SNEDEKER WINS PLAY-OFF AFTER LEADER STANLEY'S 8 AT 18th

FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
LA JOLLA, California-- Brandt Snedeker sat in the media center, resigned to the fact that his 67 in the final round Sunday at Torrey Pines would not be good enough to catch Kyle Stanley in the Farmers Insurance Open.
"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," said Snedeker, pictured by courtesy of Getty Images(c).
The ball landed behind the pin and zipped off the front of the green, tumbling slowly down the bank and into the water.
A sure thing suddenly became surreal.
In a meltdown that ranks among the most shocking in golf, Stanley three-putted from 45 feet for a triple bogey on his final hole, then lost on the second playoff hole when his 5-foot par putt caught the right edge of the cup.
"It's just crazy," Snedeker said. "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."
Minutes away from a celebration, Stanley was in tears. His lip quivered as he tried to explain what went wrong, a sad ending to an otherwise spectacular week along the Pacific bluffs.
"It's not a hard golf hole," Stanley said. "I could probably play it a thousand times and never make an 8."
With his play-off victory at Torrey Pines, Brandt Snedeker made an early move to No. 2 in the race for the FedExCup. Standings
Stanley led by seven shots early in the final round, and he still had a four-shot lead as he stood on the tee at the par-5 18th, the easiest hole at Torrey Pines on Sunday. Just like that, the 24-year-old went from being anointed a rising star to being listed with Jean Van de Velde, Robert Garrigus and so many others who learned the hard way how cruel this game can be.
"I'm kind of in shock right now," Stanley said.
Snedeker, playing in the group ahead of Stanley, bogeyed the 17th to fall four shots behind. He hit wedge to a foot on the 18th hole for one last birdie to finish on 16-under 272.
Both made birdie on the 18th in the playoff, and it ended on the par-3 16th with another good break for Snedeker. His 5-iron bounced hard over the green and was headed into the canyon when it bounced off a television tower. He chipped to 5 feet and made par. Stanley left his 45-foot birdie putt about 5 feet short, and missed it for a bogey.
"You never want to see anybody go through that," Snedeker said. "I don't care who it is -- not even your worst enemy on the planet. Golf is such a funny game, and to have that kind of lead coming into the last hole and not to win is tough. It will be a tough night for him. But he's an unbelievably talented player, and the sky's the limit for him.
"And I hope he does not beat himself up too much over this."
Snedeker is making a habit of these comebacks. In all three of his US PGA Tour wins, he trailed by at least five shots going into the last round. At Hilton Head last year, he came from six shots back and wound up beating Luke Donald in a playoff.
This one was handed to him.
"This one I kind of backed into," Snedeker said. "You never like winning a tournament that way. But you do like winning."
Stanley birdied his first two holes -- Snedeker was nine behind at that point -- and led by six shots at the turn until he started dropping shots from the sand. Even so, he made three straight par putts, starting with a 12-footer on the 14th, to seemingly regain control.
The kid knows heartache. Last summer, he was two shots ahead at the John Deere Classic until he bogeyed the final hole from a bunker, and Steve Stricker closed with two straight birdies to win.
This loss, however, put him in the wrong kind of company.
It was reminiscent of Van de Velde at Carnoustie, who made triple bogey on the last hole of the 1999 British Open and lost in a playoff; of Garrigus, who made triple bogey on the last hole of the FedEx St. Jude Classic in 2010 and lost in a playoff; and even of Frank Lickliter at Torrey Pines, who three-putted from 12 feet on the 17th hole in 2001 to make triple bogey in the third playoff hole in losing to Phil Mickelson.
"I know I'll be back," Stanley said, pausing to allow the words to come out of his mouth. "It's tough to swallow right now."
Stanley stood over a 25-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole with a four-shot lead, and it was matter of staying upright for the next 20 minutes to collect his first PGA TOUR win.
If only it were that simple.
Snedeker made his tap-in birdie to finish. Stanley hit a 300-yard drive and kept it simple by laying up.
Then, he fell apart.
His sand wedge had too much spin and did not get high enough on the green, spinning quickly down the slope.
"We tried to lay it up close enough so that we wouldn't put that much spin on it," Stanley said. "Thought I had a pretty good shot, but just had too much spin."
Stanley showed little emotion, as he had done all week, and took his drop in the first cut to eliminate some of the spin. His fifth shot was safely on the back of the green, some 45 feet away.
With a putt down into the bowl of the green, he came up about 3 1/2 feet short, then missed it well to the left for a triple-bogey 8. He had to sign for a 74, without breaking the pencil, then head back to the 18th for a playoff.
Snedeker caught a minor break on the first extra hole when his second shot stopped directly in front of a loose divot. He managed to remove it without moving the ball, then hit sand wedge to 3 feet for birdie. Stanley went for the green in two this time, just over the green, and chipped down to the same spot as Snedeker and matched his birdie.
John Rollins had 235 yards to the green on the 18th hole, two shots behind Snedeker, two shots clear of fourth place. He elected to lay up and wound up with a par. It gave him a 71, and he finished alone in third at 14-under 274.
John Huh, the 21-year-old rookie out of Q-school, had a buried lie in a bunker, a duffed chip, a chip-in for birdie and an approached that nearly went over the cliff, all in the first four holes. He birdied the last for a 74, and while he was never a factor in the final group, he at least tied for sixth and earned a spot next week in the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
But this was a two-man show at the end.
And for the longest time on a day filled with sunshine and hang gliders, it was a one-man show.
Staked to a five-shot lead, Stanley didn't let anyone close to him until early on the back nine and he was still six clear at the turn. Only when Snedeker began to creep up the board did the lead finally get under six shots, and then Stanley made it hard on himself.
Starting with the par-3 eighth hole, he was in five bunkers on the next seven holes, and three of them led to bogeys. But he made three straight par putts from 12 feet, 5 feet and 8 feet on the 16th hole, and it looked like a done deal.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
Players from US unless stated
272 Brandt Snedeker 67 64 74 67, Kyle Stanley 62 68 68 74 (Snedeker won sudden-death play-off at second extra hole).
274 John Rollins 70 65 68 71
276 Bill Haas 63 71 70 72, Cameron Tringale 67 72 66 71.
277 Hunter Mahan 69 65 74 69, John Huh 64 71 68 74

