Q. Did you think the bogey at 9, did you think that might have hurt your chances to win?
BEN CRANE: No. You know, I hit it in the left green-side bunker there. And I was in a spot where you just can't hit it because the green goes so much away from you there. You have to put a ton of spin on the ball just to hold the green. I hit a pretty good shot. One or two rolls left and it stays on the green or fringe there, but it goes all the way down into the rough and I got a weird lie in the rough. I kind of lugged it on to the front ridge and almost comes right down to me and I have 12 feet for bogey and I made that. So that was actually kind of like, that, was big. That was kind of a momentum -- it wasn't a killer at all, by any means. It was really -- kind of got me excited.
Q. The putt you made at 8, was that the one that was like 50, 60 feet. You make a putt like that, do you think, "Maybe this is going to be my day"?
BEN CRANE: We always talk about winning and when you win, something special has to happen to you. You're right that, put goes in, 50 feet, you're just trying to get it close and I hit a great putt, but, I mean, if goes in, you kind of go, wait a minute. That was amazing.
Then also on 17, I drove it in the fairway bunker there and I kind of played it safe out to the right and it hit hard and on the side of the hill, kicks it right on the green, and I look at my caddie and I go, when you win, you get some good bounces and stuff like that happens. I said, well, let's take advantage of it. Those were kind of a few bounces that -- a bounce there, you go, wait a minute, this could be my day.
Q. (Inaudible.)
BEN CRANE: I don't know how to answer that question, I'm not sure. In competition, I'm not sure.
Q. (Inaudible.)
BEN CRANE: Yeah, I have shot -- no, I shot probably 7 in a little tournament-qualifier deal. But it didn't mean this much.
Q. The second shot on 18, have you ever had that shot? Was it an uncomfortable shot?
BEN CRANE: No one was ever really down there really -- in the practice round, I didn't lay one down there say, okay, I'll do one from here.
It was so far down there I looked at my caddie and said, "We have to go." If you hit it on top of the hill, you have a one-shot lead; you lay up. I mean, when you hit it there, you've got to go.
And uncomfortable, not really. I mean, because you're somewhat close, but still shaking like a leaf. You just try to go through your routine. You pick your spot where you going to hit it, visualize the shot and just get in there and execute. That's what you try to do on every shot.
Q. You seemed to be talking a lot and laughing and joking with Cink coming down the stretch, did that come you down a little bit?
BEN CRANE: Huge. I mean, it was -- you know, earlier in the year, I played with Olin Browne at Doral, and I just absolutely loved playing with Olin. He's an awesome guy to play with, always encouraging. Anyway, always been great to me and fun to be around.
And recently, Stewart and I have been talking a lot about -- I've been struggling with the mental part of allowing myself to play well, and Stewart has become a very good, close friend recently.
So I never look to see who I play with. And anyway, I show up on the first tee this morning and it's Olin Browne and Stewart Cink and I go, wow, I could not have a better group. Those are two awesome guys who I love being around, and so that calmed me down tremendously, to answer your question. It was really fun to play with those guys today.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We'll take a couple minutes and go through your score card, starting with the birdie on No. 1.
BEN CRANE: Yeah, I just tried to get off a decent start there. I hit a wedge in there close after a good drive about five feet. Hit a nice putt. I thought, "Here we go, maybe it will be a good day.".
The par-5, 6, I drove it right there, into the right intermediate cut. Definitely one of best shots I hit all day was the next shot. I had about 255 to the hole or something but I had to hit about a 25-yard slice to get it around the trees and on to the green. I just hit a huge, high slice 3-wood and it went right over the flagstick to about 20 feet and I almost made an eagle putt and tapped in for birdie. That was a fun shot.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We covered 8 and 9. And you had birdies on 10 and 11.
BEN CRANE: 10, I hit a good drive down there. It was a 3-wood that went just barely over the back there. I probably left it about five or six feet. Made a nice birdie putt there.
11 was a hole where you're just trying to make par, par 3. Wind was straight into us today. It was like 190 yards or something like that straight into the wind to it was playing long. At this point I'm starting to get a little nervous and I know I'm playing well but it's kind of looking -- I'm like what do I hit and he says, you hit 6. I go, all right, I hit 6. At one point it didn't seem like enough club, but I stepped up there, made a good swing and knocked it in there 12 feet and made a perfect putt.
13, awesome drive. It was a drivable par 4 up the hill. It was a perfect drive. Bounced once through the green, second bounce on the green and then it went over the back at about 40 feet coming back there. Made a nice putt for birdie.
15, I threw it down the middle and again relied on my caddie. He said, "You've got to hit it behind the hole if you're going to miss. Hit the false front there." Hit a great shot and landed about six inches from the cut and went by about six feet. I hit a nice downhill putt there. I was pretty excited when I made it. I walk over and Stewart says, "That was pretty gutsy right there. I might have gone off the front." He was encouraging me all day. That was pretty impressive.
Par 3, hit a beautiful 9-iron just behind the hole. That's a hole where you can't come up short and I hit a good shot about 20 feet behind the hole there. That went in.
Q. How come you don't want to know who you're playing with?
BEN CRANE: Well, early on when I first started playing on the BUY.COM TOUR out here, I knew a lot of these guys and I didn't want to go to bed thinking about who I was playing with. I looked up to a lot of these guys who I'm now playing with. So, I didn't want to have to go to sleep thinking about it.
And so that's kind of been my routine. I never want to know who I'm playing with. Just tell me the time. It really -- last year at the Byron Nelson when I played with Ernie in the final round, it worked good, because I watched Ernie play a lot of golf on TV. So we just kind of kept that routine going. I just never look and find out on the first tee.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Congratulations, Ben.
End of FastScripts....
