Ben Crane

Ben Crane
 Golfer 
Personal information
Full name Benjamin McCully Crane
Born (1976-03-06) March 6, 1976
Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight 165 lb (75 kg; 11.8 st)
Nationality  United States
Residence Westlake, Texas
Spouse Heather Crane
Children 3
Career
College Baylor University
University of Oregon
Turned professional 1999
Current tour(s) PGA Tour
Professional wins 8
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 5
Asian Tour 1
Web.com Tour 2
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament T17: 2012
U.S. Open T53: 2008
The Open Championship T11: 2006
PGA Championship T9: 2004

Benjamin McCully "Ben" Crane (born March 6, 1976) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour.

Early years and amateur career

Crane was born in Portland, Oregon. He was introduced to golf at age five by his grandfather. He grew up playing at the nearby Portland Golf Club, where Ben Hogan won the Portland Open in 1945.

Crane graduated from Beaverton High School in 1994 and attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas, but did not play golf for the Bears.[1] He transferred to the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon and played golf for the Ducks. He graduated in 1999 and turned professional that year.

Professional career

Crane won two events on the second tier Buy.com Tour, the first in 2000 and the second in 2001. In December 2001, Crane earned his PGA Tour card for 2002, and won for the first time on the PGA Tour at the BellSouth Classic the following year. His second win came in 2005 at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. Also in 2005 he finished second at the Booz Allen Classic and Bell Canadian Open, third at the 84 Lumber Classic, sixth at the B.C. Open and seventh at The Tour Championship, which placed him 19th in the season earnings with over $2.4 million. In February 2006, just before he turned thirty, he was the highest-ranked American golfer under that age in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Crane has said that he does not like to know with whom he will be paired, saying, "I looked up to a lot of these guys who I'm now playing with. So, I didn't want to have to go to sleep thinking about it." He is also considered one of the slowest players on the tour. On at least two occasions his extremely slow progress through a course has become a media issue, including one in which a fellow tour player Rory Sabbatini played out of turn.[2]

Crane missed the majority of the 2007 season due to back problems, and played on the PGA Tour in 2008 on a major medical extension. He finished 64th on the money list to retain his card for 2009. In January 2010, Crane carded a final-round 70 to win the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines by a single stroke.[3] In May he finished third at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, fourth at The Players Championship and seventh at the Byron Nelson Championship. In October, he won the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic Malaysia, an event co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour (but unofficial money) and Asian Tour.[4] With 12 top-25s in 24 events, he ended 23rd on the money list with over $2.8 million.

He picked up his fourth win on the PGA Tour in 2011 at the McGladrey Classic, defeating Webb Simpson in a playoff.[5] Crane shot a final round 63 to make the playoff, having at one stage been eight strokes back of the leader. The round included eight birdies and one bogey in ten holes from the 8th to the 17th.

Crane picked up his fifth victory on the PGA Tour in 2014 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. He would pick up the victory in wire to wire fashion, winning by a single stroke over Troy Merritt despite three bogeys and no birdies for his final round.

Personal

Crane is married to Heather Crane; the couple has three children. Crane is a Christian.[6]

Crane currently is one of four golfers in the PGA Tour exclusive boy band, "Golf Boys" - with Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, and Hunter Mahan. The Golf Boys currently have a popular YouTube video for the song "Oh Oh Oh." Farmers Insurance will donate $1,000 for every 100,000 views of the video. The charitable proceeds will support both Farmers and Ben Crane charitable initiatives.[7]

Incorrect quotation about Tiger Woods

In early December 2009 Life & Style magazine reported that Crane had called Tiger Woods a "fake and a phony" due to Woods' recently publicized marital infidelity. Crane denied making the remarks, stating that he was not even at Q-school, where the magazine claimed he was interviewed.[8]

“My wife and I have prayed for Tiger and Elin, and we want nothing but the best for them”, Crane said.[9] In January 2010 the magazine retracted its story, stating that the evidence indicated that the comments were made by someone impersonating Crane.[10]

Amateur wins (1)

this list may be incomplete

Professional wins (8)

PGA Tour wins (5)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin
of victory
Runner(s)-up
1 Apr 6, 2003 BellSouth Classic 73-72-64-63=272 −16 4 strokes United States Bob Tway
2 Jul 24, 2005 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee 62-65-64-69=260 −20 4 strokes United States Scott Verplank
3 Jan 31, 2010 Farmers Insurance Open 65-71-69-70=275 −13 1 stroke Australia Marc Leishman, Australia Michael Sim,
United States Brandt Snedeker
4 Oct 16, 2011 McGladrey Classic 65-70-67-63=265 −15 Playoff United States Webb Simpson
5 Jun 8, 2014 FedEx St. Jude Classic 63-65-69-73=270 −10 1 stroke United States Troy Merritt

PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 2011 McGladrey Classic United States Webb Simpson Won with par on second extra hole

Asian Tour wins (1)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin
of victory
Runner-up
1 Oct 31, 2010 CIMB Asia Pacific Classic Malaysia^ 67-64-66-69=266 −18 1 stroke England Brian Davis

^Co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour, but unofficial money event.

Web.com Tour wins (2)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin
of victory
Runners-up
1 Jul 23, 2000 Buy.com Wichita Open 67-63-66-67=263 −25 3 strokes United States Kelly Grunewald, United States Vance Veazey
2 Oct 14, 2001 Gila River Classic 63-66-64-68=271 −23 Playoff United States Jason Caron, United States Bo Van Pelt

Results in major championships

Tournament 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Masters Tournament DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT CUT DNP DNP
U.S. Open CUT DNP DNP DNP 62 DNP T53 CUT
The Open Championship DNP CUT DNP DNP T11 DNP DNP CUT
PGA Championship DNP T48 T9 T40 CUT DNP CUT T43
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Masters Tournament T25 CUT T17 DNP DNP CUT
U.S. Open CUT CUT CUT DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship CUT CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship T39 T37 DNP DNP WD DNP

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 2
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 2
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 1
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 1 1 9 6
Totals 0 0 0 0 1 4 27 11

See also

References

  1. "PGA Tour profile". Retrieved May 10, 2012.
  2. "Sabbatini apologizes to Crane after snapping". ESPN. June 14, 2005. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
  3. "Ben Crane claims Farmers Open win at Torrey Pines". BBC Sport. January 31, 2010. Archived from the original on February 1, 2010. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  4. "Ben Crane gets by with 69 for victory". ESPN. Associated Press. October 31, 2010.
  5. "Ben Crane rallies to win McGladrey". ESPN. Associated Press. October 16, 2011.
  6. "Ben Crane, PGA Tour Pro". Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  7. "Golf Boys - Oh Oh Oh (Official Video)". June 13, 2011. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
  8. "PGA pros deny making inflammatory quotes about Tiger". Yahoo! Sports. December 10, 2009. Archived from the original on December 14, 2009. Retrieved December 11, 2009.
  9. Arkush, Michael (January 13, 2010). "A new season for the Daly Show – Mistaken identity". Yahoo! Sports.
  10. "Life & Style correction". Life & Style. January 13, 2010. Retrieved April 12, 2010.

External links

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