All right, now we’re getting somewhere. The golf season always starts a bit slowly, as everyone shakes off the holiday dust and sparkle, but these shots here from this past weekend at Torrey Pines are a sight to behold. Greg Chalmers, Keegan Bradley, eventual champ Brandt Snedeker and many others give us some beauties here. Oh, we’re rolling now.

Sizing up the TV coverage from the Farmers Insurance Open … and away we go.

If somebody would have told you on Sunday morning that the finish at Torrey Pines would be better than the one going on over in Abu Dhabi, you most likely would have laughed and told them to head back to their home on the funny farm.

With Tiger leading after 54 holes in Abu Dhabi and Kyle Stanley holding a 5-shot lead at Torrey, it was clear at the start of the day that the real golf action was going on across the pond. At least that’s what most of us thought. Because by the time the final putt dropped on Sunday evening at the Farmers Insurance Open, most golf fans were probably ready to admit themselves to the nearest mental institution, after watching one of the most bizarre finishes in some time.

Of course, the CBS crew was there to capture every moment leading up to Kyle Stanley’s meltdown on the 18th hole. Opening the broadcast year at Torrey Pines, the network lucked out with what could be one of the best endings of the year.

CBS anchor Jim Nantz started to run down the list of first-time winners at Torrey Pines, mentioning the name of Jay Haas, Fuzzy Zoeller and Phil Mickelson, setting the stage for what most thought would be a victory stroll down the 18th hole for Stanley’s first PGA Tour win..

“Smiles have broken out in the Stanley camp,” Nick Faldo said, as Stanley and his caddie, Brett Waldman, stood off to the side of the 17th green.

“It’s a big week for young Kyle Stanley,” Ian Baker-Finch noted. “That three-shot advantage instead of a two-shot with one to go is so much different.”

Ah, famous last words from the broadcast booth.

It didn’t seem awkward at the time, but going back over the footage, caddie Brett Waldman was so calm walking up the 18th fairway to Stanley’s third shot that he even took time to say hello to his kids on television.

It would end up being the last lighthearted moment for Waldman and Stanley. Jim Nantz proceeded to ask Nick Faldo about what it felt like the first time he won a PGA Tour event.

“It was at Birkdale in 1978, our PGA Championship. Fortunately, I had a six or seven shot lead coming up the last, so I could enjoy it for my first win,” Faldo said. “[Stanley's] got one more important shot to hit before he can start looking at the scoreboard.”

Right after Faldo’s famous last words, chaos broke out in the booth, as Stanley watched his third shot roll off the green. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Nantz said, as Stanley’s ball trickled towards the water.

“It’s alright,” David Feherty kept saying, over and over agin, as the ball crept ever closer to the hazard. The funniest moment of the whole shot was actually when Faldo said, “What do you mean? What do you mean?” right after Feherty had assured them the ball was “alright.”

But it wasn’t alright. “I think he’s lost all the saliva in his mouth,” Faldo quipped. ”I have, too,” said a shocked Jim Nantz.

After knocking his fifth on the green and taking two putts to get inside four feet, CBS proceeded to show a graphic noting Stanley had played 60 consecutive holes without a three-put, which you knew would be the kiss of death.

He ended up missing the putt and the tournament headed to a playoff. “We now have to get the Century Club off the 18th as this is going to a playoff. They thought it was a mere formality at this point,” Nantz said.

So did Gary McCord, who was already leaving the course when he heard the news.

“Jimmy, what in the world are we doing here?” said a breathless Gary McCord on the tee of the second playoff hole. “I was driving and heard what was going on the road and I did a U-turn. I thought they were kidding on the radio. In my 26 years, I’ve never actually left and had something wild happened.”

I’m fairly certain every on-course announcer on the planet would have felt confident leaving the course with Stanley up three shots. The hilarious moment moment only seemed to add to a chaotic finish that will certainly go down as one of the best broadcasts of the year.

Kyle Stanley appeared to be a mortal lock to win the Farmers Insurance Open on Sunday afternoon. Holding a three-shot lead as he stepped onto the 18th tee box, tournament officials assumed it would be OK if they started putting Stanley’s name on the trophy and oversized check.

Boy was that a mistake. Stanley, as you probably already know, went on to triple the 18th hole and lose on the second playoff hole to Brandt Snedeker. While Snedeker got the trophy on Sunday, I’m guessing he’s probably still wondering where his oversized check went. It happens to be under the 18th hole grandstand … with Kyle Stanley’s name on it. I’m going to guess tournament officials didn’t have a bottle of Wite-Out on hand to fix the mistake.

(via GeoffShackelford)

There is a saying, “I wouldn’t even wish that on my worst enemy” that people use quite often. Normally it’s about personal stuff like losing your job, having family issues or if you know Billy Cundiff. But more times than you’d think, it is the perfect saying for the game of golf. Q-school comes to mind. So does Scott Hoch. And after Sunday, Kyle Stanley might make that list.

Leading by five shots heading into Sunday, and up to seven at one point during the final round, Stanley stumbled a little over his final nine holes but looked like as long as he had an active pulse on the final hole, a birdie-friendly par-5 at Torrey Pines, he’d walk away with his first PGA Tour title. Stanley had a three shot lead and had played the final hole 1-under the two other times he’d played it that week, but in golf, there is a little thing called your mind that means way more than stack and tilt, your lie or what iron you have into the green.

Stanley had 240 yards into the 18th after a solid tee ball, but decided to lay-up, a decision that 99.9 percent of the time seems like the incredibly correct play. The .01 percent of the time it doesn’t? When you spin your third shot back into the pond, hit your next ball on the green and three-putt, leading to a triple-bogey 8 that put Stanley in a playoff with Brandt Snedeker, the eventual champion.

Golf is a silly, silly sport. Ask Jean Van de Velde, Robert Garrigus, and now, Stanley, who most predicted would have a solid 2012, and it seemed through 71 holes, was living up to those early year assumptions.

Hopefully he can bounce back from this, but for now, it is perfectly okay to feel bad for a young, talented American kid worth millions of bucks. None of those bills will wash away the only snowman you’ll see in San Diego this year.

Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
• Rangers’ Dan Girardi relishes role as anti-All-Star
• Tom Brady suddenly struggling in Patriots’ biggest games
• Rashad Evans earns his UFC title shot vs. Jon Jones