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FARMERS INSURANCE OPENJanuary 28, 2010Ben CraneSAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA MARK WILLIAMS: Ben Crane, thanks for joining us, first round 65, 7-under on the North Course, off to a good start. Looked like you hit a lot of greens today, I think it said 17 out of 18 but only maybe six fairways. Maybe a little struggle off the tee. I think this is your lowest round in maybe this is your sixth start here looking at some stats. Just talk about your day and what it was like for you. BEN CRANE: Yeah, getting off early on the North Course certainly helps. The greens are obviously in great shape the earlier you play, and I was able to get -- the 1st hole today hit a wedge up there pretty close to the hole and spun back to about 30 feet and made it. That was a good way to start, and I was able to just make some good putts today. MARK WILLIAMS: Have you had an affinity with this place? T7 last year here I think was your best finish. Obviously you like coming here. This round today, did it surprise you being low? BEN CRANE: I'm trying to not be surprised by really anything, I'm just trying just to stay in the moment, and the old cliché one shot at a time, and so I'm just doing my best to stay in the moment and not worry about the outcome. So I'm thrilled with the way I played today, and certainly I putted really well. That was the key for the round for sure. Q. How much of a necessity do you look at getting off to a good start when you start on the North Course? Obviously you go to the South tomorrow and it's obviously a little tougher. How much of a need is there to kind of go low today and set up the rest of your week? BEN CRANE: I think history shows that the North Course certainly yields lower scores than the South Course, so certainly it's nice to get off to a good start on the easier of the two courses. You're going to have a lot more scoring clubs in your hands coming into some of those holes on the North Course. South Course, I think you might consider a hybrid a scoring club coming in there. So anyway, yeah, certainly nice to get off to a good start and now go to the South Course and just play that for a few days. Q. Tiger wasn't here last year. I'm just wondering, everybody is saying this is the start of the TOUR, this tournament, after the other three tournaments. Does it feel any different than the last couple of years, the excitement, the fans? I noticed a story in the paper yesterday that they weren't selling as many tickets as in the past. I just wonder when you were playing or showing up or whatever if there's any difference in the feeling in the tournament. BEN CRANE: Certainly we always like playing with the best players in the world, and so you always want to play against the best field. Does it feel any different? I mean, when I'm over a shot, I'm really not thinking about much hopefully, so there it is. Just like I said, process one shot at a time, let everything else take care of itself. Q. How about before you actually before you play, guys sitting around the locker room or just showing up? BEN CRANE: I just couldn't be more thrilled that Farmers Insurance has stepped in. This is an unbelievable tournament, unbelievable setting. I couldn't be happier just to be here this week and to have the opportunity to play. I know that the economy is obviously in a tough situation, golf is in a tough situation, so I mean, there's not much better opportunity than this. Q. Where were you when you heard Farmers was taking over the sponsorship? BEN CRANE: I was in Palm Springs out practicing, and I was just thrilled. So certainly -- I'm a client as well as a fan -- yeah, I've got some Farmers Insurance. Anyway, I'm very excited about it. Q. They probably just cut your rate just now. REPLACENAME: I hope so. I'll call my dad, a little plug. Q. You mentioned trying not to be surprised by anything. You got a weird slap upside the head in the middle of December when I guess Tommy probably called you and said, what is this and how did that all go down? Could you run us through that scenario? Anybody that knew you knew it had to be wrong and how you dealt with that and tried to clean that up, because it was amazing, took on a life of its own. BEN CRANE: Yeah, it did. A magazine had made some comments saying that I said some things, and I never said them. And so it was obviously a huge surprise when Tommy called and said, there's a quote, and I said, that's funny, I haven't given an interview in five weeks or however many weeks it was or whatever. The incident was in that space of time. Then they said they interviewed me at Tour school, which thankfully I was not there, so things started -- but what I didn't realize about the situation was just because I didn't say it doesn't mean that I don't need to try to put out the fire and let people know. So the first thing I did was called Doug Ferguson. I said, Doug -- he goes, I know, this thing has a life of its own. So I'll do what I can. So my manager Tommy, Rosaforte, the guys, we all tried to call all the sources that we knew and say, look, I didn't say it, Sid Wilson. So obviously that was a surprise for sure. Q. It's a weird situation when you're basically having to -- most guys get into trouble for the things they do say. You got into trouble for something you weren't even in the same state. BEN CRANE: Yeah. Anyway, it was bizarre, and obviously just a shock. I called Charles Warren, and same thing. He's like, huh? Anyways, obviously pretty weird deal. Q. With Tiger not here, is there a sense from the other players that Phil is kind of the man now in terms of the No. 1 here? He's No. 2. Do you have any more sense of that now or how do you see it? BEN CRANE: Again, maybe I'm a boring interview, but I'm working so hard on doing what I do and the whole aura or whatever, the whole tournament or whatever, I really haven't thought -- given it that much thought. I don't really know how to answer that question. Q. But I don't sort of mean just here, just in general if Tiger is away and doesn't end up playing for two months -- BEN CRANE: There's no question, golf is different. When the best player in the world is not here, golf is different. How is it different? We don't exactly know. We're just starting this journey. There it is. Q. On the quote that you didn't say, did you ever -- did you get an explanation of how that happened, which particularly supposedly you were interviewed face-to-face at Tour school? BEN CRANE: The magazine said that they interviewed someone who said they were Ben Crane. I don't know. I don't know what to -- Q. What was the feeling when you realized that this is going to be out there? Was it anger? Was it -- BEN CRANE: You know what, because I didn't say it, actually it didn't bother me that much. I was like, these guys, whoever it is, made this up or whatever. I can understand if I said it, it might be frustrating or hurtful or whatever that now all of a sudden it's all over the national news. I didn't say it. My friends knew I didn't say it, and people that know me know I really don't run my mouth on things like that. Anyway, yeah, it actually didn't bother me that much, but I did want to do my best to put out the fire. Q. How did you find out? Did somebody call you on it? BEN CRANE: Yeah, my manager Tommy called me and said, interesting situation here. Q. Did you try to get a message to Tiger in any way? BEN CRANE: The TOUR, Sid Wilson and the TOUR, immediately let the people know in Woods' camp that it was not said by either player, Charles Warren or myself. Q. Did you get an apology from the publication or anything? Did they say they were sorry that that happened? BEN CRANE: Yeah, they did. There's a retraction being printed. I don't know if it's already been printed. I've really washed my hands of the deal. I didn't say it, I don't really care that much. It was just kind of a bummer that someone would lie and make it up. MARK WILLIAMS: Ben, we appreciate you coming in. End of FastScripts |
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