SELECTED TOTALS
282 Justin Rose (England) 71 68 70 73 (T33).
285 Ernie Els (South Africa) 71 70 72 72 (T52)
289 Gary Christian (England) 72 70 71 76 (T66).
291 Greg Owen (England) 75 67 71 78 (72nd).

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MACAULAY THIRD, DOAK AND RUSSELL JOINT SIXTH IN INDIA

REPORT FROM CHALLENGE TOUR PRESS OFFICER
NEIL AHERN

Callum Macaulay is predicting big things in 2012 after his season got off to an impressive start with a third placed finish at the Gujarat Kensville Challenge in India, thanks to a two under par round of 70 which left him two shots behind eventual winner Max Kieffer.
The 28 year old former Scottish amateur champion from Tulliallan had a roller-coaster final round which concluded with three successive birdies on a positive day for the three Scots who made the half-way cut.
Chris Doak and Raymond Russell matched each other as they both shot three under par rounds of 69 to occupy tied sixth spot.
But it was Macaulay, pictured in action today by courtesy of Karolina Gembara, who took the bigger prize of €12,000, though he had to work hard for his 70 as he followed up his three under par front nine with a double bogey on the 13th, followed by a bogey on the 14th.
“I just hit the wrong club on 13,” he lamented. “I hit a driver and the wind wasn’t as strong as I expected it to be, so it went too far left up against the wall. I tried to get an unplayable [drop] but I couldn’t, so I had to go back up onto the tee.
“I composed myself then and birdied the last three, so I’m really happy with the finish. It’s been a great week; my first time in India and I really enjoyed it. The course is great, it was good to play a hard, firm course.
“I suppose we’re used to playing links golf; bump and runs and things like that. It’s more about strategy, rather than just booming it. It’s good to play well on the first tournament.”
After two full seasons on the Challenge Tour, Macaulay is now confident he can push on this year and finally seal a top 20 finish in the Rankings to earn a card for The European Tour.
“I'm looking for big things this year,” he said. “I feel like, having played two years on the Challenge Tour, I’m ready to make the step-up again. In 2009 it was of a fairy-tale year, I didn’t expect to be on The European Tour but qualified at Q-School as an amateur. It was more of a ‘finding my feet’ year, although I didn’t quite find them soon enough.
“I feel like now I’m experienced enough that I can go out and contend for one of the top five positions on the Challenge Tour, and this is a great start.”
Doak, meanwhile, finished in style as he saved his best round of the week until last. Five birdies and an eagle on the par five sixth, where he chipped in, elevated him to three under for the day and the tournament, and he was delighted to make up for the two-shot penalty he incurred on the third day.
“It was my best round of the week today,” said the Greenock man. “It was karma coming around after a two shot penalty yesterday. I just grazed the grass in between the ball and the hole on the 16th hole with my putter, so I called over the referee and it was a penalty. So instead of a finish of birdie-birdie-birdie it was bogey-birdie-birdie, so I think it was karma!
“It’s good to see all the Scottish lads up there. This week has been my best ball-striking week in a while, as well as course management and short game. The putting’s definitely improving with the belly-putter, it made a big difference.”
Russell also chipped in for an eagle, this time at the par four third hole, before picking up another shot on the sixth to reach the turn on three under par. Two bogeys and two birdies followed as he and Doak collected €7,200 each.
Kieffer won after a tense play-off with home favourite Rahil Gangjee, the German’s par on the first play-off hole beating Gangjee’s double-bogey to claim his first Challenge Tour title.

