My favorite slow-as-molasses but good humored golfer, Ben Crane, fired a final-round 63 to force a playoff with a red-hot Webb Simpson yesterday at the McGladrey Classic.  Crane won on the 2nd hole when Simpson missed a short putt.

I’m surprised Crane was able to focus given that his wife is scheduled to deliver their 3rd child today… but talk about having a couple of really great days!

The other standout on Sunday was Bud Cauley.  Cauley skipped his senior year at Alabama to turn pro.  By finished T15 and earning $64k, Cauley all but locked up his tour card for 2012.  He will be only the 6th player in history to go straight from college to the tour without heading to Q-School.

What do you get when you make a music video featuring Ben Crane, Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan, and an overall clad Bubba Watson?  Watch the video below the break to find out.

This week the world’s best (well except for Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy) are gathered at the TPC Sawgrass for the so called “fifth major”, the Players Championship.  Like many others, I think the “fifth major” label is stretching it a bit, but if you just went by the coverage on the Golf Channel, you’d think the US Open was being held this week.

That said, the Players Championship is always a fun tournament to watch and the notoriously difficult island green on the par-3 17th is one of the most exciting holes in golf.  So who do I think will emerge victorious on Sunday?

Luke Donald – The world #3 is an easy pick this week.  He extremely accurate off the tee and a great putter.  According to the new Strokes Gained – Putting statistic, he was actually the best putter on tour in 2009 and 2010.

Because he’s not a bomber, there are certain courses where it’s difficult for him to contend, but last year Tim Clark showed us all that you don’t have to be a huge hitter to win the Players.

Adam Scott – Scott had an incredible week at the Masters and followed that up with a solid outing at the Valero Texas Open.  He’s taken the last couple of weeks off, so he should arrive at the first tee on Thursday rested and ready to go.

Scott has always been a solid ball-striker and has historically been held back by his putting.  He definitely seems to have found something with the long putter though.  So if he’s able to maintain that, we’ll likely see him in contention on Sunday.

Tommy Gainey – Gainey is definitely a bit of a dark horse pick.  He had two consecutive 3rd place finishes at the Heritage and Zurich but then followed that with a MC at Quail Hollow.  It seems like Gainey is either in the mix or misses the cut.  That’s just a reflection of his go-for-broke playing style.

It’s a lot of fun watching Gainey and his home-made swing out there amongst all the picture-perfect swings on Tour.  I’d love to see him walk up to the 17th tee with a chance to win on Sunday.

Ben Crane – Ben Crane was one of my dark horse picks at the Masters.  That didn’t turn out so hot.  But I think he actually has a great chance at the TPC Sawgrass.  In his last 3 years here, his worst finish is 6th.  For whatever reason, he just plays really well on this course.

Martin Kaymer – Wow, Derek, you’re taking such a risk picking the world #2 and #3 players this week.  I know, by world ranking, Kaymer should be a favorite to win this week.  But after his missed cut at the Masters, he’s not at the top of many people’s list this week.

At the end of the day he is the #2 player in the world and got there for a reason.  He’s got something to prove after Augusta and I think this could be the week he does it.

Here’s the latest Ben Crane video.  How do we get him on Dancing with the Stars?  I’ve never actually watched the show, but I would start if we would get to see Crane unleash his moves on the world.

I wish I could say that I saw Schwartzel coming from a mile away and brilliantly picked him last week as a darkhorse favorite to win the Masters. But unfortunately the Power of the Schwartz-el wasn’t with me.

So how did my darkhorse picks fare? Read on to find out.

1. Ryu Ishikawa (T20) – I was pleasantly surprised by the strength of Ishikawa’s performance.  I figured if there was one player that was most likely to miss the cut out of picks, it was Ishikawa.  But he shot back to back 71′s to make the cut with room to breathe.  It got away from him a little bit on Saturday but he came back with a strong 70 on Sunday to finish T20.

This was only the 3rd cut he’s made this year on tour, and judging by his performance, he’s starting to get things figured out over on this side of the pond.  I think we might see him in contention for a win later this year.

I also have to call out Hideki Matsuyama.  He was the low amateur (the only one to make the cut) at T27.  He didn’t have a great Sunday, but he shot a brilliant 68 on Sunday.  Matsuyama is from Sendai, the city devestated by the earthquake/tsunami last month and will be returning there this week to finish school and help wherever he can.  He showed a lot of class in his comments during the green jacket presentation ceremony.

