British Open winner humble in against-all-odds exploits

To understand what 26-year-old Ben Curtis, a PGA rookie from Ohio, accomplished Sunday in Sandwich, England, consider this: After the third round of the British Open on a week ago, international golf analysts were speculating about who would be holding the claret jug at the end of the tournament. Tiger Woods, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh and Thomas Bjorn (of Denmark) were most often mentioned.
Had any one of those learned gentlemen dared suggest that Ben Curtis, who was ranked No. 396 in the world after his tie for 13th at the Western Open earlier this month, was poised to record one of the greatest wins in the history of golf, he would have been laughed off the television studio set.
But there he was, former member of Kent State University's golf team, not only hugging the claret jug, but instantly creating a bond with the predominantly British spectator gallery.
"I'm from Kent, Ohio, and you made me feel right at home," the personable rookie said. The crowd responded with applause and laughter. Sandwich is in Kent, a county in southeastern England. While at Kent State, Curtis was a three-time All-American golfer. He majored in recreation management. His fiancee was on the women's golf team.
While his wasn't a rags-to-riches story -- his grandfather, Bill Black, built the Mill Creek public course in Ostrander, a northern suburb of Columbus, and Curtis lived off the 18th green for 12 years -- the British Open victory did give golf writers the chance to use words that have been missing from the coverage of major tournaments for quite some time. That's because of the dominance of the world's top golfers led by Tiger Woods.
The New York Times captured the moment with this headline on the front page of Monday's editions: "Rookie Outlasts the Stars at the British Open."
Zany turn
Here's how the Associated Press described what took place at Sandwich: "The Open took a zany turn right from the start when Woods, the world's most watched player, lost his opening tee shot in the rough.
"It ended with a player hardly anyone knew holding the prize, his name engraved alongside the likes of Nicklaus, Palmer and Hogan."
Zany turn? That's what made the British Open so intriguing. While the greats were unable to master the course, a rookie demonstrated stroke by stroke that the humps and hollows didn't intimidate him. To be sure, not being under any pressure to excel, let alone win, made the birdies all the more enjoyable and the bogies forgettable.
"I'm in great company," Curtis said with the claret jug close at hand. "Right now, many people are probably saying, 'Well, he really doesn't belong there.' But I know I do."
With that attitude, the Ohioan who honed his golfing skills just down the road from the Mahoning Valley, will prove the naysayers wrong. And even if his next victory doesn't come for quite a while, he'll always have the British Open. No one can take that away from Ben Curtis.