FINAL TOTALS
281 M Kieffer (Ger) 70 71 70 70, R Gangjee (Ind) 68 69 73 71 (Kieffer won sudden-death play-off at first hole).
283 A Hartø (Den) 73 70 69 71, P Dwyer (Eng) 71 72 72 68, C Macaulay (Sco) 74 70 69 70,
285 C Doak (Sco) 74 70 72 69, R Russell (Sco) 73 69 74 69,
286 C Lloyd (Eng) 72 70 74 70,
287 S Benson (Eng) 70 68 76 73, S Kapur (Ind) 69 68 78 72,
288 P Archer (Eng) 73 71 68 76,
289 D Kemmer (USA) 69 72 70 78, J Dantorp (Swe) 70 68 74 77, P Uihlein (USA) 76 72 71 70,
290 L Goddard (Eng) 71 71 70 78, J Gibb (Eng) 72 72 72 74, O Henningsson (Swe) 73 72 68 77, C Brazillier (Fra) 72 70 74 74,
291 G Lockerbie (Eng) 69 69 80 73, S Tiley (Eng) 75 71 74 71, B Åkesson (Swe) 70 73 72 76,
292 C Paisley (Eng) 72 70 75 75, M Cryer (Eng) 73 73 74 72, M Ford (Eng) 72 71 76 73, A Snobeck (Fra) 71 71 75 75,
293 A Kumar (Ind) 75 70 74 74, D Gaunt (Aus) 73 68 76 76,
294 B Barham (Eng) 71 72 76 75, M Perera (Sri) 73 72 77 72,
295 C Hanson (Eng) 72 73 73 77, E Kofstad (Nor) 77 71 76 71, J Walters (RSA) 71 73 75 76, B Ritthammer (Ger) 71 74 75 75, M Carlsson (Swe) 71 73 75 76,
296 B Parker (Eng) 71 73 74 78,
297 K Kumar (Ind) 73 73 74 77, G Bhullar (Ind) 71 75 75 76, D Singh (Ind) 72 73 75 77, B Evans (Eng) 71 77 75 74,
298 T Ferreira (RSA) 70 76 76 76, R Dinwiddie (Eng) 72 75 77 74,
299 M Kumar (Ind) 72 73 78 76,
300 J Hansen (Den) 77 71 71 81, H Bacher (Aut) 70 74 74 82, B An (Kor) 76 71 74 79, S Pinckney (USA) 72 76 79 73, R Singh (Ind) 71 73 78 78,
301 A Lohan (Ind) 72 73 78 78, V Kumar (Ind) 76 72 74 79, M Singh Pathania (Ind) 75 72 74 80,
302 B Chapellan (Fra) 75 71 81 75, S Khan (Ind) 72 75 75 80, Å Nilsson (Swe) 76 72 78 76,
303 A Parr (Can) 74 72 76 81,
304 F Praegant (Aut) 73 75 77 79, M Jaini (Ind) 70 77 77 80, S Engell Andersen (Ken) 75 69 75 85,
310 A John (Ger) 71 77 83 79, V Kumar (Ind) 75 71 81 83, A Sandhu (Ind) 72 76 83 79,

