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Ben Crane wins Farmers Insurance Open

Monday, 1 February 2010
Fergus Bisset
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Ben Crane

Ben Crane finished one shot clear of Marc Leishman, Michael Sim and Brandt Snedeker at the Farmers Insurance Open to secure his first PGA Tour victory since 2005.

Crane began the final round two shots behind Ryuji Imada of Japan but he quickly overturned that deficit with three birdies in the first five holes. A 45-foot birdie putt at the 11th helped him extend his advantage at the top of the leaderboard.

Although a few missed putts on the run for home gave Crane's pursuers a little encouragement, the American was able to seal the deal, holing a three-foot par putt on the closing green to win by one. The victory sees Crane receive an invitation to the Masters and move into the top-60 on the Official World Ranking. He should now qualify to play in the WGC-Accenture Match Play.

"It's really cool to know I'm going in the right direction," Crane said.

Scottish born Australian Michael Sim was Crane's closest challenger for the majority of the round and he thought he'd tied things up on the 17th green when his 15-foot birdie effort defied gravity by not dropping.

Then, on the par-5 18th, Sim laid up but put too much spin on his approach and ended off the front of the green. He had to settle for par. "It would have been nice to have a putt at it," said Sim.

Phil Mickelson had a disappointing final day. Starting the round four shots off the lead, he opened with three straight bogeys and never got back into the round, finishing in 19th spot.

Farmers Insurance Open
Torrey Pines, California
Jan 28-31, purse $5,300,000, par 72

1   Ben Crane (USA)       65   71   69   70   275   $954,000
T2   Marc Leishman (Aus)   68   69   71   68   276   $395,733
T2   Michael Sim (Aus)   73   62   70   71   276   $395,733
T2   Brandt Snedeker (USA)   71   68   68   69   276   $395,733
T5   Michael Allen (USA)   72   66   74   65   277   $186,163
T5   Ernie Els (RSA)       70   69   69   69   277   $186,163
T5   Rickie Fowler (USA)   67   70   70   70   277   $186,163
T5   Alex Prugh (USA)       67   71   73   66   277   $186,163
T9   Robert Allenby (Aus)   67   69   72   70   278   $127,200
T9   Lucas Glover (USA)   71   67   68   72   278   $127,200
T9   Charles Howell III (USA) 71   69   70   68   278   $127,200
T9   Ryuji Imada (Jap)   65   68   70   75   278   $127,200
T9   D.A. Points (USA)       68   65   74   71   278   $127,200
T9   Nick Watney (USA)   71   70   69   68   278   $127,200

Note: Player scores in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only