Unheralded Ben Crane displayed nerves of steel down the stretch, especially on the brilliant peeler shot he played on the 16th hole

Courtesy of NBC

By T.J. Tomasi
One of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teachers

	Click here to launch

While major championship winners Lee Janzen and Bob Tway crumbled during the final round of the BellSouth, first-time Tour winner Ben Crane hit one spectacular shot after another on his way to a nine-under-par 63. Crane's most impressive play was his nine-iron on the TPC at Sugarloaf's 163-yard 16th hole. Tied at 13 under with Tway, who was two groups behind him, Crane made a bold decision to hit a peeler (my term for a high, soft cut shot) at the flagstick (above), even though the pin was tucked in the far right corner of the green and a 12-mph wind was blowing from left to right. Most of the players who had gone for this sucker pin at the tricky little par-3 had either drilled the ball over the green or short-sided themselves into a swale. In his two slow-motion practice swings, Crane dialed in the precise technique required for a peeler by delaying the release of his wrists at impact and then holding his finish so that the butt end of the shaft points away from the target. Crane then executed flawlessly, sending his ball over the top of the flag to 15 feet, then burying the putt to surge into the lead.

T.J. Tomasi teaches at Lyman Orchards Golf Club in Middlefield, Conn., and is on of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teachers.

Issue date: April 7, 2003