You might have heard about the $20,000 in fines Ben crane received from the PGA Tour in 2005 for playing too slow. And you probably recall the incident in '05 when Rory Sabbatini was so tired of waiting for Crane during a round at the Booz Allen classic that he walked off a green and left crane to finish the hole by himself.

Well...now Crane holds the first round lead at the PGA's unofficial "5th major" The Players Championship shooting an amazing -7, 65.

Not exactly a "who's who" at the top of the leader board with John Mallinger...Richard S. Johnson and Alex Cejka tied for 2nd.

Poor old Tiger shot a -1, 71 and sits tied for 37th and Mickelson shot a +1, 73 and is in a tie for 79th.

Stephen Ames shot a -2, 70 and Mike Weir closed out with an even par 72.

As expected the course is causing some troubles for players. Looks like it will shape up to be a rather exciting tournament...with or without Tiger and Phil at the top.

Yeah, Ben Crane pi$$es off a few by his slow play. He followed that 65 in the first round with 73, 72, 72 - good for a tie for 5th.

Henrik Stenson follow his 73 3rd round with an awesome 66 for the win.

Mike Weir had a pretty good final round 68 finishing tied for 14th after he started in 55th.

I thought maybe Tiger Woods was going to bring some of his Sunday magic, but didn't happen. I guess it's good though if Tiger doesn't win all the time.

1 Henrik Stenson -12 --68-69-73-66-276
2 Ian Poulter -8 --67-68-75-70-280
T3 John Mallinger -7 --66-71-74-70-281
T3 Kevin Na -7 --71-66-74-70-281
T5 Jim Furyk -6 --68-74-71-69-282
T5 Brian Davis -6 --71-69-71-71-282
T5 Ben Crane -6 --65-73-72-72-282
8 Tiger Woods -5 --71-69-70-73-283
...
...
T14 Mike Weir -3 --72-72-73-68-285
...
...
T49 Stephen Ames +2 --70-71-75-74-290

Quite the up and down tourney for some. Poor old Phil just didn't have the shots this time...and Tiger's game certainly hasn't come back to form.

I agree tho...it's nice to see some other guys winning. Stenson's play over the 4 rounds was great and he deserved to win.

Gotta figure it's only a matter of time before Poulter breaks through.The guy has a lot of game.

Nice to see Weir come back and post a respectable showing. I see he has split from his "stack and tilt" coaches. It works for some but I guess it wasn't working for him. Cejka also has a "stack and tilt" swing. Served him well for 3 rounds, anyway.

Speaking of Phil...did you hear he had a fan ejected on Friday (I think) for referring to him by his unofficial nickname...FIGJAM. It's an acronym for F..k I'm Good, Just Ask Me...lol

I don't know all the details but an ejection seems a little excessive and only serves to make Phil look like a bit of a thin skinned wuss.

I didn't hear that about Phil Mickelson getting a fan ejected. Just for heckling him? Was it while he was taking a shot or just as Mickelson was walking by? If it was the latter, I don't see why they'd eject someone just for heckling. Phil's lucky he doesn't play other sports if heckling bothers him so much.

No it wasn't during his shot. It was after the shot as Phil was walking away.

Phil asked the tournamnet officials to boot him...and they did.

While the fans comment was classless I think Phil would have been better off just ignoring him or getting his caddy to have a few words with the guy instead.

Agreed...good thing he doesn't play baseball or hockey...lol

I agree tho...it's nice to see some other guys winning. Stenson's play over the 4 rounds was great and he deserved to win.

however i love tiger woods , i love his swing ! he is the mvp !

yes, agree,he deserve it