Ben Crane tried to give the Farmers Insurance Open away Sunday, but no one was quite willing to step up and take it on a clear and cool afternoon in San Diego.
A group of potential suitors extended five deep and seven players finished within two strokes of the lead but Crane minimized his mistakes just enough on the back nine of the South course at Torrey Pines to end on top.
It was the third PGA Tour title for Crane and worth not only a $954,000 first-place check, but a berth in the Masters in April.
Brandt Snedaker, Mark Leishman, Ernie Els and Rickie Fowler all could have at least forced a playoff, but none came closer than Michael Sim. The Australian lipped out a short birdie putt on 17 that would have tied him for the lead when playing-partner Crane missed a short putt for par on the same hole.
Yet it was a puzzling turn of course management decisions by Sim on 18 that tossed away his chances for victory.
After hitting a clean drive to the left side of the fairway, Sim was left with 245 yards to the green but decided to lay up short of Devlin’s Billabong, the pond that fronts the 18th green, instead of going for it in two. Sim then failed to put his approach shot close enough for a viable birdie attempt when his wedge from 90 feet out spun past the cup and off the green into the short rough.
Sim’s chip fell short and the ensuing par putt left him a stroke back of Crane at 12 under.
Snedeker had four birdies on the back nine and was 18 feet from tying the lead on the final hole, but his birdie bid slid inches past the cup and he finished with Leishman and Sim for a three-way tie for second.
All would have merely been some interesting golf, though, had Crane closed the deal.
The Portland native was close to putting the tournament away on the 11th when he rolled in a 43-footer for birdie. It was his fourth birdie of the day and briefly opened a three-stroke lead, but it would be a struggle to score the rest of the way for Crane, who last won at the 2005 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee.
Crane’s short birdie putt at 12 didn’t fall and the 33-year-old followed with a bogey at the par-five 13th before bogeying 17 and then two-putting for par on the final hole.
Fowler, 21 and playing his first full year on the PGA Tour, flirted with the lead throughout the final round, but his aggressive style that contributed to double-bogey at 17 prevented him from gaining his first Tour victory.
It was the aggressive style of pre-tournament favorite Phil Mickelson that also took him out of contention Sunday. Playing his season-opener, Mickelson started the day in fifth, but three straight bogeys to begin his round and another at the seventh scuttled his chances.
Els, playing in his second tournament of the year in a schedule that is designed to keep him stateside more often this year, closed with a 69 and a four-way tie for fifth with Fowler, Michael Allen and Alex Prugh at 11 under.
Related posts:
