US’s Stanley shows his mettle to win Phoenix Open

ARIZONA Kyle Stanley bounced back from his final-round capitulation at the Farmers Insurance Open one week ago to land the Waste Management Phoenix Open title in dramatic fashion at Arizona.

Monday, February 06, 2012
Kyle Stanley landed his maiden PGA Tour title in Arizona. Net photo

ARIZONAKyle Stanley bounced back from his final-round capitulation at the Farmers Insurance Open one week ago to land the Waste Management Phoenix Open title in dramatic fashion at Arizona.The 24-year-old American capitalised on a final round meltdown from compatriot Spencer Levin to card a closing 65 and win his maiden PGA title by one stroke ahead of Ben Crane.The win was the perfect riposte from Stanley, who had squandered a three-shot lead on the final hole before losing the play-off to Brandt Snedeker at the Farmers seven days previous."I really feel for (Levin), experiencing that," Stanley told pgatour.com. "You don't want to wish that upon anybody. He's a very good player, way too good a player to not bounce back or recover.Challenge"I'm not sure I expected to maybe recover this quickly. I think the biggest challenge was seeing if I could put last week behind me. I think I did."Levin, who started the final day with a six-stroke lead, carded a disastrous 75 on Sunday, opening the door for Stanley who held his nerve on the 18th to complete a fairytale comeback.Stanley birdied three of his last eight holes in the desert sunshine for a 15-under total to finish one ahead of Crane (66). Levin had to settle for third place at 13-under, one ahead of DJ Trahan.