Stanley’s rebound delights old coach

Larry Penley can pull that steak back out of the refrigerator. Maybe enjoy it with a nice red wine — or, more appropriately, a glass of champagne.

Clemson’s veteran golf coach already celebrated Sunday night after watching former Tigers All-American Kyle Stanley win the Phoenix Open to pull off one of the game’s great comebacks.

“That was pretty fun — a whole lot better than last week,” Penley said Monday. “I didn’t expect him to win (Sunday), but I expected him to play well.”

Stanley did more than that. He shot a final-round 6-under 65 that, coupled with third-round leader Spencer Levin’s closing 75, erased an eight-shot deficit, tied for the third-best rally in PGA Tour history — a result that left Stanley with damp eyes and almost speechless for the second straight Sunday.

“I had tears in my eyes, too,” Penley said. “I was so happy for him. He puts a lot of heart into everything he does, and when you work that hard, it brings out the emotions.”

Stanley’s victory — the 10th Tour win by a former Clemson golfer in the past nine years — was a big deal. Coming seven days after his final-hole meltdown and playoff loss at the Farmers Insurance Open, it was fairy-tale phenomenal.

A week ago, Stanley had stood in the 18th fairway at Torrey Pines with a three-shot lead before spinning his approach shot off the green and into water, then three-putting for a triple bogey. Two playoff holes later, he missed a five-foot putt to lose to Brandt Snedeker, leaving the 24-year-old Washington native in shock.

“Sunday was obviously a very tough day,” Stanley said afterward.

He wasn’t alone in that feeling.

“Last week almost made me physically sick,” Penley said. “(Wife) Heidi and I were watching at home, had cooked a steak and were going to watch Kyle win. (Afterward) I couldn’t even eat; we stuck the steak back in the fridge.”

To his credit, Stanley handled the disappointment with grace. Golf fans responded, and his Twitter account added 6,000 followers in a 48-hour period, a huge outpouring of sympathy.

“I’m just overwhelmed by how much support I’ve gotten from people,” Stanley said early last week. “It’s been great.”

Imagine, then, how victory felt. Stanley said it best via Twitter: “Sweet redemption. So grateful to have had another opportunity.”

Penley says he never doubted Stanley’s ability to rebound from disappointment. In 2011, Stanley held a final-round lead at the John Deere Classic before Steve Stricker birdied the final two holes to win.

“(In college), Kyle never had a collapse to rebound from,” Penley said. “His freshman year, (UCLA’s) Jamie Lovemark shot 64-64 to beat Kyle by two (for the NCAA championship individual crown), but that was nothing Kyle did wrong.”

After San Diego, Stanley said he tried to take away good thoughts from his solid week-long play. “I think being in contention last week, I think the more times you get there, the more comfortable you get,” he said. Sunday, he “just played golf, stuck to our game plan, and here we are.”

That was also the book on Stanley at Clemson. “He has goals; he wants to be the best in the world, that’s how he prepares,” Penley said. “(Those goals are) not a number of wins or top 10 finishes. He’s more into the process, putting himself in position (to win), how many times he does that.

“In his mind, I think Torrey Pines was a positive — part of him achieving that.”

Penley enjoyed Stanley’s three years at Clemson because “you don’t get many like him. He works hard like Jonathan (Byrd) does, and he’s gifted like Lucas (Glover). He’s seen how they do it, kind of takes the best of all those guys and makes it work for him.”

Stanley, in turn, learned from Penley and assistant coach Jordan Byrd. “He and I used to joke anytime he had a bad hole, (I’d say) ‘great players have short memories,’ ” Penley said. “To hear him say on TV, ‘Champions have short memories,’ that is really good.”

Stanley’s memory is fine. “I’m never going to forget (Torrey Pines),” he said. “But I think it makes this one (Phoenix) a lot sweeter.”

Make that celebration-worthy.

NOTES: Stanley will appear today on the Golf Channel’s “Morning Drive” talk-show, which airs from 7-9 a.m. and is repeated from 9-11 a.m. … Stanley’s one-week turnaround from a playoff loss to a victory was the PGA Tour’s second in less than two seasons. Last spring, David Toms lost a playoff to K.J. Choi at The Players Championship before winning at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial a week later.