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FARMERS INSURANCE OPENJanuary 31, 2010Ben CraneSAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA MARK STEVENS: I'd like to welcome Ben Crane to the interview room. Ben, congratulations on your win. Not only are you a Farmers Insurance customer, but you won the first Farmers Insurance Open. If you would just take them through the final round and make some general comments about your win. BEN CRANE: Yeah, my goal today was just to operate out of the peace that God gives me when I concentrate on him. Sometimes that's not that hard to do when you're in this place. This is a pretty spectacular place, and you look at those cliffs and the ocean and just the setting is pretty spectacular. That was my number one goal. You know, winning is really a by-product of me setting out to run my process that I've determined is -- we've determined is best for me and honor God. Those are the two things that we really set out to do. So it's just working so hard with my caddie coming down the last few holes just to not get involved in score and outcome and all that. It was a grind. But I'm very thankful that I came out on top, I guess. Q. You've had some issues with your back in the past, and I guess that's been one of the things that's kind of held you back -- BEN CRANE: No pun intended. Q. What do you do now to get ready to play, and I wonder what the process was like in sort of returning from that. BEN CRANE: Two things. One is a lot of my back pain I realized was just emotional stress that I was just carrying, and I read a book that helped called "Healing Back Pain." That certainly helped me tremendously. And then I've been working with Greg Rose, my instructor and trainer, and he basically said, look, your lower back is the only thing that moves; everything else is tight. The problem is all around your lower back, not your lower back. So we've been working actively. I get treatment before and after every round to try to loosen up my upper back and my hips because if I can allow the things around my lower back to move more, then I can take some pressure off my lower back. That's probably more than you wanted to know, but it's working. Q. So you did look at your caddie like you didn't know that you had won. What was the situation? BEN CRANE: You know, I did not know that I had won when it was over. I didn't know who was playing well. I didn't know what was really going on in front of me. Certainly the cameras followed us most of the day. But I did not know if someone was ahead of me that made a good score. I had no idea really what was going on. I'm thankful that I didn't. It was just for me -- someone said, "one shot lead" when we were going to the last hole, so I thought he might be right. Anyway, it was nice to get through the last putt there and -- actually the first person that told me was Ryuji. He goes, "Congratulations." And I go, "Did I win?" He kind of looks at me. I said, "Did I win the tournament?" He's like, "Yeah." I'm like, "All right, thanks." Q. Can you talk about your emotions and what you were feeling after you made the two bombs early and what you were feeling after the putt on 13 and the putt on 17? BEN CRANE: Yeah, I mean, a couple bombs early. Obviously the one on 3 was just an awesome putt, fun. Just hit it and got a long time to watch it and it was just right in the middle the whole way and just a beautiful putt. I made two putts today that you certainly never expect to make. I was not trying to make those putts, I was just trying to put a good stroke on it, and they happened to go in. What was the other question? Q. Your thoughts after the missed par putt at 13 and the missed one on 17. BEN CRANE: Yeah, the one on 13, I lipped out the first putt coming down the hill there, hit a beautiful putt. And then the second putt I hit absolutely perfectly, and it hit something and literally took the hardest left bounce I've ever seen in my life. So it actually didn't bother me on the par-5 there because it was like, hey, I did everything I was supposed to do, hit a good wedge in there, hit a good putt, hit a good second putt, and it just hit something and bounced off line. The one on 17 that I missed was sitting in a hole, and so I tried to add loft to my putter and almost lift my ball out of the hole, and it just came out left. So I don't know if it just came out of the hole left or if I started it -- or pulled it or whatever. I don't know, I was just trying to do something different there because it was sitting so far down that I was just trying to do something different with it just to get out of the hole. Q. What does winning mean to you? BEN CRANE: Everything and nothing. I mean, it's certainly really cool to know that I'm going the right direction. But in the past when I've played well, I think I've rested on it, and I think I have a better plan in place this year. It's a nice by-product. But really the goal was to sit down