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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 7, 2009

Ben Crane

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

LAURA HILL: Ben, thanks for coming in. A very nice way to start. Led the field today with nine birdies. Can you just kind of talk about getting off to a really good start at TPC Sawgrass.
BEN CRANE: It was one of those rounds where obviously out here the greens are in phenomenal shape, but there's a lot of trouble lurking. I was able to put the ball in some good spots and was able to capitalize with making, as you said, 170 feet of putts or something -- that's close to a record, for sure, for me. So I just -- it was one of those rounds that you just live for when you're a golfer. And I had one today at one of my favorite courses and tournaments of all times.

Q. Was there an issue with the rake job at 8 on the bunker, maybe what a caddie previously to your group had done.
BEN CRANE: Tim Wilkinson's ball was about six inches behind mine, directly in line with the hole. So I had to mark my ball so that he could play his shot. And then it was a matter of I'm entitled to the same lie, roughly the same lie I had before Tim played his shot. Obviously Tim's shot -- I would have been in a ditch. So then it was a matter of raking it the way it was and then putting my ball down. We were just trying to get the lie accurate.

Q. Could you feel a round like this coming on for a while?
BEN CRANE: No, no. Three of the last four tournaments have been trunk slammers (laughter).
But I got some great coaching from my instructor, Greg Rose and he just said -- I was sending him videos of swings, and just like getting so technical with my game. He was just like -- got mad at me and said, look, you need to play golf. Stop worrying about your swing. Stop worrying about your technique. And I was able to just maintain the same swing thought for the course of a few days which was good for me and just relax.
And my caddie and I spent quite a few hours on the golf course reading up to the week talking about every pin and where it is that we wanted to be in the fairway in relation to that pin and what we wanted to come in with.
It was really the first time we've ever strategized that way. And it saved us some shots, which was really exciting.

Q. They say this is a tournament that just about anybody can win, just because the winners have been so disparate. Are there courses out there where you feel like you're going to have a great week, others where you're going to have to really play your best to get something out of it, and how does that differ from this week?
BEN CRANE: A lot of people say "horses for courses," but for me it's just a matter of am I able to keep it simple and just play golf and not worry too much about other things.
I don't think I've ever had a tournament where I go, oh, man, I play good there every year. I think it's more about the state of my game. I feel like my game is -- when it's on, it's good, and when it's not, it's not. And I don't know exactly how to answer that. I don't feel like I come to the course and say I'm licking my chops this week, and certainly not this week, because anything can happen. This is a golf course where at any moment you can make doubles and birdies and eagles and, anyway, this is one of the greatest tests of golf we play all year.

Q. How big did the hole look to you today?
BEN CRANE: Same size, but my ball just kept going towards it. You always go, okay, two cups outside right. And how often do you, from 30 feet do you go -- do you actually start it there and then the read is correct? And that happened a number of times today. You just smile. You're like, yeah, this is why I play golf right here (laughter).

Q. How much easier does it make the game when you do see a few putts go in and you can get some confidence? Are you feeling like when you go to the next hole it just makes it easier, you don't feel like you have to hit it as close?
BEN CRANE: No question. These greens are fairly small out here, and so to feel like if you just get the ball on the surface you're going to have a chance. Certainly it relaxes you. For example, the pin on No. 3 today is a par-3, I was making the turn there, and it's a really tough pin. If you're not playing well, you might try to go to that pin and try to make a birdie. I'm like, hey let's just knock it in the middle of the green here, and all of a sudden I roll one in. Up the tier and over the tier and it goes right in the hole. That's what helps you shoot a good score on this golf course.

Q. How often would you say you feel that way with your putting?
BEN CRANE: Oh, maybe once every six years (laughter). I don't know. That's a tough question. But you don't get it -- I don't get it more than maybe half a dozen times a year or something like that, where you just go -- the ball is just rolling down your line and things just seem to be going in. I don't know.

Q. Maybe not your favorite subject, but are you playing at the same pace now or any faster than in previous years?
BEN CRANE: I haven't been on the clock in quite a while. So that's good.

Q. Is that an effort of yours to --
BEN CRANE: Yeah, I mean ever since the "incident" (laughter), I've made a big effort to pick up the pace. And so it's getting better.

