson.
Lawrie finished with a 15-under total of 201 to win his seventh European Tour event and his second in Qatar. Day (65) and Hanson (67) tied for second, four strokes back.
It was Lawrie’s second victory in a year — he also won the Andalucian Open last March — after a nine-year drought. Now in the top 45, he could contend for a spot in the 2012 Ryder Cup.
“I played lovely all week. But today I think tee to green, apart from my tee shot on 10th, I can’t play much better than that,” said Lawrie, who also won the tournament in 1999. “I actually felt I left three or four putts out there and got it around to 7 under on a golf course where the greens were pretty firm.”
Lawrie downplayed his age, saying he is playing better now than he was in 1999 when he won the British Open. He added that his putting has improved significantly in the past few months, which allowed him to contend at the season-ending DP World Championship and again last week in Abu Dhabi.
“You get a little bit older and you kind of lose focus but I actually feel the opposite,” Lawrie said. “I feel I’m getting better. I feel my ball striking has improved immensely since I turned 40. So it’s great to win.”
First-round leader John Daly (67) finished fourth at 9 under, with Garcia, Jean-baptiste Gonnet (65), Ricardo Gonzalez (70) and Soren Hansen (66) another shot back in a tie for fifth.
Third-ranked Lee Westwood (69) finished nine shots back after a roller-coaster round that included seven birdies and four bogeys.