SAN DIEGO (AP) — Ben Crane put his name back in the news for the best reason of all. He won another golf tournament.

Crane made two birdie putts longer than 45 feet to build a big enough cushion that missing a few short putts down the stretch didn’t cost him Sunday in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

Crane knocked in a 30-inch par putt on the final hole for a 2-under 70 and a one-shot victory over Michael Sim, Brandt Snedeker and Marc Leishman. It was Crane’s third career victory, and first in nearly five years, and this one earned him a trip back to the Masters.

The last time Crane made news, he was inadvertently swept up in the Tiger Woods scandal when a gossip magazine attributed quotes to him that he never made. Life & Style said it spoke to Crane at Q-school, even though Crane was never there.

Crane handled that situation with the same even hand he displayed on a cool, breezy afternoon along the Pacific bluffs.

Starting the final round two shots behind, he opened with three birdies in five holes, including one from just over 45 feet on No. 3. He expanded his lead to three shots with another 45-foot birdie putt on the 11th.

Then, it was a matter of hanging on.

He had plenty of challengers, although Phil Mickelson wasn’t one of them. Making his season debut, and only four shots behind, Mickelson bogeyed his first three holes and was never a factor.

Robert Allenby made a charge only to fall back by losing five shots in four holes, including a tee shot that vanished into the canyon. Sim, the 25-year-old Australian, kept with Crane the entire round and had his chances to the very end.

Trailing by two, Sim was certain he had made a 15-foot birdie on the 17th hole and stopped in utter surprise when it ran over the right side of the cup. Crane then missed a par putt inside 3 feet to lose another shot off his lead.

Both laid up on the par-5 18th, and both put too much spin on their wedges that the shots rolled off the green – Crane’s against the collar, Sim’s a yard off the front of the green. They settled for pars.

Crane finished at 13-under 275, a victory that changes the outlook on his season. He is going back to Augusta National for the first time in three years, and his victory should put him inside the top 60 and give him a good chance to qualify for the Match Play Championship.