Crane tops who’s new list

Is it the Players Championship? Or the Players You’ve Never Heard Of Championship?

Thursday’s first round produced a leaderboard worthy of the Mom & Pop’s General Store Open.

Despite ideal scoring conditions, golfing royalty did not take advantage. Tiger Woods and defending champ Sergio Garcia shot one-under-par 71, a number that made Phil Mickelson (73) jealous.

Meanwhile, Ben Crane posted a seven-under 65, one better than John Mallinger, Richard S. Johnson and Alex Cejka.

“It was one of those rounds you live for,” said Crane, who needed only 22 putts and holed out bombs on No. 3 (23 feet), No. 5 (30 feet), No. 10 (31 feet) and No. 17 (25 feet).

It certainly was a day for feasting, a round when this Pete Dye track was anything but diabolical.

“We were just firing from the first hole,” Johnson said. “There was no wind, and the greens are absolutely terrific.”

Johnson, 32, has the distinction of being the highest-ranked player (74th in the FedEx Cup standings) who uses a middle initial, other than double-initial guys such as J.B. Holmes and K.J. Choi.

The 5-foot-7, 145-pound Swede won the 2008 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee yet remains so anonymous that the final question in his post-round interview was: “Did you get mugged yesterday?”

Johnson: “Mugged? No, not that I know of.”

The 29-year-old Mallinger has no PGA Tour victories, never has finished higher than 60th in a major and played on seven different tours in 2006.

Cejka, a 38-year-old German, is ranked 267th in the world and has made only seven cuts in 13 Tour events this season.

“I hit, I think, every fairway,” Cejka said. He did -- and 17 greens.

They say anyone can win the Players, although no one since Craig Perks in 2002 has had a profile as low as these leaders.

Crane, 33, actually has won twice on tour -- not since 2005 at Milwaukee -- but is known better for his pre-shot routine than his post-swing results.

At the 2005 Booz Allen Classic, playing partner Rory Sabbatini got so fed up with Crane’s slow play, he marched to the 18th tee before Crane putted out on 17.

Sabbatini later apologized, though the good-natured Crane acknowledged being at fault.

Both players were in danger of being assessed a penalty shot because of Crane.

“What did I learn from that?” Crane asked. “I learned I was too slow.”

Not only are the two now friends, Crane said he used the incident as a “focal point. . . . I’ve made a big effort to pick up the pace and haven’t been on the clock in quite a while, so that’s good.”

That said, Crane is in no hurry to announce he will contend for the Players Championship.

“I try not to get ahead of myself,” he said. “I don’t want to tell God how to write this story, you know? That’s his job.”

--

tgreenstein@tribune.com