2. Anthony Kim (MC) – As pleasantly surprised as I was with Ishikawa’s performance, I was equally disappointed with Kim’s missed cut.  The bottom line is that he just made to many bogeys.  He fired off 4 birdies in 5 holes on the back nine Friday but it was only good enough to get him to +2 for the tournament, missing the cut by one.

I think it’s just taking a while for him to come back from the thumb injury and he’s still not 100%.  Hopefully we’ll see him back at full strength in the near future.

3. Gary Woodland (T24) – Not a bad showing for his first Masters.  He didn’t play his best golf on Saturday, culminating in pegging a spectator in the face with hooked shot on 15.  Hey, when you play golf with thousands of fans all over the course, it happens.

But he did get everything back on track for Sunday.  He made 3 birdies on the way in to card a 70 and finish the tournament at 2-under (T24) alongside Jim Furyk and David Toms.  Not bad company.

He played 13 really well all week, finishing at 4-under on that hole alone.  Hell be able to build on this experience and I think we’ll see his name on the leaderboard at Augusta one day in the not too distant future.

4.  Ben Crane (MC) – I wasn’t quite as surprised as I was with Anthony Kim that he missed the cut.  He really struggled on Friday making 5 bogeys on the way to carding a 75, leaving him at +4, 3-over the cut line.  I’m just disappointed that we won’t get to see a video featuring him in the green jacket.

5.  Justin Rose (T11) – Justin Rose played a solid tournament.  His only problem was that he really didn’t get things going until Sunday, when he shot a 68.  He was dead straight off the tee all week (78%) and hit a ton of greens (79%).  But he averaged 31 putts, which just isn’t going to get it done at the Masters.

He’s playing really well though so I would not be surprised at all if he picks up another victory or two this year.  And if he keeps hitting it this straight, we could definitely see him contend at the US Open, where the course will be set up to punish 300 yard wayward drives (neither of which describes Rose’s tee game).

So how did I do overall? 5 Picks.  T11, T20, T24, and 2 MC’s.  Honestly I don’t think that’s too shabby for darkhorse picks.  Did any of you guys pick Schwartzel to win?

Liars…

[Image Flickr/Pocketwiley]

In the latest Masters odds from Bodog.com, Phil Mickelson remains the favorite at 6-1.  Tiger is 8-1 (again, wtf?). Both Lee Westwood and Nick Watney are 14-1, with nobody else under 20-1.

The odds on my dark horse picks?  Justin Rose is 30-1.  Anthony Kim is 33-1.   Ben Crane is 100-1.  And Gary Woodland and Ryu Ishikawa are sitting at 150-1.

Interestingly Tom Watson is sitting at 400-1.  That might be a good long shot bet.  He came damn close to winning the British Open 2 years ago and was on the leaderboard going into Friday at the 2010 Masters after firing a first round 67.  Yes, at 61, he’s probably too old to realistically contend at the Masters.  But at 400-1 it might be worth a little fun money.

Phil Mickelson – 6/1
Tiger Woods – 8/1
Lee Westwood – 14/1
Nick Watney – 16/1
Martin Kaymer – 20/1
Luke Donald – 25/1
Paul Casey – 25/1
Rory McIlroy – 25/1
Dustin Johnson – 20/1
Padraig Harrington – 28/1
Hunter Mahan – 28/1
Justin Rose – 30/1
Graeme McDowell – 33/1
Bubba Watson – 33/1
Matt Kuchar – 28/1
Steve Stricker – 33/1
Rickie Fowler – 33/1
Aaron Baddeley – 33/1
Ian Poulter – 33/1
Ernie Els – 33/1
Anthony Kim – 33/1
Retief Goosen – 40/1
Jim Furyk – 40/1
Geoff Ogilvy – 40/1
Sergio Garcia – 40/1
Vijay Singh – 50/1
Francesco Molinari – 50/1
Martin Laird – 50/1
Charl Schwartzel – 50/1
K.J. Choi – 50/1

[Image Flickr/Keith Allison]

Everybody knows that Phil and Tiger are the two favorites to win the Masters.  And of course there are guys like Dustin Johnson and Lee Westwood that have sniffed at glory in the majors and come up just short.  But there are a number of other players who have legitimate shots at winning their first major this year.  Keep reading to find out who I like as “dark horse” picks.