with my team this November and talk about the plan that we put in place and reevaluate. Q. Do you prefer not to know where you stand with one hole to play, and doesn't that enter into your tactical decisions? BEN CRANE: It definitely enters into my tactical decisions, but I told my caddie before the round, look, I don't know anything about what's going to happen, but if we get into a situation where we might need to know what to do or to make a different decision, then you're in charge of that. So he was watching the leaderboards, and that 18th hole for the most part is not reachable for me, so I just really can't imagine a situation where I'm really going to make a different decision. I'm probably going to end up hitting a wedge in there. Whether I'm leading by four or behind by four, I'm probably going to hit the same shot. I thought about that before the round, and I thought, I can't imagine I'd really need to make a different decision on the last hole based on the circumstances, so we just kind of left it at that. Q. So how do you manage to tune out noise where somebody might say or might -- BEN CRANE: If someone tells me, it's okay. I mean, it's not like it's going to send me off the deep end or something. It's just clutter, it's not something I'm focusing on. I mean, my goals are very different from shooting a low score this week. I know it sounds maybe a little off, but they are, they're very different than that. So if someone tells me where I'm at and where I stand in the tournament, it's okay. I'm okay with that. Q. Besides the putts, it seems like the approach shot on 12 was a pretty key shot. Can you talk about that a little bit? BEN CRANE: Let's see here. Let me go through my holes. 12, yeah, that was a -- that's the super long par-4? Yeah, right rough, and that was -- I drove it in the right rough and had an excellent lie, and I had 230 yards or something, and it was just like, all right, smooth a 3-wood, get it up in the air, and I was trying to hit it about 10 yards right of that, and it just came off right at the hole and came running around the corner and came up, and it's like, oh, it's going right at it. All of a sudden it landed pretty close to the hole there. So yeah, that was obviously a nice bonus to have it land close. Q. What is this process that you're talking about, and when did you come to it? It sounds like sometime late last season. Can you tell us more about it? BEN CRANE: Yeah, I sat down with my team. I have eight guys that kind of help me, a few therapists and then a mental coach, a guy named Lanny Bassham, Greg Rose my fitness guy, caddie. Anyway, we all sat down in a room and my manager, and we all just said, all right, what are the things we need to improve on, and what are the things we think we're doing well. We pulled up every stat for the last nine years. It was kind of fun, and my manager ran this whole meeting, and basically what we came up with was a few things that I need to do. One of the things is I need to play ready golf. I've been too slow in the past, and it's bothered me. So I'm just -- that's one of the things I'm working on is being ready when it's my turn to play. Anyway, so we just came up with a few things that I need to do in order to improve. And so we determined when we left that meeting, we all knew what I was doing so that when I finish a round, we talk differently about the round. We don't talk directly about results, we talk about the process I went through before, during and after every shot and how that went. And to judge myself based on that as opposed to just the outcome. So now, you know, when I get treatment after the round, I talk to my therapist, and we talk very differently than I think we talked last year, which was more about results, and let results kind of control how we feel and all that. And we're trying not to do that this year. Does that help? Q. Are you going to talk about your win when you get your therapy today? BEN CRANE: (Smiling) Am I going to talk about our win? Yeah, I think it's okay to get out of the moment for a night, that's for sure. Q. You talked yesterday about how difficult this course is and you have to grind, as did the whole field apparently today. It took five and a half hours for the final group to play. Are you surprised by that, or is it just the grinding? BEN CRANE: Yeah, did anyone notice that I was in a group waiting? (Laughter.) I wanted to say it to Feherty, but I didn't want to get myself out of the moment too much and start thinking too much about something else. I almost walked over and go, "Is anyone looking around that I'm leaning on my golf club right now?" (Laughter.) But anyway, it's obviously an incredibly difficult course. The greens are difficult, and every hole is very long. You know, there's a lot of scrambling and stuff, so obviously pace of place gets slowed down just because of the difficulty of the course, like you said. Did I answer your question? Q. Does that