Stanley loses it on 18 at Torrey Pines, loses in playoff

Many would think a three shot lead, in the middle of the fairway on the 18th hole, in the final round of an event is a nice cushion to have on the PGA Tour.

Unfortunately for Kyle Stanley, three shots were not enough.

The second year player actually had a seven shot lead to begin the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open.

However, everything changed for Stanley on that 18th hole.

Brandt Snedeker, one group ahead, made a tap in birdie to close out his round. Three back as he headed to the showers for the day.

He was in the media tent doing his post round interviews when he witnessed; well, what everyone else saw as well.

Stanley, with a wedge in his hand on the 18th hole with a three shot lead -- Disaster.

We all watched as that wedge shot spun back off the green and into the water. After his drop, he could just wedge another one close right? Wrapping this thing up.

Three putts and a triple bogey 8 later, Stanley and Snedeker were headed to a playoff.

“It’s not a hard golf hole,” said Stanley after his disaster at 18. “I could probably play it a thousand times and never make an 8.”

On the second hole of the playoff, Snedeker would fire his tee shot way off-line. If not for a TV tower, who knows where his ball would have ended up.

He would knock his chip shot to within five feet and would make his par.

Such was his day, Stanley had a chance to tie the hole and force the two to play at least one more hole to decide the event.

It was not meant to be.

He would three-putt again from about the same distance, as his par putt caught the lip, missing the hole and handing the event to Snedeker almost on a silver platter.

“It’s just crazy,” Said Snedeker after the strange events at Torrey Pines on Sunday. “To get my mind around what happened the last 30 minutes is pretty hard to do right now. My heart is out to Kyle. I feel bad for him to have to go through this.”

“This one I kind of backed into,” Snedeker continued. “You never like winning a tournament that way. But you do like winning.”

Unfortunate for Stanley, he is now forever linked to this meltdown on 18 at Torrey Pines. Now finding himself in the same conversation with others after their disasters.

Jean Van de Vaelde at Carnoustie, in 1999 and Robert Garrigus at the St. Jude Classic in 2010. Both making triple bogeys on their final holes, only to lose the respective events in playoffs.

As Snedeker said, he will have a tough night. But he will be better for it.