Ben Crane’s victory at Farmers Insurance Open is newsworthy

Reporting from La Jolla — 

Ben Crane made birdie putts of 23 and 46 feet in the first five holes. He knocked down a 47-footer for birdie on the 11th hole. He took over the lead of the Farmers Insurance Open at the Torrey Pines South Course on the second hole.

And there was no Kobe Bryant in this field, no one ready to make a clutch shot, a birdie barrage, no one to make Crane’s wrists a little shaky or pierce his nerves.

When Crane easily tapped in a 30-inch par putt on the 18th hole Sunday, giving him a final-round score of two-under-par 70, a four-day total of 13-under 275 and a one-stroke win over a pair of Aussies, Marc Leishman and Michael Sim, and Brandt Snedeker, Crane said he didn’t know he had won.

“I had no idea, really, what was going on,” Crane said. “Actually the first person to tell me was Ryuji [Imada]. He goes, ‘Congratulations.’ And I go, ‘Did I win?’ He kind of looks at me. I said, ‘Did I win the tournament?’ ”

Yes, he did. Crane, a 33-year-old from Portland who played college golf at the University of Oregon, won $954,000 as well as a berth in the Masters. Imada had been the third-round leader but had plenty of time to check the leaderboard because by the end he wasn’t on it. Imada finished in a tie for ninth, just another of the guys who couldn’t pressure Crane.

If Crane’s name seems familiar in that nagging, not-for-winning-a-tournament way, it is because he was a peripheral casualty in the Tiger Woods scandal. Crane was quoted speaking negatively about Woods in a tabloid publication called Life and Style shortly after Woods’ series of marital infidelities was being revealed.

It turns out Crane never spoke to Life and Style or about Woods. Crane was quoted as saying that Woods was “a phony and a fake.”

Crane on Sunday called that incident “bizarre.”

“Someone made some stuff up. Now I’m in the news again. It’s obviously good to be on a good note,” Crane said.

Woods traditionally had opened the season at this event and he’s won it six times, so Crane had reason to be thankful that Woods is missing because of the hubbub.

The notes were less upbeat for Phil Mickelson, the pre-tournament favorite and the world’s second-ranked golfer behind Woods. Mickelson had made an extravagant effort to win the title by flying in his coach, Butch Harmon, from Orlando, Fla., for a 7 a.m. practice session Sunday. The result was three straight bogeys to begin his round of 73 that dropped him to 19th.

Mickelson said he felt his swing had been “a little out of whack,” but he also said he felt ready to defend his title at the Northern Trust Open, which begins Thursday at Riviera Country Club.

“I feel like my game is coming around,” he said. “I think I should be able to get it turned around.”

Crane started the day two shots behind Imada, tied with Sim, one ahead of defending U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover and two shots better than Mickelson and Rickie Fowler, a 21-year-old from Murrieta who has the kind of flair to carry off wearing burnt-orange pants (in honor of Oklahoma State, where he was an NCAA champion) and the kind of skill to creatively solve problems with his shot-making on the course.

Mickelson and Fowler played in a threesome (with D.A. Points) that brought the biggest noise, Mickelson being from San Diego.

Crane, noted as a slowpoke on the course, was two groups behind with Imada and Sim and it was almost a sedate atmosphere. Crane, whose last PGA Tour win came five years ago, faltered a bit with bogeys on the par-five 13th and the par-four 17th, but no one could even pull into a tie.

diane.pucin@latimes.com

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