ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Ben Crane wasn’t sure why he was even playing the McGladrey Classic. The real mystery came Sunday afternoon, when he sat down next to a shiny silver trophy.
“What the heck am I doing here?” Crane said.
His wife is expecting their third child, though a Caesarian section is scheduled for today in Dallas. Crane thought about withdrawing five minutes before his tee time Thursday because of a sore hip.
And with 11 holes left in the tournament, he was seven shots out of the lead.
Crane ran off four straight birdies around the turn, then another batch of four straight birdies for a 7-under-par 63. He wound up winning in a playoff when Webb Simpson missed a short par putt on the second extra hole.
“I’m in a little bit of shock — a lot of shock,” Crane said. “I don’t know how those guys played, but I know I played just about as good as I can play.”
Simpson closed with a 66, despite not making a birdie over his last seven holes. The playoff — the 18th this year on the PGA Tour to extend a record — looked as though it might go longer when Crane made a 5-foot comebacker for par on the 17th.
Simpson only had to knock in a putt just over 3 feet for par, but it caught the right edge and spun away.
“As soon as I hit it, I looked up expecting it to be going in, and saw it catching the right lip,” said Simpson, who took the money lead from Luke Donald. “It was unfortunate to end that way.”
The Associated Press
