Ben Crane pays off $6,000 putting contest debt after Twitter call-out
At the start of the week, Ben Crane hadn’t paid up on a $6,000 debt dating back to a 45-minute putting contest during the week of the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Frustrated, the debt collector didn’t know what to do, so he turned to friend, mentor and journeyman PGA Tour pro Tom Gillis. Gillis didn’t waste time, turning to Twitter to call out Crane. Without naming who Crane owed, Gillis called out his fellow veteran for not paying up on the debt and suggesting he wanted a game of ping-pong to try to settle the debt.
@bencranegolf Not only do u STEAL players time on the course now your not paying off your bets. 6k on putting green. Minister wld b proud
— Tom Gillis (@tcgillis) April 25, 2017
It later came out, with the help of a Charley Hoffman Instagram post, that Crane owed the money to Daniel Berger.
A post shared by charley hoffman (@charleyhoffman) on Apr 26, 2017 at 12:40pm PDT
The public shaming appeared to work, with it coming out late Thursday that Crane and Berger had settled up at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
Crane, without delving into detail, said things were “all good.”
“I wish it didn’t come to that, but it’s all taken care of,” Berger told Golf Digest. “It’s crazy how powerful social media can be.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.