ROSS CAMERON LEADING SCOT IN TURKEY'S SUENO DUNES CLSSC

FROM THE EPD TOUR WEBSITE
Belek/Turkey – Three under par, 66 strokes on the par 69 course: That was the score needed in the 1st round of the 30,000 Euros Sueno Dunes Classic today in order to share the lead after 18 holes of the third event of the 2012 EPD Tour.
Two Austrians, Florian Pogatschnigg and Christoph Pfau, as well as Ferdinand Osther from the Netherlands and Lee Corfield from England managed to do so
to share the first-day honours
While Christoph Pfau played a flawless round with three birdies on the front nine, his co-leaders all made four birdies and a bogey.
One stroke behind the leaders there is another group of four: Daniel Slott Mogensen from Denmark, Tiago Cruz (Portugal), Swiss Chris Achermann and Grant Jackson from England.
There are four Scots competing in this event - Ross Cameron (Saltire Energy), Motherwell's Paul O'Hara and Northern Open champion David Law from Aberdeen being joined by former British boys champion Jordan Findlay.
Cameron is the best placed of the quartet with a par-matching 69 for a share of 11th place. The man from Ellon had two birdies and two bogeys.
O'Hara is sharing 21st place on 70 with two birdies and three bogeys.
Findlay and Law had rounds they will want to forget. Findlay's debut in Turkey was certainly not a delight for him - a eight-over-par 77 which included only four par figures. He had five birdies, more than the leaders!, four double bogey 6s and five single bogeys.
Law, playing in his second event on the EPD Tour had a 79 in which the low light was a quadruple bogey 8 at the par-4 10th. He also had a triple bogey 67a tht eshort 17th as he required 44 blows (nine over) to complete the inward half.
David is T85 in the field of 88 players. Things can only get better.
LEADERBOARD
Par 69
66 Florian Pogatschnigg (Aut), Lee Corfield (Eng), Ferdinand Osther (Net), Christoph Peau (Auit)
67 Daniel Mogensen (Den), Tiago Cruz (Por), Chris Ackerman (Swi), Grant Jackson (Eng).
Selected scores
69 Ross Cameron (Sco) (T11).
70 Paul O'Hara (Sco) (T21).
71 Ian Brown (Eng), James Wilson (Eng) (T29).
74 Nicholas Murtagh (Eng), Tom Boys (Eng), Adam Carson (Eng) (T58).
77 Jordan Findlay (Sco) (T79).
79 David Law (Sco) (T85).

GERMAN KIEFFER SCORES FIRST WIN ON CHALLENGE TOUR

German Max Kieffer has claimed his maiden Challenge Tour title after he battled through a play-off against home favourite Rahil Gangjee, his par on the first play-off hole beating Gangjee's double-bogey to win the Gujarat Kensville Challenge in India.

FULL REPORT AND TOTALS TO COME

Tournament Leaderboard
Pos Player name Nat Hole Par
T1 GANGJEE, Rahil IND 18 -7
T1 KIEFFER, Maximilian GER 18 -7
T3 DWYER, Paul ENG 18 -5
T3 MACAULAY, Callum SCO 18 -5
T3 HARTØ, Andreas DEN 18 -5
T6 RUSSELL, Raymond SCO 18 -3
Full Leaderboard

STEADY AS A ROCK - ROBERT HOLDS WAYWARD TIGER TO WIN

And the winner is ..... Robert Rock, pictured with the championship trophy. Image by courtesy of Getty Images(c).

