JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) - Ben Crane was lucky to get into the FedEx Cup playoffs as the No. 125 seed. He missed the cut last week at the Wyndham Championship, and this was the first year that no one moved into the top 125 in the final event before the playoffs.
He likely needs to finish at least in the top 40 at The Barclays to advance to the second round.
Instead of stressing out, Crane made another video set to a rap song
“It’s called, “Bubble Boy.”
Crane excitedly played the song to a reporter when he walked off the first tee during a practice round, and then took a few videos on the course and it was on YouTube by Wednesday. It probably won’t get as many views as his Golf Boys’ hit, “Oh, Oh, Oh” with Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson and Hunter Mahan.
But it’s vintage Crane.
“Being down here at 125, wipe my tears, the dream’s still alive,” are the lyrics. “Jersey shore, baby here we come, remember `09 and Heath Slocum.”
Slocum didn’t make a rap video.
All he did was make a 20-foot par putt on the final hole at Liberty National in 2009 to win by one shot over Tiger Woods, Padraig Harrington, Steve Stricker and Ernie Els. That guaranteed him a spot in the Tour Championship and the four majors the next year.
Whether that happens with Crane is unlikely, through crazier things have happened.
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DUFNER RETURNS: Jason Dufner wasn’t swamped with phone calls and text messages after winning his first major at the PGA Championship. But there’s a reason for that. He changed the number on his cellphone about three weeks ago.
“Very limited people have access to my phone number,” he said.
A couple of them are fellow Auburn athletes with a higher profile _ Bo Jackson and Charles Barkley. Dufner otherwise was home in Alabama, living up to his pledge that winning the PGA Championship was not about to change his life. It didn’t change his pulse, either. He was as flat-line as ever, and proud of it.
“I was excited. I was satisfied and gratified, because I knew how much sacrifice I made and what it took to win the major,” he said. “But I don’t show it out emotionally outward too well, but that’s just kind of who I am and how it’s been. I don’t want to try and change things. It’s not like I have to put my game face on or have to hold back emotions out there on purpose. That’s just kind of naturally who I am, so I think it’s been working pretty good for me.”
Dufner was in New York on Tuesday after winning the PGA Championship for a media tour that included an appearance with Howard Stern.
Otherwise, it’s as if nothing changed.
“I still took the trash out on Tuesday morning and we actually got a new puppy, so I was up at 3 in the morning every night taking him out to the bathroom and still going to my favorite breakfast spot in town,” he said. “So not too much has changed in my life. My wife hasn’t treated me any differently and people around me are still treating me the same. So it’s pretty easy when you’ve got good people around you.”
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HAAS PERSPECTIVE: Bill Haas starts the FedEx Cup playoffs with the No. 5 seed, which has more to do with his tour-leading nine top 10s than his win at the AT&T National. With five career wins, he was told he was only four wins away from being among the top 10 in PGA Tour wins among active players.
Haas said he was a little surprised by that, but he took issue the word “only four wins away.”
Getting to five wins was no picnic.
“It’s so hard to win out here,” he said.
That has made him appreciate even more the careers of Tiger Woods (79 career wins), Phil Mickelson (42), Vijay Singh (34), Davis Love III (20) and Ernie Els (19).
“Those guys are on another level because of how many times they have won,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing, the level of competition nowadays. But … you’ve got to think of about those to be positive. When things aren’t going well, you have to say, `Hey, wait a second, you can win out here.’ Stats like that are fun to look at and only positive motivation for the future.”
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SECOND PLACE: This is one time Tiger Woods doesn’t think second place is all that bad.
Woods has 14 majors, putting him in second-place behind Jack Nicklaus (18). He has 79 wins on the PGA Tour, second only to Sam Snead at 82.
“That’s not bad at my age,” the 37-year-old Woods said Wednesday. “Both of those guys took a lot longer to get to that point, and to do it where I’m at right now, it’s pretty good.”
Nicklaus won his 15th major when he was 38. Snead won his 80th tour event when he was 47.
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