Crane speeds up, maintains lead
Ben Crane, of all people, accelerated his golf game Friday night.
Crane, whose slow play drew the ire of Rory Sabbatini at the Booz Allen last month, didn’t want to return to Brown Deer Park first thing this morning to play just one hole at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee.
So he found himself running between shots and conspiring with playing partners Corey Pavin and Kenny Perry to make sure they didn’t have to set the alarm clock.
“Given the fact I’ll probably have a late tee time tomorrow, it’s nice to get that extra sleep and not have to get up really early to come out here and hit one shot or something like that. I’ll sleep a little better tonight,” Crane said after carding a 5-under 65 to maintain his lead.
Crane’s 13-under 127 total is two shots better than Scott Verplank and four better than Tommy Armour III and Chris Smith.
Jeff Sluman was at minus-11 and waiting to tee off on his last hole when play was suspended at 8:25 p.m. due to darkness. He was one of 55 players who will have to return at 7:30 a.m. Saturday to finish.
“I just hope I don’t oversleep and miss the cut,” Sluman said.
Crane won’t have to worry about a wake-up call after just getting his tee shot off when the horn sounded.
Crane was finishing up on No. 17 when he gave the signal – a birdcall “caw-caw!” from “The Three Amigos” movie – for Pavin to tee off on 18 before the horn blared, ensuring the threesome would be allowed to finish.
“Only in dangerous situations can you not finish the hole if they blow the horn,” Crane said. “We knew if we got a ball in the air we could finish and that’s what we wanted to do. Corey was a big help.”
As darkness fell, Crane ran between shots but he said his haste didn’t affect his game. He missed birdie putts on 16 and 17.
LPGA Tour
Paula Creamer shot a 6-under 66, taking a seven-stroke lead over Karine Icher and Laura Davies after the third round of the Evian (France) Masters.
The 18-year-old Creamer was eight strokes ahead of Annika Sorenstam, who carded a 72, and 11 in front of Michelle Wie. The 15-year-old amateur shot a 68 after rounds of 75 and 70.
Icher managed a 68 and Davies had a 70, but both lost ground to Creamer, who is poised to claim her second title in her rookie season.
“Tomorrow it will be like everybody’s starting out at zero,” Creamer said. “I’ll aim to get the lead as big as possible as quickly as possible.”
Creamer, known for wearing something pink every time she plays, won the Sybase Classic two months ago and is fourth on the LPGA money list. with $739,650.
Champions Tour
Former Masters champion Craig Stadler saved par on his final two holes for a 3-under 68, leaving him the only player under par at the Senior British Open and giving him a two-shot lead over Greg Norman.
The last thing Norman wanted to do in his Champions Tour debut was take himself out of contention. Instead, the Shark fired away on a blustery afternoon at Royal Aberdeen (Scotland). He finished off his 67 by muscling a 9-iron out of deep rough within 30 feet and holing the birdie putt on the 18th.
“I knew today I could shoot myself out of the tournament,” Norman said. “I wanted to play consistent, steady golf. I’ve been doing that now for six rounds of golf going back to the Open, and in truth, I’m looking forward to continuing it.”
Stadler was at 1-under 141 as he goes after his third Champions Tour major.
U.S. Junior Amateur
Kevin Tway won two close matches to advance to the championship of the U.S. Junior Amateur against Bradley Johnson in Longmeadow, Mass.
Tway, the son of 1986 PGA champion Bob Tway, rallied from three holes down with four to play to win his morning quarterfinal match. He won the afternoon semifinal by making a 5-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole.
Tway, of Edmond, Okla., and Johnson, of Birmingham, Ala., will play in the 36-hole final today.
•Former champion In-Bee Park cruised to the final round of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur tournament in Eagle, Idaho, hoping to duplicate her 2002 title after two straight years of stinging defeats.
Park, from Las Vegas, will face fellow Korean-born 17-year-old In-Kyung Kim in the championship round Saturday at BanBury Golf Club.
Errant golf balls a ‘trespass’
Joyce Amaral knew before buying her home that it was near the ninth hole of a golf course.
But she says wasn’t prepared for the number of errant golf balls that came flying into her yard – more than 1,800 in five years – or the number of golfers who came along to retrieve them.
So she and a neighbor sued the owners of Rehoboth’s Middlebrook Country Club. On Friday, the state Appeals Court found the wayward balls constitute a “continuing trespass” and ordered a lower court to find a solution.
Michael F. Drywa Jr., who represented golf course owners Peter and Lucretia Cuppels, said they paid for numerous alterations to the golf course to try and alleviate the problem, including relocating the tee, installing signs instructing golfers to “aim left,” and planting trees alongside the fairway.
He said the Cuppels hadn’t decided whether to appeal.