NERVES OF STEEL: Crane back atop Tamarack

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/08/2022 (848 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASAGAMING — Jarod Crane reached into his memory bank a few times as pressure built up at the Tamarack golf tournament.

Some thoughts were more philosophical, wondering how many more chances he’d have to claim a second men’s title. Others were poignant, along the lines of “Don’t hook your three-wood in the trees on 18 like you did last year.”

The 50-year-old piped a drive and stuffed a 50-yard wedge shot to seal a 1-up win over Nolan Ritchie in the final at Clear Lake Golf Course on Saturday.

“I just said ‘Keep the grip light.’” Crane said of his mindset, tied on the 18th tee after reaching for his driver.

“… That was learning from last year. I thought ‘I’m not going to hit the same club, hit the driver because that’s what I’ve done all week anyway and it’s been working fine. Light grip pressure and swing it like I normally do.”

Ritchie leaked his drive into the right fairway bunker, leaving an awkward-length shot that he mishit. He then bladed his chip over the back of the green and Crane simply needed to cosy his birdie putt up beside the hole to win.

Crane walked off the green to find a swarm of family and some friends, who were seemingly more excited about the victory than he was, for whatever reason.

“It’s a little surreal,” Crane said. “I didn’t show up this week even expecting to win. As the week went on and especially (Friday) I started thinking ‘You know what, you’re 50. You’re not going to get many chances. You better maybe try as much as you can and give it a good shot again. And it worked out.’”

Steven Young topped Mark Odut 3 and 2 in the first flight final, which plays alongside the main event.

Truth be told, this wasn’t the display of golf that Crane, Ritchie or the hundreds of spectators following along expected.

They started hot with birdies on the first hole, then Crane found the trees on the second and chunked his tee ball on the third into the hazard, bogeying both holes.

Ritchie missed in the left trees on the par 5-fourth — both par 5s on the front are essentially 4s for these guys — and lost the hole with a par. Ritchie blocked one right on the par-3 sixth and gave that one away to square the match up.

Crane made a terrific birdie on the seventh but chunked a chip on the ninth to knot it up again at the turn.

Ritchie replied with a bogey from prime position on 10 and gave the 11th away, then Crane three-putted the 12th.

Ritchie birdied the par-5 13th and 14th to retake the lead, then double-bogeyed the 15th.

“It was a day of misses, it was,” Crane said. “It was a scrappy day … It was ‘Who’s going to make the mistake at the end?’ And unfortunately, it was Nolan.

“What I told him was ‘You know what? You’re 20, you’re going to win lots of these.”

They halved with threes on 16 and 17. At this point, it’s worth noting both guys were pretty much even-par, even though it looked as if they were struggling.

Then it was just one more uncharacteristic mistake from the Brandon Wheat Kings alternate captain, who cruised straight through his matches, beating Nolan Tutkaluk 6 and 5, Chris Knoop 4 and 3 and Jason Curtis 3 and 2 to reach the final.

“It was a tough loss but it was a great match. Jarod’s a good player so I wouldn’t want to lose to anyone else,” Ritchie said.

“… Both of us are usually really good. We’re not under this much pressure playing together but in these kinds of matches, it gets to you a little bit. We both didn’t play the way we wanted to but that’s golf.”

Crane went the distance against Jay Thiesen in his first match, then nearly lost a big early lead but survived past Josh McPhail 2 and 1 and downed Evan Nachtigall 2 and 1. The 2013 champ, who chuckles that he has more runner-ups than wins still, was once again reminded how tough the week is in the championship flight.

“Just to make it to the final, you’ve got to go through good players,” Crane said. “It’s a long week, it’s a brutal week, for me it’s physically draining and emotionally draining. You’re just spent after every day.”

While Crane tends to talk like he doesn’t care about winning, deep down, it’s clear he does. You can see it when he circles the cup like a hawk, scanning every inch of his line before a pressure putt. And he knows there are a lot of names on that 89-year-old Tamarack trophy but few repeats.

“I’ve only got one and until you get that second one, it might validate it a little bit more,” he thought earlier this week. “So I might have put my foot down a little bit more, in my brain anyway.

“Once you get in that competitive state, you can’t turn it off.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @thomasmfriesen