The Associated Press

DULUTH, Ga. - Like it or not, Ben Crane knew exactly where he stood after a birdie on the 13th hole.

Crane had stopped himself from peaking at the leaderboards, but had no defense against a talkative fan.

"Good job, Ben. Now you're only one back," the man said.

Crane had two more birdies and closed with an eagle Sunday to win for the first time on the PGA Tour, beating Bob Tway by four shots in the BellSouth Classic.

"I worked so hard not to look at the leaderboard all day, and I'm like, 'Thanks." But it worked out good," Crane said.

He made a routine par at 17 before finally looking at the leaderboard.

"I kind of wanted to have an idea of what I wanted to do on 18 going into the hole," Crane said. "I looked at my caddie and he said, 'Well, if you make par, I think we're all right.'

"So I just stepped up there and ripped a driver, and it went all the way down to the bottom."

The eagle on the 18th hole completed a back-nine 29 for Crane, and his 9-under 63 tied the course record. His 17-under 127 total over the weekend is the lowest on tour this season. He finished at 16-under 272 and earned $720,000.

The victory was his first in 40 tour starts, and bettered his previous best of a tie for 10th.

At 5-foot-10 and 165 pounds, Crane doesn't look like a big hitter. But his drive on the par-5 18th carried just over the top of a hill, then bounded down the fairway and through a crossing path for the gallery.

It wound up only 190 yards from the green, so Crane felt he couldn't afford to lay up.

"When you hit it there, you've got to go," he said. "If you hit it on top of the hill, you have a one-shot lead, you lay up."

He hit a 7-iron to about 20 feet behind the hole, then high-fived his caddie. Crane chose to make the walk up to the green with playing partner Stewart Cink, who lives inside the gates of the TPC at Sugarloaf.

When Crane rolled in the eagle putt, he flipped his putter in the air, then pumped his fists several times before hugging Cink.

"I've been struggling with the mental part of allowing myself to play well, and Stewart has become a very good, close friend," Crane said.

He walked up to the scorer's tent and hugged his wife, Heather, then accepted congratulations from fellow player Steve Jones, who had finished his round three groups earlier.

Tway, who trailed leader Lee Janzen by two shots entering the final round, held the top spot for most of the day until a three-putt bogey on the 15th hole. Up ahead, Crane was making a birdie on 16 to take the lead.

"I could have hit a few closer shots and I could have made a couple of putts there, but Ben shot a fabulous round," said Tway, who hasn't won in eight years. "So I'm not going to kick myself in the rear, but I still have some improving to do."

Janzen fared even worse. Trying to end a five-year winning streak of his own, he shot a 77 and finished eight shots behind Crane.

Still, he sought out the winner afterward to offer some kind words.

"He just said, 'Give me a hug, buddy,"' Crane said. "Obviously, he's very disappointed that he didn't win, but to congratulate me like that was very nice."

Defending champ Retief Goosen shot a 65 to tie for third with Jay Williamson and Hank Kuehne, and Cink was among three players another stroke back.

Crane actually jump-started his round by making an 11-foot putt for bogey on the ninth hole, then birdied 10 and 11.

"That was big," he said of his bogey. "It kind of got me excited. It wasn't a killer at all, by any means."

Tway knew where he stood when he made the turn, but when he checked again after his bogey at 15, he was surprised with what he saw.

"I looked over and he was at 14, and I go, well, gee, he must have birdied some holes quickly," Tway said. "It must have been a fabulous round. I'll have to watch the replay and see how he did it."

LPGA OFFICE DEPOT: Annika Sorenstam admitted she's tired.

A tough course with tricky greens, some kinks in her game, and high expectations took a toll on Sorenstam during the Office Depot Championship. The LPGA Tour's dominant player still was able to take a four-shot victory Sunday.

"This sounds funny, but this is only April and I'm very, very tired," Sorenstam said after winning for the first time in three starts this year. "Even though I haven't played any in January or February, a lot has been going on.

"I feel it in my head. I've tried so hard to figure out my swing and everything. I am worn out mentally."

She closed with a 1-under 71 to finish the three-day tournament at 5-under 211. Defending champion Se Ri Pak, who beat Sorenstam by one shot last year, shot a 71 on the final day this time to tie Pat Hurst and Heather Bowie for second at 215. Hurst had a closing 72 and Bowie a 73.

Sorenstam, a five-time LPGA player of the year and a winner 11 times in 2002, has been the center of a whirlwind of attention since accepting a sponsor's exemption to play against the men in the Colonial next month in Fort Worth, Texas.

She will become the first woman in 58 years to compete on the PGA Tour.

"I've had a lot of attention the last two months," Sorenstam said. "Obviously, something big is going to happen at Colonial, and I look forward to it. I would never do it, with all the hoopla, if I didn't think I would enjoy it.

"Right now I just want to enjoy this win, and my next week off, and start from there."

She might get more time off because she's scheduled to play in Hong Kong and Japan before the May 22-25 Colonial. Concerns about the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in Hong Kong could change her plans.

"We will see what happens the next few weeks," Sorenstam said.

On her way to the win at El Caballero Country Club, Sorenstam's game seemed to be either boom or bust. She began the final round by three-putting for bogeys on both her first two holes, then put together a stretch of three birdies on Nos. 5-6-7, including sinking one putt of 20 feet and another of 16 feet.

Grimacing after the second hole, she was smiling after hitting her 7-wood onto the green on the 502-yard, par-5 No. 7 and two-putting for her third consecutive birdie.

She was just as inconsistent on the back nine, bogeying the 13th and 15th holes before wrapping up the win with a birdie on No. 17, and another birdie when she rolled in a 15-foot putt on the final hole.

She acknowledged the gallery cheers by thrusting her arms into the air.

"To be able to finish birdie-birdie, that was gratifying. I fought so hard. My game hasn't been on top, but I fought through it," Sorenstam said. "I would hit great shots, then I would hit something out of the blue. It was really a roller-coaster day."

Fast, sloping greens kept scores relatively high. Sorenstam and the group at 215 were the only players to finish the 54-hole event under par.

In her first tournament this year, Sorenstam finished in a third-place tie at Phoenix, then was second, one shot behind winner Patricia Meunier-Lebouc, in the Kraft Nabisco, the first women's major of the year.

Pak, a five-time champion last year and looking for her second win of 2003, fell five shots behind Sorenstam during the first round at El Caballero - with a 73 to Sorenstam's 68 - and couldn't catch up.

"I was 5 over after my first 11 holes," Pak said of her shaky start Friday. "It was tough here, windy and cold the first two days, and the course played really, really hard. Judging the speed on the greens was really difficult."

Pak, playing the final round in a group ahead of Sorenstam, was within one shot of the lead until she bogeyed No. 15. She was aware she had a chance to catch Sorenstam.

"But I knew she was going to play well," Pak said. "The way she has played the last couple of years, she is never going to give up easily."