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Robert Rock held off 14-time Major winner Tiger Woods and US Open Champion Rory McIlroy to claim a sensational victory at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship today.
With the theme tune to the "Rocky" films being sung by fans - many of them having witnessed England's cricket collapse the day before - the 34 year old from Armitage, near Lichfield, Staffordshirecame up with a true knock-out performance.
Only 117th in the Official World Golf Ranking at the start of the week, Rock said after his one stroke triumph over McIlroy: "I really can't believe I have done that today."
"I was just very happy to be playing with Tiger. That's a special honour in itself."
While he shot a two under par 70 to finish 13 under, Woods scrambled his way to a 72 and instead of recording a second successive victory on the comeback trail had to settle for a share of third place with Graeme McDowell and Thomas Björn.
"I was just a touch off," said the former World Number One, who hit only one fairway on the back nine and only six greens in regulation all day.
"But Robert played great. He made a couple of key up-and-downs and a couple of beautiful iron shots down the stretch."
McIlroy's closing birdie for a 69 looked as if it might give him a play-off when Rock's drive down the same hole headed towards the lake.
It stopped short of the water, but in the hazard amongst rocks and plants and, with a two-shot lead, he wisely elected to take a penalty drop.
Short of the green in three, his pitch came up 25 feet short and still left him with work to do, but after holing birdie putts from ten and six feet at the 14th and 16th his touch did not let him down and two putts completed the greatest day of his career.
McIlroy was runner-up for the second year running, but will remember this one for the incident when he brushed sand away just off the green midway through his second round, leading to a costly two shot penalty.
For years Rock worked in the Swingers Golf Centre in Tamworth, "selling Mars bars and watching Tiger win Majors".
He was 26 before he made it onto The European Tour and 31 when he finally tasted success at last year's BMW Italian Open.
"It's been a steady progression and I've worked hard, but I didn't think this would happen," he said.
In addition to Woods all the world's top four were present. Number One Luke Donald came 48th, while Lee Westwood's 17th place means McIlroy regains second spot off his former stablemate.
Every one of Woods' 14 Major titles came with him at least sharing the lead with a round to go and this was only the ninth time in his entire career that he has not gone on to victory from such a position.
He was odds-on to come out on top again when he birdied the second and third, but Rock matched both of them and the American's bogeys at the next two separated them.
After a seven foot birdie on the sixth the gap was three, but by the turn it was back to one. Rock ran up a six at the long eighth and Woods birdied the next.
That made him favourite again, but a bogey six on the 582 yard tenth was his only deviation from par on the back nine.
There was still a chance Rock might crack after bogeying the 13th, but his response was superb and after the scare down the last the €347,024 first prize became his.
The most dramatic finish, however, came from McDowell. He holed-in-one on the 12th - Sergio Garcia and Jose Manuel Lara did it in the first round - chipped in on the next and then closed with two more birdies.
That does not tell the full story. The Ulsterman thinned his third shot at the 18th and, after hitting the grandstand behind the green, the ball rebounded some 30 feet to within six feet of the flag.
Like McIlroy, though, McDowell was left to rue something earlier in the week. He went in the water and double-bogeyed the 17th on day one after his driver broke.
Paul Lawrie finished the leading Scot in joint eighth place after his worst round of the four - a par 72 - for nine-under-par 279. He was in contention for third place until a couple of late bogeys.
Paul writes on his website:
"I shot 72 today, which doesn't sound very good but I played really well again and missed soooooo many putts it was frightening. I finished in a tie for 8th but really should have been better but that's golf. I hit a really poor putt on the ninth, which threw me a bit and I struggled on the back nine. I was extremely disappointed when I came off as I should have done better but it's another top 10 finish and still a good week. I managed to knock a few drives past Rory McIlroy, which made an old man feel a bit younger.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72). Yardage: 7,600. Prize money in Euros
275 Robert Rock (England) 69 70 66 70 (347,024).
276 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) 67 72 68 69 (231,349).
277 Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland) 72 69 68 68, Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 73 71 65 68, Tiger Woods (US) 70 66 69 72 (107,577).
278 Matteo Manassero (Italy) 73 65 71 69, George Coetzee (South Africa) 71 72 65 70 (67,670).
279 Keith Horne (South Africa) 71 71 68 69, Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark) 70 67 71 71, Francesco Molinari (Italy) 74 67 66 72, Paul Lawrie (Scotland) 70 69 68 72 (T8) (44,662)
280 Sergio Garcia (Spain) 71 69 71 69, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (France) 68 71 69 72 (34,668)

SELECTED TOTALS
282 Lee Westwood (England) 72 72 68 70 (17) (25,194)
285 Stephen Gallacher (Scotland) 72 72 70 71, David Drysdale (Scotland) 70 72 71 72, Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 71` 69 72 73 (T35) (14,367).
286 Peter Whiteford (Scotland) 73 73 68 72 (T42) (11,660)
287 Richie Ramsay (Scotland) 69 71 77 70 (T48)  (8,945)

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HUNTER MAHAN MAKES MIDDLE-EAST DEBUT IN QATAR MASTERS

NEWS RELEASE
Doha (QATAR): US PGA Tour star Hunter Mahan will aim to become the first American winner of the Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy when he makes his Middle East debut in Doha from February 2-5.
Since its launch in 1998, the Commercialbank Qatar Masters has proved to be a difficult hunting ground for US players with European Tour stars proving to be hard to beat over the challenging 7,414-yard course at Doha Golf Club.
The 29 year-old Californian is one of a growing breed of globetrotting US stars and he will be keen to make his mark on a tournament that has historically attracted a powerful field and which, for 2012, includes fellow US PGA Tour star KJ Choi, World Number Two Lee Westwood, World Number Four Martin Kaymer and World Number Ten Jason Day.
A winner three times on the US PGA Tour, World Number 17 Mahan has also played for the US in three Presidents Cup teams and twice in The Ryder Cup – including in 2010 when he played in the final singles match against Graeme McDowell and lost out to the Northern Irishman on the penultimate hole at Celtic Manor in Wales.
“We always enjoy welcoming the US players to Qatar and while no American has managed to tame the course, it is surely only a matter of time before the Mother of Pearl trophy finds a US winner,” said Hassan Al Nuaimi, President of the Qatar Golf Association (QGA), organisers of the $2.5 million event in collaboration with the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) and title sponsors The Commercial Bank of Qatar.

NISBET WINS LAKE MACQUARIE TOURNAMENT IN AUSTRALIA

Australian Daniel Nisbet won the prestigious Lake Macquarie championship at Belmont Golf Club, New South Wales today.

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