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MASTERS TOURNAMENT


April 5, 2012


Ben Crane


AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

Q.  Do you like this course more the more you play it?
BEN CRANE:  I think I'm learning a lot.  I'm just keeping track of putts in the practice round, like hey, this putt‑‑ I had a putt on 16 today, I was off to the left of the pin, and I played like seven feet of break because in the practice round I hit a couple putts from down there from the left side up to that top right pin.  I never would have played that much break, but you pick up little nuggets as you go along each year, and so I think I've got more and more nuggets in my yardage book.  I can't imagine what some of the other guys' yardage books look like, hey, play this one, this putt is way slower than you think, this one is way faster than you think, this one breaks more than you think, or don't go at this pin.
I learned a little nugget today.  When you hit it over the green on 15, I played a beautiful shot from behind the green, but the grass obviously is combed into you there, and it just stuck.  I learned a little nugget there, play aggressively coming back if you go over the green on 15, too.  Just little nuggets at a time.

Q.  What made the course tough today?  There was a little bit of an expectation that the scores would be pretty low, and 68 is leading.  With the hole placements or whatever, what does it do out there to make it tough?
BEN CRANE:  Well, I think because of the threat of weather, they put a lot of high spot pins so if we did have a lot of rain that the greens wouldn't be as affected, and certainly we're picking up a little bit of mud on the ball because the fairways are combed into us.  So you're going to get some mud balls and you're going to try to judge them, but they're very difficult to judge.
So I think that's going to really put a lot of pressure on your short game.  Are you able to get up‑and‑down, and are you able to deal with the frustration of hitting a shot that looks way off line even though you didn't hit a bad shot?

Q.  Is it as easy as saying that the mud is on the left side of the ball, it's going to go to the right if I don't adjust for it?
BEN CRANE:  It's that simple.  I don't think I've underplayed one yet.  I had one on 18, 200 yards out was my adjusted number.  I'm aiming just right edge of the green, hit a good shot, and I looked up, and the ball missed the green 20 yards left.  It's hard to aim down at the 10th tee box when you're in 18 fairway and make a good swing.  It's just hard to aim over there.

Q.  On the driver holes, how many balls on the driver holes‑‑ for your second shot how many balls had mud on them?
BEN CRANE:  I think I had a situation where it affected my ball maybe three or four times.

Q.  But the margin out here is not really‑‑ it's so narrow that that could make a difference at some point in time?
BEN CRANE:  You think?  Last I checked, every shot counts.

Q.  Did you think you'd get your round in?
BEN CRANE:  When we were on 17 tee, it looked close, so I was just like, you know what, just keep playing.  You can't control it, and just finish strong.  Don't worry about it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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