By Mike Blum
Georgia’s three PGA Tour events for 2011 were certainly not lacking for dramatic
finishes.
In what was almost certainly the most exciting tournament in golf this year, Charl
Schwartzel birdied the final four holes to win a Masters that featured all sorts of twists
and turns during the final round, with a huge cast of characters fighting it out for the
green jacket.
The Tour Championship at East Lake included multiple story lines, with the winner of
the tournament and the FedExCup in doubt down the stretch. Bill Haas ultimately took
home both titles, largely thanks to his memorable recovery shot from the water on the
second playoff hole.
The McGladrey Classic at Sea Island GC on St. Simons Island faced a tough task trying
to come close to the finishes in Augusta and Atlanta, but provided a worthy successor to
its higher profile in-state tournaments in just its second year.
Ben Crane birdied eight of his final 11 holes, including two stretches of four consecutive
birdies, to pull off an amazing comeback that ended in anticlimactic fashion when Webb
Simpson missed a short par putt on the second playoff hole – the par-3 17th.
Crane closed with a 63 for a 15-under 265 total. He began the day five strokes off the
lead of PGA Tour rookie Michael Thompson, and his deficit increased when Thompson
carded three straight birdies beginning at the fourth hole, while Crane began his round
with seven consecutive pars.
Thompson, however, did not make another birdie the rest of the day, while Webb
Simpson, his main challenger for most of the afternoon, parred his last seven holes after
playing his first 11 in 4-under.
Crane, meanwhile, ran off four straight birdies beginning at the ninth, but was still four
shots off Thompson’s lead, five after his only bogey of the day at the par-3 12th. But after
saving par with a deft chip at the 13th, Crane launched another four-birdie salvo at the
leaders, pulling into a three-way tie when he banged in a second straight putt of at least
20 feet for birdie at the 17th.
Thompson bogeyed the 18th after driving into the hazard right of the fairway to lose his
share of the lead for the first time all day, leaving Simpson and Crane to head to the 18th
tee for the playoff, the third for Simpson this season. Thompson finished third at 14-
under, with 2010 British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen fourth at 13-under after a 66.
Simpson survived the first extra hole, saving par with a beautiful bunker shot while Crane
missed from close range for birdie. The playoff resumed on the 17th hole, but Simpson
suffered his only bogey of the day to hand Crane his fourth career PGA Tour title, the
first of which came in the BellSouth Classic at TPC Sugarloaf in 2003.
Crane won in Atlanta by shooting 64-63 on the weekend, beginning the final round six
strokes off the lead. He wound up winning by four, surging past everyone in the final
round.
This time, it was all Crane could do just to catch the two other primary contenders. He
needed to save par on each of the first two holes and had just one decent look at birdie
before beginning his torrid run at the short par-4 eighth.
Crane hit his approach shots on both 8 and 9 inside 10 feet and holed the putts for birdie.
He dropped an 11-footer at 10 and rolled in a putt from 21 feet on 11 to pull within four
of Thompson’s lead.
“I wasn’t even considering looking at a leader board,” Crane said of his situation prior to
the first of his two runs of four straight birdies. “I just didn’t feel like I had that privilege.
I was so far behind. I was just plugging away.”
After a fourth consecutive birdie at the 11th, Crane figured he was “not out of the
tournament yet.”
But he missed the green at the 12th and made bogey, and needed a superb chip to save par
at the 13th. With five holes to play, Crane was five behind Thompson and four in back of
Simpson.
He began to close the gap when he hit his approach shot on the par-4 14th within a foot
from almost 160 yards, Crane reached the par-5 15th in two and two-putted from outside
70 feet, pulling him within two shots of what was now a tie at the top.
Crane, known as one of the deadliest putters in the game, nailed a 23-footer on 16 and
made it four in a row again when he holed a 20-footer at 17 to pull even with Thompson
and Simpson.
Thompson had two chances for birdie, but missed at both 15 and 17 before an errant
drive at 18 killed his hopes. Simpson was in danger of making bogey at 16 after his drive
settled in the edge of a divot, but his par putt rolled around the cup and stayed in to keep
him tied at the top.