1. Ryu Ishikawa – I don’t actually think Ryu is going to win the Masters.  He’s finding out the hard way this season that the level of play on the PGA Tour is very different than on the Japanese tour.  But the 19 year old phenom has serious game and I think it’s a matter of time before he gets his legs under himself and wins on Tour.  So if I don’t think that Ishikawa has a realistic shot at winning, why am I picking him?

Well, last week Ishikawa announced that he’s donating his entire 2011 tournament earnings to disaster relief in his home country of Japan.  That’s a hell of a thing for a 19-year old to step up and commit to.  And I for one would love to see him mixing it up on Sunday at Augusta with the entire country of Japan behind him (along with a good number of fans here in the US).  It would be one of the greatest feel-good sports stories in recent memory if he’s able to pull it off.

I know that I (and probably a number of others) will be rooting for Ishikawa this week.

2.  Anthony Kim – Kim had a rough 2011.  After getting off to a great start, he had a thumb injury that required surgery and forced away from the golf course for several months.  And when he finally did return in the Fall, it was obvious that he wasn’t quite a 100%.

But now several months later, Kim is showing signs of the form that he kicked off 2010 with.  No, he’s still not quite 100%, but his Friday 64 at Houston last week, showed that he can put it together.  The only question now is whether he can do it for 4 days in a row.

3.  Gary Woodland – He hits the ball a mile (although not always too straight) and is a pretty darn good putter.  That combination adds up to somebody who can win at Augusta where long errant tee shots aren’t penalized like they would be at a US Open.  Woodland had his breakthrough win at the Transitions last month and seems poised to continue to play well after his T13 finish in Houston.

If he can figure out a way to make putts on the slick greens at Augusta, he should do very well.

4.  Ben Crane – He leads the tour in greens-in-regulation at 73%.  No, he’s not a long hitter.  But he hits a lot of fairways and is able to convert those into GIR’s.  He hasn’t any great finishes yet this season, which is kind of surprising given that he ranks 16th in scoring average at 69.81.

Crane doesn’t do anything flashy on the golf course.  But sometime slow and steady wins the race.  Or in Crane’s case, really, really slow and steady.  But I’ll be honest, I kind of want Crane to win just to see what kind of video he’ll release afterwards.

5.  Justin Rose – Rose had 2 victories last year and came out ready to play this spring (I still can’t believe that he and Paul Casey were left off of the Ryder Cup team).  He already has 3 top 10 finishes this year including a T3 at a very tough Bay Hill course.  He’s not a particularly long hitter by Tour standards (284 yd avg drive), but he does keep it in the fairways (65%) and he hits a lot of greens in regulation (73%).

Rose’s short game is also excellent.  So on the rare occasion that he misses a GIR, he’s probably going to chip it close.  Like Woodland, the question mark will be his putting.  If he can get it going, he’ll be in the hunt on the weekend.

So what do you guys think of my picks?  Disagree?  Have any picks of your own?  Let me know in the comments.

If you haven’t seen them, check out Ben Crane’s Workout and Pre-round Videos.

Not only did Ben Crane give Rory McIlroy a serious beatdown today, he also played the fastest round of his life.  Looks like his workout and pre-round rituals are legit.

OK, so I don’t actually know how long it took for Crane and McIlroy to play their match, but since Crane won 8 and 7, that means they only played 11 holes.  So it couldn’t have possibly taken more than… I don’t know… 4 hours?

For Ben Crane, that’s like playing speed golf.

The win hasn’t exactly done wonders for his confidence though:

I’m just as shocked as anybody else.  I figured 2 and 1 would be unbelievable. Or 1 up.

So I don’t think that anyone is going, ‘Wow, Ben Crane is really coming through this bracket (laughter) look out. Gosh, sorry you’ve got to play Ben Crane, (laughter) boy, tough draw there.’

That’s the attitude!  Go get ‘em!  Seriously though it’s good to see him playing well and not getting ahead of himself.

In other news, if Phil Mickelson had beaten Rickie Fowler today, he would have moved ahead of Tiger in the world rankings for the first time since 1997.  That should have been a clue that the smart money was on Fowler.

And after Nick Watney took out Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer is now the only #1 bracket seed remaining in the tournament.  If he reaches the finals, he will take over the world #1 spot from Westwood.

Here are the outtakes from Ben Crane’s Workout and Pre-round videos.  The original videos were funny to watch, but it looks like they were even funnier to make.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4CnTInqNBA

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duwX4dzPqRo