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BELLSOUTH CLASSIC


April 2, 2004


Ben Crane


DULUTH, GEORGIA

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, Ben, for joining us. Nice finish on 18 with a birdie to go to 7-under. Talk about today's round, maybe the changes in the conditions from the time you started to the time you finished.

BEN CRANE: When we first started, it was not only extremely cold but blowing, must have been 30 miles an hour. So any shot you hit was just getting eaten up. It was extremely hard. The first ten holes it was really whipping. The last, maybe, four holes, there was basically -- it's hard to find wind, a tremendous difference and really laid down nicely for us to have a fairly easy finish coming in.

Q. What do you envision for the weekend; if conditions are better, scoring might be more easily obtained?

BEN CRANE: I think so. The past two days has been as tough as the place can play with the greens fast and the wind like that. Were talking about the other day, if we had rain that would be the only thing that would have made it impossible. You know, it was as tough, really as this course gets the last couple of days. I think if the weather gets a little better, you'll start seeing some lower scores and guys will start making some more birdies.

Q. Can you talk about your game? Obviously you're hitting pretty good.

BEN CRANE: Yeah, it's all about hitting on the right trajectory and hitting it solid. Even the shape of a shot, if you've got a crossing wind and you play a draw versus a fade, the difference it's going to go could be 15 or 20 yards. So, it's extremely important to be able to shape your shots right and control the amount of spin you have and the trajectory. I hit it pretty solid the first nine holes which helped me hang in there and keep it around par early.

Q. Did you notice the leaders dropping back quickly?

BEN CRANE: I didn't look at the leaderboard. I still haven't looked at the leaderboard, and that's kind of the way I'll play and that's what I'll continue to do. What I'll do going into the weekend is just go out there and play.

I really don't think the leaderboard matters until maybe the last three or four holes on Sunday. That's kind of my philosophy. I'm going to keep going at it that way.

Q. Do you want us to tell you where you finish on Sunday or would you rather be surprised?

BEN CRANE: Yeah, I'll go ahead and look up, I guess.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Let's go over your birdies and bogeys. You started on 1, started out with a bogey on 1.

BEN CRANE: I hit two great shots. Drove it in the fairway and hit a super 4-iron. If you mis-hit a drive on that hole you'll be hitting 3-wood in there. I hit a nice iron shot in there and had about a 40 footer and the pin was on the other side and it ran about ten feet by and missed it coming back. It was kind of a stuff start.

The par 5 I birdied. Laid it up there and drove it about 60 yards and chipped it up to three feet, pretty routine birdie there.

On 7, I drove it down there a mile and had sand wedge in, which I've been hitting 7-irons in there yesterday. So the pin was just on top of a ridge and landed just short of the ridge and came back about 65 feet and I made it. That was kind of one that you didn't expect to make. The ball just keeps rolling and rolling and rolling and I'm walking up, going, "that looks pretty good," and finally at the last turn it went in. That was a nice one to get, one that I definitely didn't expect.

10, I drove it down there nice. Hit a 5-iron on the green about 25 feet away and 2-putted for birdie. Pretty routine birdie there.

12, I hit 3-wood in the fairway, 7-iron to about 20 feet, 24 feet or so, and just made a nice putt down the middle.

18, I hit a fairly solid drive down the left side there. It ran up to a perfect -- kind of like there's a little launchpad right before you go down the hill. I was like, man, if that's my ball, there's three balls -- that's my ball on that launchpad there, it's perfect. I actually hit a 4-iron -- kind of chickened out and bailed out a little bit to the right. But I hit it solid and the right distance and left it in a good spot and I was able to 2-putt for birdie.

Q. Have you played with Zach at all?

BEN CRANE: I haven't. I think I've watched him on the Nationwide Tour a little bit. We've gotten to be friends since he's been out here. I really like him a lot. We've been getting to be better friends but I haven't played any golf with him.

Q. Inaudible?

BEN CRANE: You grow up in Oregon,

playing 200-some days a year, terrible weather, so I remember countless qualifying rounds trying to make � sometimes it�s frozen or raining sideways, and given that, I think I tend to suck it up a little bit more than other guys.

Q. When the wind laid down, it was about the same conditions as yesterday do you think?

BEN CRANE: Yeah, I thought it was tough over the first few holes. It was tough hard to believe, but early on it was just -- it was just howling. You get wind in spots, so it's just very gusty and the wind gets in those trees and throws a little bit. So you almost have to time it, which gust your going to play at times. So it's tough when it's blowing, especially when you have a shallow grown to work with, like you do on 5.

End of FastScripts.
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