BRANDT SNEDEKERS WINS FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN

By mustang6560 on 1/30/12

I flipped on the tube yesterday midway through the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open to check in on Kyle Stanley's lead. At the time, he was 21 under par and had a seven stroke lead over so I turned it off because there was NO WAY Kyle could lose and I had more important things to do with my Sunday afternoon - like golf!

So later yesterday evening, I turned the television back on to watch Golf Central to catch highlights of Kyle's dominating performance. While Kelly Tilghman, Frank Nobilo and Tim Rosaforte ran through the highlights of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, I was thinking 'I wonder how many strokes Kyle won by?' Never once did it cross my mind that there would be a different outcome.

When the Golf Channel trio completed the highlight reel from the European Tour and changed gears to the PGA Tour and Kelly said the Farmers Insurance Open was in the middle of a playoff between Kyle and Brandt I nearly dropped my glass of water! How did this happen? Kyle had been putting on a clinic at Torrey Pines. I must have miss heard something because there is no way Kyle let his lead slip so much.

Unfortunately for Kyle and the golf fans who find watching meltdowns difficult, the realty was true. I changed the channel back to CBS and they were broadcasting golf. Down the stretch, the Washington native bogeyed two of the first three holes on the back and carded a triple bogey on the finishing hole to end up in a playoff against a scrappy Brandt Snedeker. No one had a harder time believing the situation than Brandt himself.

"I just was too far back. Kyle had too big a lead," Snedeker said, glancing at the television next to him as Stanley, with a three-shot lead, played a simple sand wedge from 77 yards for his third shot to the par-5 18th.

"Uh-oh," Snedeker said.

The ball landed behind the pin and zipped off the front of the green, tumbling slowly down the bank and into the water.

I was definitely rooting for Kyle in the playoff against Brandt because I don't like watching professional athletes crumble under pressure. But, such is golf and such is sport. After Brandt's tee shot on the second playoff hole at the par 3 16th hit off the TV tower, it just seemed like the golf gods did not want Kyle to win. Brandt took relief from the tower and managed to get up and down to win his third tournament on the PGA Tour.

Golf is a game of recovery and hopefully Kyle is able to recover mentally from his second second place finish in his short career on the PGA Tour. Alas, we must congratulate Brandt on his surprising victory!

read more


photo by Keith Allison

no comments posted yet.