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AT&T BYRON NELSON

May 19, 2016

Ben Crane

Irving, Texas

Q. Nice round of golf in somewhat sloppy conditions. Tell me about the golf course.
BEN CRANE: The course is in the best shape I think I've ever seen it, just greens are fantastic, fairways are lush and obviously we got a ton of rain that came through for the first couple of hours of play. But the golf course held up great.

We played ball in hand today. But, all in all, the course is in great shape. Going to dry out and be fantastic tomorrow.

Q. You're not one of the longer hitters on the PGA TOUR. Did it play long for you?
BEN CRANE: Yeah, you know, in spots. Obviously it's all carry for the most part but I was able to get home on 16 in two, so, I was able to capitalize on the par-5s today. I was actually 5-less on my card today. Johnny told me that when I signed my scorecard. Par-5s kind of been beating me up. Today I got them.

Q. You were also 8 for 8 scrambling out there.
BEN CRANE: Yeah. You know, I was looking at -- I didn't get to play The Players last week, very -- it's my favorite tournament, just love that tournament and just had a pit in my stomach when I woke up Thursday morning, didn't really know why and realized because I'm not at The Players this week.

And so I was looking up the guys, just their stats and how the PGA TOUR kind of lists them out, whatever, and the only thing they all had in common was scrambling. They were all great at scrambling and Brian Stuard obviously won at New Orleans scrambling at an incredible rate. We put some extra effort into scrambling this week and today I got a hundred percent. It's kind of fun.

Q. Nice when hard work pays off. Solid opening round.
BEN CRANE: Thank you.

Q. You were bogey-free on the day. Tell me about the way you were able to, you know, keep the bad numbers off the card today.
BEN CRANE: You know, I scrambled really well, 8 for 8 scrambling so I watched the guys At Players last week and I just was looking at their stats. The guys were up there are scrambling really well and so John and I put a little extra emphasis into scrambling this week.

I didn't get to play last week because I wasn't qualified. That was a little frustrating. But we spent some time around these greens just trying to make sure we're comfortable around them and did a great job from the bunkers and with my chips and getting the ball close to the hole.

Really only had to make one lengthy par putt to about ten feet. Other than that played beautifully all day and took advantage of the par-5s. I was 5-less on my cards today. I beat them up today. They've been beating me up.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about your round and how the conditions played into it, please?
BEN CRANE: The course is in as good a shape as I've ever seen it. The grounds crew has done an unbelievable job. I think they really limited play and it's in perfect shape. So, it's fun to get on the green and really have an opportunity because they're in such great shape.

Yeah, the conditions are soft so we were able to go at some pins that maybe we wouldn't normally be able to go at. And so, you know, I was able to take advantage of those.

But really scrambling is what continued my round today. Made some really key up and downs to get a little momentum going and then, you know, made those putts, those 8 footers that really kind of get your round started and just make you feel a little more free out there.

So, it was a fun day because the par-5s have been beating me up and today I beat the heck out of them. So, not one of the longer hitters, it's fun to get after it a little bit.

Q. You said you were 8 for 8 scrambling. What one or two stick out today?
BEN CRANE: Well, certainly on the second hole I was down in a gully left of the hole there and just had a tough chip and hit a conservative chip, went about ten feet by. Maybe a foot, foot and a half outside the right of the hole. Was a momentum boost.

But, really just felt great out of the bunkers. Hit a couple really key ones where No. 8 I hit a bunker shot that was very difficult down-grain, downhill shot. Had to put right amount of spin on it. Knocked it up to a foot.

Hit a few of those where it didn't put a lot of stress on the putter. I was a little more free for the 8-footers. One of those rounds you hope and just felt great. Been doing a lot of work on my game and I saw some fruit today. That was very encouraging.

Q. As a DFW resident, how nice would it be for you to put together four rounds, have a great tournament?
BEN CRANE: Special week. So many friends here and so many friends came out today. My wife and I just celebrated our 14th anniversary yesterday and we went through actually and just made all 14 years of highlights of all the years because 14 years ago I finished 2nd here to Shigeki and Tiger Woods, I don't know if you had heard of him, finished 3rd. Kicked his tail. That's one time in my career.

Really just fun to be back and playing this tournament, playing well and just, yeah, it's a special week for sure.

Q. Worse conditions are if it dries out the next few days what will it mean for the rest of the tournament do you think, lower scores?
BEN CRANE: Yeah. You know, I don't know. When it dries out, makes some pins tougher to get at and certainly holes will be playing shorter but it's hard harder to hit some of the fairways that meander a little bit. Today if you land the ball in the fairway you get rewarded with ball in hand and the ball is not bouncing through the fairway.

So, I think as the course dries out it's going to play tougher and tougher and, you know, you can get this course with 15-mile an hour wind where even par is a pretty darn good score. You shoot anything like that, you're moving up the leaderboard.

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