Crenshaw is still seeking that elusive first Champions Tour win  PGATOUR.com Correspondent SPRING, Texas -- Seven birdies. No bogeys. No water. No real trouble. A sparkling second round 65 to go with his two-balls-in-the-water opening 70.  Texan Ben Crenshaw is tied for 10th after two rounds. (Levey/WireImage)
Ben Crenshaw just shook his head and chuckled. Saturday was, quite simply, a where-did-that-come-from kind of day. Not that he was complaining, but it was, well, a bit of a surprise. To everyone but Mark Long. "You always play well at Augusta,'' deadpanned Long, who caddies for Fred Funk. Augusta National. Augusta Pines. Whatever. And, yes, everyone laughed. There's more than a touch of irony, though, seeing as how that 65 -- Crenshaw's best round since this year's Toshiba Classic -- gives him a chance to break that winless streak which -- believe it or not -- dates back to that emotional 1995 Masters. Granted, he walked off the course trailing Bernhard Langer by three shots midway through the second round at the Administaff Small Business Classic at Augusta PINES, but it was as close as he's been to a chance since the U.S. Senior Open. And at Whistling Straits, he finished second -- one of his three top 10 finishes this year. "Whistling Straits was one tough golf course,'' Crenshaw said. "I told someone facetiously that I may have finished well, but [there was] no time during 72 holes that I did not feel like I might make a 10 on any hole.'' Here, well, he just wants to avoid the water he found twice on the front nine -- his back nine -- Friday. Otherwise, well, he'd be a few shots closer. Then again, that's been the story of his season. The World Golf Hall of Fame member and two-time Masters champ is having, at age 55, his best season on the Champions Tour. Those three top 10s, 23rd place on the money list and an invitation to his first Charles Schwab Cup Championship are all great, mind you, but he wants more. That win. "I just plain haven't done it,'' he said. One explanation could be that, until this year, he hasn't played enough events to get going. He didn't play much at the end of his PGA TOUR career and that carried over. He played 18-20 events his first four years and now, he's playing 23. But not all. "There's one million things and the bottom line is I haven't gotten myself in position,'' he said. "So many people who have played better golf. "I've pressed too much. I've gotten impatient at times. I've gotten frustrated at times. Haven't holed the right putts when I needed to or I hit the ball sporadically. I just haven't put it together. There are no excuses. I haven't put myself in there.'' Enough. He did at Whistling Straits and at the Toshiba Classic and Regions Charity Classic. Now, here. Saturday, he opened with a 12-foot birdie and hit a 4-iron to 5 feet at the third hole on the way to a front-nine 33. He came back stronger, starting with a 12-footer at 10, a nine-footer at 13 and a wedge to 42 inches at the 16th. He capped it at No. 18 by pushing his drive, laying up with a 7-iron and a pitch to 8 feet. "It was a good, solid round,'' he said. "I had it in there today with a chance.'' The way Langer is playing here -- he's 17-under for two days, four shots ahead of Mark O'Meara and Tom Kite; eight ahead of Crenshaw -- that's all anyone can ask this week. And, well, Crenshaw is seeing good things. He was less than pleased with his tie for 67th at last week's Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship. In particular the third-round 78. But also the week in general -- his first after a month's break. "I played awful,'' he said. "I putted awful. I couldn't adjust. I couldn't figure things out. And I putted atrocious." Crenshaw got back on track Tuesday when he played in and won the Direct Energy Texas Grand Slam in San Antonio with fellow Texas Longhorn Legends Tom Kite, Justin Leonard and Mark Brooks. He birdied three holes coming home to win by a shot. We tend to think one of the best putters in the game never has trouble, yet Crenshaw said he does. Everyone does. Even the man known as one of the best putters --who owns one of the best known putters, Little Ben -- in the game. "'Nine times out of 10 all of us start pressing when we're not holing putts or not hitting putts like we want to see,'' said Crenshaw, who won 19 times on TOUR. "We'll go away from our natural tendencies and the grip pressure will tighten a little and you try to be too perfect when you don't see results. "You've got to stand there and roll it naturally with your own instinct , I know when I'm putting the best I see the line and I see the ball go up there at a certain speed and if I can forget mechanics, I'll putt better. If you get over the ball and you're thinking about your stroke, you don't have a prayer. You just don't have a prayer.'' So far this week, things are going his way. They're just going way better for Langer, who has everyone chasing him. And, well, he's won a pair of jackets, too, at the other Augusta. No matter what happens, Crenshaw sees good things on the horizon. His best Champions Tour season to date, he's playing next week at a course where he won on the PGA TOUR -- Oak Hills in San Antonio -- and he's playing in the season finale. And he knows he'll win. It's just a matter of when, not if. "I still haven't done the right things at the right times,'' he said. "You've got to sustain some really hot play to win one of these tournaments. There are too many good players and they're too adept at scoring wherever they go. I haven't been in there enough.'' But he's getting there. |
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