Ben Crane drives from the 12th tee during Round 2 at the AT and T Byron Nelson. (Getty Images)
Ben Crane has been searching for his golf game to return for nearly three years now. After two rounds at the ATandT Byron Nelson, he may be on to something. Crane shot a 7-under 63 in the second round at TPC Four Seasons to
take a one-shot lead over a group of four that includes world No. 2
Jordan Spieth. “I’ve been struggling really for three years now but intermittent
bits of encouragement,” Crane said. “This has been one of those weeks
where I feel like my game is really coming around. Been probably more
dedicated than I have ever been. More clear plan than I’ve ever had and I
just did this week what I do when I play well which is scramble and
putted really well.” This week is a bit of a return home for Crane, as he lived near TPC Four Seasons for 12 years prior to moving to Nashville. The highlight of the round for Crane came at his 12th hole, the par-4
third. After hitting his second shot into a greenside bunker, Crane
knocked his chip into the cup for a three four his fourth consecutive
three in a string that would eventually become seven straight 3s. “I normally don’t really look at my results but I did when I got to
No. 7 and I was filling in the scores of my playing partner and, nice, I
looked up at my card and I did happen to notice that my card was all 3s
and then I realized, well, I made a 2 on 17 and a 3 on 8. Man, I’m playing better than I thought,”
Crane said. “That’s when a couple guys from CBS driving by after I hit
my drive on 7, they’re giving me the 3 sign, I need another 3 out of you
here for TV. I wish I could just dial them up.” Crane posted the first bogey of his round at 17, dropping him back
into a tie for the lead, but he responded at 18 with his eighth birdie
of the day. Crane, who is looking for his first victory on Tour since the 2014
St. Jude FedEx Classic, recently turned 40, likely meaning his time to
get wins is a bit limited and that though in itself pushes Crane. “The last 12 months I’ve worked harder than I ever worked before
because I thought I was going to have hip surgery and I ended up being
able not to go through with that and so in the gym,” Crane said. “I’ve
worked harder than I ever worked putting in one to three hours of day of
different exercises I’ve done that to help my hip and back. I’m feeling
better. “I’ve been more diligent on my game and talked more to my team about
just making sure that I’m practicing with a purpose and so I’ve just
worked really hard. Haven’t seen a lot of results from it but we just
feel like I’m doing the right thing.” However, this also means he may no longer be young enough to be considered one of the Golf Boys anymore either. “I don’t know (if I’m a Golf Boy anymore or not),” Crane said.
“That’s a good question. I don’t know if the Golf Boys are still
together or not but yeah, certainly turning 40 everything is just
harder, harder to keep your body in shape and you just going to have to
work at it more than the guy who is 25 when you’re more elastic.”
Jordan Spieth uses second-round 65 to grab share of 2nd place in Byron Nelson
Jordan Spieth, pictured at the 2016 AT and T Byron Nelson (Getty Images)
Jordan Spieth fired consecutive rounds of 65 or better on
the US PGA Tour for the first time since January at Irving,
Texas today Spieth’s 5-under 65 in the second round of the AT and T Byron Nelson
moved him to 11 under, where the World No. 2 shared the clubhouse lead
with Brooks Koepka (64) and Bud Cauley (65) midway through Round 2 at
TPC Four Seasons Resort. Later Ben Crane took the halfway lead with a 63 for 128 and a one-stroke lead. In his last five rounds before Thursday’s 64, Spieth failed to break
71. He attributed those struggles to a negative attitude. Today, he
hit nine fairways and hit his first 17 greens in regulation on the Las
Colinas course – he missed just two GIRs (greens in regulation figures) in Round 1. He also made 117 feet of putts on Friday. The last time Spieth shot back-to-back rounds of 64-65 in a Tour
event? The second and third rounds of the 2016 Hyundai Tournament of
Champions, which Spieth won (his last win, too).
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