MILWAUKEE -- Slow and steady wins the ... golf tournament.
Notorious dawdler Ben Crane, whose slow play irked Rory
Sabbatini at the Booz Allen Classic last month and perturbed his
playing partners this week, shot a 1-under 69 in sweltering heat
Sunday to win the US Bank Championship by four strokes over Scott
Verplank.
"I wish I could flip a switch and be fast, but it doesn't work
that way," the Beaverton, Ore., native said after his second
career tour victory. "I think it's a process and I think over the
next few months I'll get better."
That won't be soon enough for Verplank, who slogged his way to a
71.
"Unfortunately, I probably thought about it a little bit and
that's my fault, but we were on the clock the whole back nine,"
Verplank said. "It's kind of a nuisance to be on the clock. But I
kind of expected it, too."
Crane said he felt bad for Verplank.
"It stinks for Scott. Its unfortunate," he said, "but its the
way it happens. I feel terrible about it but I try not to change my
routine. I don't feel I was too far off (the pace)."
But he was way ahead of the field, finishing at 20-under 260.
Chad Campbell (65) finished five shots back in third, and
two-time winner Jeff Sluman (68) was fourth at 14 under.
Crane, whose lead never dipped below three strokes Sunday, is
only the second wire-to-wire winner in Milwaukee, joining Ed Snead,
who did it in 1974 at Tuckaway Country Club.
Yet, he provided an agonizingly slow finish to a tournament that
was delayed nearly 10 hours by bad weather as it was.
"It's a good thing he's a great guy because if he wasn't he
would probably have a lot of trouble with all the players,"
Verplank suggested.
"It's just golf is a gentlemen's game about etiquette and how
to act and how to respect your playing partners and the game. And
... one of the things of respecting everybody else on the field is
not holding everybody up."
Still, Verplank took full blame for letting the plodding pace
get to him.
"If that bothered me, that's my fault," he said. "It's not
his."
And Verplank said he knows Crane is trying his best.
"He's just very fidgety. He stands over the ball and bobs and
weaves and swivels around a lot, you know?" Verplank said. "I
think I'd probably pass out."
Crane, whose only other PGA tour win came at the 2003 BellSouth
Classic, is the fourth golfer this year to put his name atop the
leaderboard all four rounds of a tournament, joining Phil Mickelson
(AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am), Justin Leonard (FedEx St. Jude
Classic) and Tiger Woods (British Open).
After enduring a stormy three days that included three rain
delays, two course evacuations and a suspension on account of
darkness, the golfers slogged through a hot, humid final day at
Brown Deer Park, where the heat index hovered around 105 degrees.
The greens were soft and sticky but the winds kept golfers from
getting too close to Crane, who didn't mind the soggy course or the
sparse crowds.
His three-day total of 19-under 191 was the best 54-hole start
on tour this year and just one stroke shy of the tournament record
set by Sluman in 2002. It was his first 54-hole lead on tour, and
his two-stroke advantage over Verplank quickly doubled when
Verplank bogeyed No. 1 and Crane birdied No. 2.
Crane holed out from 19 yards from the first rough on No. 6 for
an eagle to go to 21 under, and even though he bogeyed the next
hole, he made the turn with a four-shot lead over Verplank, who,
like the rest of the field, never mounted a serious charge.
Verplank was hoping to snap his streak of 96 tournaments without
a win.
"I just didn't play good enough," said Verplank, whose last
win came in the 2001 Bell Canadian Open. "I just never found the
rhythm. The wind and the playing conditions made it that way and
certain challenges of playing in the last group made it tough,
too."
Verplank said it might ultimately take a hefty fine from the PGA
Tour to cure Crane of his slowpoke style.
Crane would certainly have the wherewithal to pony up the
$20,000 citation for repeated infractions: he pocketed a $684,000
check for his snail-slow victory Sunday.