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WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIPFebruary 24, 2011Ben CraneMARANA, ARIZONA COLIN MURRAY: Ben, thanks for joining us, 8 and 7 victory this morning over Rory McIlroy. Just a few opening comments about your match this morning and then we'll go to questions. BEN CRANE: Yeah, I just played really well today, obviously. I got off to a great start and parred 1, and then the holes opened up from there. Birdied 2, made a great up and down to halve the hole. And then the third hole conceded. Birdied 4 and birdied 6. And just got going early and felt very comfortable, and Rory didn't have his best day and just kind of things were all going in my favor. COLIN MURRAY: I believe it's the second time or second executive year you've advanced to the third round, any thoughts on getting more comfortable here? BEN CRANE: Well, last year was an interesting way to advance to the third round. My first match was a buy; Henrik Stenson withdrew on the first hole. This year Adam Scott had hurt his knee and didn't know if he was going to play. Anyway, so I'm very pleased to make the third round. But I'm glad I played golf yesterday. I love match play. I think we all do. I think we all love this tournament. It seems like each shot is a little more important in some ways. So we've got to be ready come the first tee, first day. Q. Do you think you're underrated as a match play guy? BEN CRANE: I think I'm just under the radar, period. Underrated as a match play player? I've never really advanced, I think, past the Sweet 16. So I don't think that anyone is going, wow, Ben Crane is really coming through this bracket (laughter) look out. Gosh, sorry you've got to play Ben Crane, (laughter) boy, tough draw there. So, anyway, I think that answers your question. Q. Ben, people talk about, by the end of the week being rested and how important that is to not have those extra seven or eight holes to play at the end today, can that help you going forward, do you think? BEN CRANE: Certainly we play an extra round this week, if you're able to continue -- or actually two rounds if you're playing all the way through. Maybe towards the end of the tournament rest might be a factor. But we are walking roughly five miles over a course of three and a half, in my case, four and a half hours. So that's not a lot of cardio. And we shouldn't be all that tired doing that. Q. Compared to a lot of the other courses on the Tour, is this an easy course? BEN CRANE: Is this an easy course? It just depends how they set it up. They can make it shoot whatever they want to with the greens having so much undulation. We're not playing a lot of tee boxes back. So the course with the setup as it is, there's birdies to be made out there and there's certainly collection areas where if you get the ball in the right area, it's going to feed toward the hole. The second hole today we had a pin that was in the front right, and if you hit the ball anywhere around the hole, it's going to feed right to it. You give yourself more opportunities that way, but I wouldn't consider it an easy course. You still -- if you drive the ball just a little ways out of the fairway, you're in the desert. And there's some length on some of these holes that makes it very challenging and the greens are fast. It's all on how they want to set it up. That's a long way in saying that's how they set it up. Q. Is there one shot that gets your attention? BEN CRANE: Yeah, the one I'm hitting, definitely. COLIN MURRAY: Ben, thanks. Good luck tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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