by Jeff Skinner
So Ben Crane wasn’t really that motivated to play in the McGladrey Classic this week. He had a few things on his mind, like his wife having another baby today. The Crane’s are scheduled to have their third child today with a c-section in Dallas. Crane was very close to not starting at Sea Island due to his wife’s pregnancy.
So maybe you can possibly understand that Crane had no idea where in was in the standings half way through his final round. He didn’t know it but he was five strokes back of the leaders as he teed off on the tenth hole. He had just birdied nine and ten and then continued his hot streak that saw him shoot a sizzling back nine 30. He said he finally looked at the leaderboard on the sixteenth green and realized where he was two back.
After he birdied the sixteenth he was one back and another birdie on seventeen pulled him even. Crane and Webb Simpson ended tied at fifteen under par and went on to what seems like a weekly event on the the PGA Tour, a playoff. This was the record 18th playoff this season. After pars on the first hole it looked like they would exchange pars on the second playoff hole (17th) but Simpson uncharacteristically missed a short putt to give Crane his fourth PGA Tour victory.
Crane was as stunned as anyone with his win. “What the heck am I doing here?” Crane said. “I’m in a little bit of shock—a lot of shock,” he said. “I don’t know how those guys played, but I know I played just about as good as I can play.”
Sunday was an amazing day for Crane but today will be a wee bit better as they welcome their new baby.
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