What We Learned: Phoenix Open By GolfChannel.com Team Feb 5, 2012 6:05 PM ET Each week, the GolfChannel.com team offers thoughts on "what we learned" from the most recent big events. This week, the team reflects on Kyle Stanley's reversal of fortune in Phoenix and John Daly's showing at the Qatar Masters. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kyle Stanley heals quickly. After Stanley collapsed at the end of the Farmers Insurance Open last week, nobody could be sure how Stanley would respond just a week later. We weren't sure if he would be playing the Phoenix Open with an open wound or tender scars. Either way, we learned the guy can play with pain. Or he's got a cornerback's short memory . . . or enabling amnesia. The tears Stanley shed last week made you wonder about his toughness. We learned in his tears of happiness in Phoenix that tough guys can cry. He showed terrific toughness bouncing back so quickly. ?Randall Mell -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I learned that Kyle Stanley's lips quiver in either defeat or victory. Granted, in both instances, the circumstances ?a devastating 72nd-hole triple bogey to lose at Torrey and then the semi-miraculous comeback win at Phoenix ?were off the charts on an emotional level. ?Golf Guy -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I learned that other PGA Tour events should use the Waste Management Phoenix Open as a blueprint for garnering more fan support. For years, I뭭e agreed with the majority of players who believe that the fun-first atmosphere is fun for one week out of the year, but shouldn뭪 be the norm at other tournaments. Forget that. Quite simply, having more than a half-million fans envelop a tournament should be the rule, not the exception. Even if many of the spectators were more interested in finding the bottom of their own cup rather than seeing which players could find the bottom of those on the course, having an entire community support its local PGA Tour stop should hardly be construed as a negative. In fact, it should be the model. Not necessarily the party atmosphere, but the sheer volume of people involved in the tournament. It grows the game, it grows the Tour. Before now, I thought it was a nice diversion each year. I learned this week that it should the blueprint instead of the exception. ?Jason Sobel -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two-thousand-twelve may be the year Webb Simpson wins a major. Simpson finished T-8 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open to notch his second top 10 in the three events he's played this season. He had the fewest putts at the U.S. Open last year and only two players had fewer putts than him at the 2011 Open Championship. Consider that alongside his two victories in '11 and finishing second on the PGA Tour money list and we've got a star in the making. Already off to a hot start in 2012, it뭩 only a matter of time before he secures a 멬?this season and I뭗 put money on that victory coming at a major championship. ?Bailey Mosier -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I learned that John Daly will continue to get sponsor exemptions as long as he wants them. Really, truly thought after the debacle Down Under in November ?where an exemption was rescinded the following week after he exploded on a hole and walked off the course ?that other tournament officials would see that Long John doesn't value the opportunities he's been given and only cares about himself. Sadly, I was wrong. As long as he sells tickets, he'll have a place to play. ?Jay Coffin