Q. I was reading through your bio through some of the minutia, and it said when you first went off to school, was it in Texas, that you weren't going to play golf. So I'm guessing this wasn't something that you thought was in the cards from age six like some of these guys seem to be genetically preordained to be Tour pros?
BEN CRANE: No, I've always wanted to be a Tour pro, but in high school and college I wasn't good enough. But I've really -- I've prided myself on just chipping away at it and improving a little bit each year. And I've been blessed to have great instructors that have coached me along the way who have helped me work on fundamentals that will keep me moving forward, because I think that's the hardest thing in golf is to get the right information so that you can keep moving forward. And anyway, so I'm -- I think I'm a product of a lot of different people and by the grace of God here I am living my dream. I've got the greatest job in the world.

Q. When did the light come on and you thought it might be possible to do this and make money doing it? At what stage, late in college, after college?
BEN CRANE: You know, people always ask when do you know you're good enough to make the Tour? The day I made the Tour. When do you know you're good enough to win on the PGA TOUR? The day I won in Atlanta.

Q. You can't get ahead of yourself.
BEN CRANE: I try not to get ahead of myself. I don't want to tell God how to write his story, you know. That's his job. I can't control it and do it. I've tried a few times -- a lot of times -- every day. It doesn't work. So anyway, I'm working on that one.

Q. It looks like you're pleasantly surprised today with your score. What is your game plan tomorrow and your expectations?
BEN CRANE: Try to always have low expectations and my game plan is to go out and enjoy myself, have fun, play golf. I'm going to try to keep it simple here.

Q. You don't seem like a guy who is a trunk slammer. When you slam a trunk, is it gently? What is that process like?
BEN CRANE: I think that's from the movie dead solid perfect. But I think when I trunk slam it, so to speak, it's more of -- why is it happening, what can I do to change it? But, yeah, I'm not -- I like to say I'm not beating anyone up or beating myself up too bad. I feel like, just, again, just trying to let God tell his story. And I feel like in my life I've learned the most through the toughest times and the times, when my back was hurting, I didn't know if I'd ever play golf again. And through that came the greatest appreciation for me to be playing out here and how much of a privilege it is and honor just to be in this tournament. A little dose of perspective I think goes a long ways.

Q. What did you learn from the Sabbatini thing, and didn't you reach out to him after that, through that process?
BEN CRANE: We are friends, no question. And I think he reached out to me and I reached out to him. What did I learn from it? I definitely learned I was too slow, which was accurate. And I learned that -- I didn't blame Rory at all. He's a fast player. And if I'm getting us on the clock he's got nothing to do with that. It was the beginning of a process that I need to play a lot faster, because I don't want to upset the guys that I'm playing with, because it needs to be a level playing field. And once I started to realize that it was like, I've got to go to work on this. And so it became a focal point for me.

Q. You said there was one swing that works for you?
BEN CRANE: I'm trying to release the club right now. I'm trying to -- there's kind of a certain way of doing it or whatever, but I'm really trying to release the club.

Q. What was the best shot you hit today and why?
BEN CRANE: The best shot I hit today and why? I would say the putt on -- is it 5, the long par-4 there? It was one of those where I was just -- I was in the rough and I was able to get the ball on the green and I had, I don't know what it was, 35 feet or so, whatever, ask it was a big breaking putt. And it was one of those where I was going through my routine and motion and it just rolled in, like a putt. And that was kind of the putt I felt like, man, I'm really playing well right now. And that's kind of fun. That's what I'm here to try to do, anyway.

Q. I want to follow up on what you said about how you developed as a golfer. Do you feel like when you hit a rough patch, does it make it easier to go back and work out the mechanics of what's going on, as opposed to someone who is an amazing talent when they're a kid and suddenly they can't do things anymore?
BEN CRANE: Yes. There's no question that I would much rather be known as a hard worker than a phenom who's come out and expected to do a lot of things, because when I face adversity then I realize I need to work hard and do these things as opposed to, I think some guys who are labeled great players before they come out, sometimes adversity is tougher.
LAURA HILL: Thank you so much.

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