These events can be crushing and sometimes we never really recover. Others do recover, some quickly and some eventually. Many prescribe to the axiom of “If it doesn’t kill you, it only makes you stronger.” The opportunity for redemption may present itself quickly or it may take years. The winners of last week’s PGA Tour and European Tour events represented both ends of that spectrum.

Kyle Stanley, a 25 year old American in his first full year on the PGA Tour, took a seven shot lead in the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines on January 29th. He was just striping the ball and making about every putt he looked at. And then the reality of winning his first PGA Tour event and all the percs that come with it crept into his head and it all started slipping away.

Coming to the par 5-72nd hole, all he needed was a double bogey to win. After a good drive and a decent layup, he had 80 yards into a front left pin guarded by a pond known as Devlin’s Billabong, the site of a prior final round disaster involving Bruce Devlin.

Stanley’s wedge came in low and spinning and landed past the hole but spun back into the pond. After taking his drop, his approach was long and stayed on the back of the green. Three putts later he had squandered his lead and fell into a tie with Brandt Snedeker by posting a triple bogey.

After signing his card and heading out for the sudden death playoff Stanley managed to halve the first hole but lost to Snedeker’s birdie on the 16th. It was a collapse of biblical proportions and Stanley was visibly shaken.

“I don't know right now. It's tough. I mean, it's really tough to take,” was his first comment in the post round interview. His final comment however turned out to be prophetic, “Yeah, I mean I know I'll be back. I'm not worried about that. It's just tough to swallow right now. I just need to be patient. One of my goals coming into this year was to just keep putting myself in position, and I'll do that.”

Stanley’s redemption came swiftly as he came from behind the following week to win the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Arizona. “I'm not sure what I'm thinking right now. It's been a great week. You go from a very low point to a high point. I'm not sure I expected to maybe recover this quickly.”

How was Stanley able to recover so rapidly? “I just tried to focus on playing golf. I knew I was playing well coming into this week. I think the biggest challenge was seeing if I could put last week behind me. I think I did.” Indeed.

Thousands of miles away in a different desert, 42 year old Scotsman Paul Lawrie, came to win the Qatar Masters for the second time, previously having won in 1999 which was his first win on the European Tour. Later that year Lawrie became the most unlikely of all major championship winners in history when he took home the claret jug from the Open Championship at Carnoustie.

Lawrie won the Open that year without ever having the lead or a tie for the lead in the final round, a feat not done before or since. He was 10 shots behind to start the round and finished one shot ahead of the ill fated Jean van De Velde after the Frenchman’s triple bogey meltdown on Carnoustie’s infamous 18th hole. The only situation close to this in a major was when poor Roberto De Vincenzo signed a wrong scorecard at the 1968 Masters and handed the green jacket to Bob Goalby and proclaimed “ What a stupid I am.”

Although Lawrie has had some success since 1999 with wins in the 2001 Dunhill Links, the 2002 Celtic Manor and the 2011 Open de Andalucia de Golf he has never threatened again in a major. Maybe history will repeat itself in 2012 and Lawrie will go from a victory at the Qater Masters to take another Open Championship, this time without any help from Jean van de Velde. His redemption will then be complete.