play into your wheelhouse then? BEN CRANE: Does that play into my wheelhouse? I hope not, with the direction I'm trying to go. I'm just trying to be ready when it's my turn. We've timed off my shots, and if I'm running my program properly, then I'm within time, and I should be all right. MARK STEVENS: If you could go through your birdies and a couple bogeys. BEN CRANE: A birdie on 2, just we've been working on taking distance off wedge shots so they don't have too much spin, so I've been working with this short game guy, James Seekman (ph.), and he's been teaching me the old take the left arm to here and get numbers on wedges or whatever, and I got to exactly my number on that hole. I moved my left arm there and my wedge shot went to a foot. I mean, I was kind of excited to put in the work on the off-season where I'm dialed in on these wedge numbers. And the second hole I got one and I made birdie there. The 3rd hole you're just trying to get the ball on the green, and I had maybe a 40-footer up the hill. Ryuji putted -- we were right next to each other, and he hit a nice putt that went right by the hole, and so it was like -- I mean, I just saw the read, and I was able to put it on the right line at the right speed and make it. So that was assist Ryuji. That's been a common theme. And then No. 5, I played a nice hole there. I hit an 8-iron in there on the green 20 feet. I felt like that settled me down even more. I just felt like I was running my process well and was able to make a 20-footer there. And then a lot of pars up until 11, where -- I mean, I knocked it on the green with a hybrid, just tried to get it on the green, and I mean, I got a putt going across the green, and the thing was just -- it just looked in the whole way. I mean, that one surprised me. So that was obviously a nice 2. I think I made a couple 2s there -- yeah, two 2s in the last three days, which is like stealing. And then a couple of short putts that I had some issues with the greens on the last few holes. Other than that, really just proud of the way I played. Q. This approach where you talk about the methodical way you've always played, how much did this eight-man meeting and this plan fit your personality? BEN CRANE: How much does this plan fit my personality? Totally. I've never in my whole life been so excited as I was when I was in that meeting with those guys because I felt like I was vulnerable. We were all honest, and I mean, just to talk about everything that we thought we needed to do, I mean -- my caddie imitates my manager Tommy Limbaugh all the time now because he gets these ten fingers going at you, and he goes, (imitating high-pitched southern drawl) "Ben, I am so excited right now. I am more excited than you are. I can't even tell you how excited I am." I'll hit the ball in a bunker, and "Ben, I am so excited. You have an opportunity to excel right here, right now." (Laughter.) So anyway, we keep it light on the golf course from that meeting because he just -- "Ben, I am so excited right now." Anyway, so we have a good time with it. We walked out of that room after a few days, and one of my trainers looked over at my manager and said, "Tommy, I will run through a brick wall for you right now." He just got us all motivated. We had a great time. It fits into my personality I guess you could say, to say the least, and we had a lot of fun. We had great dinners at night, and it was just kind of a bonding time. I love teams. Q. If we could depart from process to results for just a moment. You're obviously sensitive to the idea of pace of play, but how much do you think that that has had a bearing on your scores over the years? Do you think it's hurt you? BEN CRANE: Totally. I mean, the whole thing happened with Sabbatini in -- I don't know what year or whatever, but that was a great thing for me that that happened because I realized, wow, I mean, this is a big deal. I'm too slow. So you know, I believe God uses all things for good if we allow him to. And that was definitely a good thing for me. That's how a lot of people know me is because of that. But anyway, yes, it's definitely played in, and I'm trying to make some changes that will get me away from that because, yeah, it definitely weighs on my mind, and the better off I am with being ready when it's my turn will take some pressure off for sure. Q. Do you find it kind of funny, or just how do you feel about being in the news again for altogether different reasons than you were a month or so ago? BEN CRANE: Yeah, I mean, obviously being in the news a month ago was bizarre. Someone made some stuff up that I said something about Tiger, which I didn't. Yeah, now to be in the news again, obviously my name keeps popping up. Yeah, it's obviously good to be on a good note. Is that profound? Good to be on a good note? MARK STEVENS: Ben, thank you very much, and have a good week. End of FastScripts |
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