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FRY'S ELECTRONICS OPEN

October 19, 2007

Ben Crane

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

DOUG MILNE: Ben, thank you for joining us. Back-to-back 66s, just a couple general comments about today and we'll take a few questions.
BEN CRANE: Just kind of kept my round going with some solid putting and you know, I've been off for six months, so this is my second week back and I'm, I guess you could say, fresh to say the least.
You never really know how you're going to play, so it's exciting to come back and throw some good rounds in.
DOUG MILNE: Tell us real quick about the 7th hole, that's just been a disaster for a lot of people. Yesterday Nick Watney made an eight; today Mickelson made a seven. What is it that makes that hole so tough.
BEN CRANE: Well, it's a long hole for starters. It's a 5-par compared to a 4-par which we're only one tee up. Then the fairway narrows at about 285 yards. So if you're going to hit driver, definitely there's a lot of risk reward and you've got some desert on the right you're dealing with and same thing on the left.
So I try to lay back to the fat area of the fairway with a 3-wood, but now you're hitting, you know, 5-irons in to a green that it's a par 5 green. So it's just a tough hole.
And I've actually played the hole well and missed short putts the last two days on that hole. But, yeah, that's definitely one of the toughest holes out here.

Q. What have you been doing for the last six months?
BEN CRANE: Just taking a nap. (Laughter) Catching up on my sleep.
Yeah, we have a 10-month-old little girl, Cassie, and that has been the greatest blessing in our lives to be able to spend the time with her. You know, she knows daddy as well as mommy, which I don't think many people are able to spend that much time at home with their little ones. So that part has been the greatest, you know, period of our lives, really; and also, in another way, the toughest, because I haven't been playing.

Q. Did you have time during all that to miss playing?
BEN CRANE: Yeah, you know, I tried not to turn on the TV much, but occasionally I would. I generally watch golf for about five minutes and then I go up into my golf -- I've just got to do something, or practice.
I was telling Smitty, Justin Leonard's caddie, as we were walking in, I definitely developed an appreciation for game and for being out on TOUR and just how thankful I am just to be able to play at this level and compete at this level over the last six months. I don't think I ever would have gained, had I not been off for that length of time.

Q. That's quite a sacrifice for to you make in terms of income and everything else. Why did you make that decision?
BEN CRANE: It was not by choice. My back was not feeling good, and I was struggling to find the answer why I was having pain. And, you know, went through a bunch of different treatments and now I feel like I'm finally to the place where I'm feeling great, which is exciting.

Q. What kind of treatments did you go through?
BEN CRANE: Well, everything. That's the best answer. I've been through a lot. But the answer is, I'm feeling great and I'm excited about it.

Q. What worked?
BEN CRANE: What worked, it's a long story.

Q. Could you give it to us in like three sentences?
BEN CRANE: I'm feeling great, thanks. (Laughter).
DOUG MILNE: We'll just run through the card real quick. Your birdies, we talked about No. 7. If you could just run us through.
BEN CRANE: I got off to a great start and drove it in the fairway and got in there about 12 feet on 1 and made the putt.
I was able to birdie the second hole, as well. And then had some -- birdied 8 and 9, so all of a sudden, I'm back with a great round going and up-and-down for birdie on 11. And then just some good par saves along the way coming in.

Q. Where did you make a bogey at?
BEN CRANE: No. 7. I missed about a 4-footer there to save par.
One of the best holes of the day was No. 5, the par 3. I was above the pin and ran it, I don't know, 20 feet past the hole, downhill, downgrain, and I made the 20-footer coming back for par, so that was kind of exciting for me.

Q. You've had some success here in the valley before. Do you like desert golf?
BEN CRANE: I do. You know, I was talking to my good buddy, Jonathan Byrd two weeks ago and talking about coming back and he goes, "You know, if I were you, I'd wait until they went out to the desert to go play." And I thought to myself, maybe he's right. I do love playing in the desert for some reason. The greens are always pretty good, and just, I don't know, I like it out here.
I've played a lot of golf in Palm Springs and here over the years, being a West Coast guy. So I do; I love playing out here.

Q. What do you remember about Gila River?
BEN CRANE: Well, it's actually interesting that one of my good friends who helps me with my game also was caddying for me on the Nationwide just for a short period when I won Gila River and my caddie took a job working for Ryan Moore for a few weeks because he didn't know if I was going to be playing.
So I called him, I go, "Hey, want to caddie for a couple weeks?" And he's from Seattle, and he said sure.
So I got my same caddie on the bag, and I remember, you know, just obviously a great memory on the Nationwide.

Q. What's his name?
BEN CRANE: Craig Welty. So that's been fun. He's a great friend, and also helps me with my game. So it's been a fun last couple weeks. He caddied last week and this week.

Q. Just one other question on your back. Was there a point where you thought that you might not make it back? Did this back thing get serious enough where you were questioning if it would heel?
BEN CRANE: There's no question that -- yeah, it's been -- it was a hard time. I think of the six months, I think there was four months that I was thinking, I don't know if golf is in the future.
So, to answer your question, yes. You just don't know. So, yes, it was a possibility that golf wasn't going to be in the cards.
DOUG MILNE: Well, Ben, thank you for stopping in and best of luck on the weekend.

End of FastScripts

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