Simpson’s luck ran out on the second extra hole, but his runner-up finish boosted him
well past Luke Donald and into the lead for the PGA Tour money title heading to the
final event of the season – the Disney Classic in Orlando.
“Finishing second is going to make it a lot harder for Luke,” Simpson offered. Of his
playoff loss (he also lost to Bubba Watson in New Orleans, but won in the Greenbrier
over Chez Reavie), Simpson said it was “a little disappointing.
“I got lucky to get through that first hole. On 17 I thought I hit a good putt. I looked up
expecting it to be going in, and saw it catching the right lip. You don’t want to end on a
three-putt, but that’s just the way it happened.”
Crane said in his post-tournament media interview that he first seriously thought about
winning on the 16th green.
“I had a 20-footer for birdie and I saw the guys were at 15-under. I thought ‘well, I need
to make two birdies in three holes’. Do you guys have any idea how many times we say
that to ourselves, and how many times it actually happens?
“Well, I guess that’s why you say it to yourself.”
Both Simpson (66) and Thompson (69) shot under par in the final round, but those scores
were not low enough to stave off Crane and his closing 63.
“I don’t know how those guys played,” Crane said. “But I know I played just about as
good as I can play.”
Crane played in the tournament with his thoughts elsewhere, as his wife gave birth in
Texas the day after the tournament ended. Crane had considered withdrawing the day
before the McGladrey Classic began, but not for that reason.
He was bothered by a sore hip, but got it stretched out and decided to play. Crane opened
with a 65 Thursday to trail first round co-leaders Simpson and rookie Zach Miller by
two, but fell back with a 70 the next day, bogeying three of his final six holes to fall
seven behind Billy Horschel, who fired a second straight 64.
Horschel, a former standout at Florida, have up the lead when he double-bogeyed the 16th
Saturday, enabling Thompson, who played his college golf at Alabama, to take the lead at
13-under after a 67.
After regaining the lead early Sunday with two birdies on the first three holes, Horschel
played holes 4 through 7 in 5-over, beginning with a triple bogey at the 4th. A double
bogey at the 18th left him with a final round 75 and a tie for 20th at 7-under.
The win saved an otherwise sub-standard season for Crane, who went more than five
months without a finish of better than 29th before tying for 10th in Las Vegas two weeks
before the McGladrey. It gives him victories in back-to-back seasons, with Crane
winning early last year in San Diego, as well as an unofficial PGA Tour victory late in 2010 in Malaysia.
Crane collected $720,000 for his victory, with Simpson earning $432,000 4rom the purse
of $4 million. He came into the tournament needing about $70,000 to move past Donald,
and will win the money title unless Donald wins at Disney or places second.
Former Georgia Tech golfer Bryce Molder, who scored his first PGA Tour victory the
week before in California, tied for 11th at 271 along with Warner Robins native Kris
Blanks, a former assistant at The Landings in Savannah.
Defending champion Heath Slocum of Alpharetta tied for 15th at 272 after a final round
66, tying with Lucas Glover, who was low among the contingent of St. Simons Island
residents. Matt Kuchar was right behind Glover, tying for 20th at 273.
Jonathan Byrd was T32 at 275 along with Charles Howell, Blake Adams and Brandt
Snedeker. Tournament host Davis Love missed the cut by one stroke at even par 140,
making a bogey on his final hole in Friday’s second round.
Tim Weinhart, the lone Georgia PGA member in the tournament, again made a strong
run at making the cut, finishing at 141 for 36 holes after a second round 69.
Weinhart was 2-under through 10 holes on Thursday, but bogeyed four of the last eight to
shoot a 72. He started his second round with birdie putts of 25 and 35 feet on two of his
first three holes with a bogey sandwiched in between.
An errant drive led to a double bogey on the 14th, his fifth hole of the day, hut he hit his
second shot from more than 250 yards to the par-5 15th within 7 ½ feet and made the putt
for eagle to turn in 1-under. A birdie at the fourth got him within one shot of the cut line,
but back-to-back three-putts from long range on holes 5 and 6 cost him a chance to make
the cut.
Weinhart holed a 22-foot birdie putt on the par-5 seventh, but parred the last two holes.
He shot 69-72—141 last year in the McGladrey and also missed the cut by two strokes.