Coming from nowhere
Web posted
Sunday, April 4, 2004
There are many ways to gauge the meteoric emergence of Ben Curtis (Stats | Bio) and his "upset of the century" at the 2003 British Open.
For instance, witness his tours of the talk-show circuit.
In June, Curtis and his then-fiancée, Candace Beatty, got tickets for The Late Show with David Letterman. Four weeks later, they were back in the Ed Sullivan Theater. Only this time, Curtis was the on-air guest.
"How ironic is that?" his wife said.
To say Curtis came out of nowhere is an understatement. He'd never placed in the top 10 of a PGA Tour event. He'd never participated in a major championship. He'd never even played a British links course. He qualified for the British Open field by finishing 13th in the Western Open - the first top-25 finish of his career.
Curtis even admits his only goal at Royal St. Georges was to "have fun."
But his steady play on a quirky links course left him in third place with one round left. Then six birdies on his first 11 holes vaulted him atop a leaderboard that included Thomas Bjorn (Stats | Bio) , Vijay Singh (Stats | Bio) and Tiger Woods (Stats | Bio) .
After four bogeys dropped him three shots behind Bjorn, Curtis calmly drained a 10-footer on the last hole that he figured might be worth second place or, at best, a playoff.
But when Bjorn went 4-over in his final four holes, Curtis inherited the victory and the title of what might be the greatest upset in golf. He jumped from 396th to 35th in the world rankings - the largest leap ever. His upset put him in company with U.S. Open surprises Francis Ouimet (1913) and Jack Fleck (1955) and PGA Championship darling John Daly (Stats | Bio) (1991).
"I watched it the other night on DVD, and it's still unbelievable," Candace said of her husband's victory. "I get chills every time I watch it. It was really cool."
The aftermath of the win was a blur. He was inundated with interview requests. He was invited to all sorts of events reserved for marquee players. Ben and Candace even got married on their originally scheduled date after he played in the third round of the World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational in his home state of Ohio.
"It was crazy for several weeks afterward," he said. "I felt like I couldn't go sit down for a couple of days and do what I wanted. I felt like I had a lot of obligations, but that's what comes with it."
Curtis is not an accomplished pro, despite his amazing accomplishment. The British Open victory still ranks as his only career top-10 finish on either the PGA or the Nationwide tours. His only other professional victory came in 2002, when he won a Hooters Tour event in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Curtis says he believes his golf game will eventually catch up with his singular achievement at Royal St. Georges.
"I haven't really proven myself, but you have to give some players some time," he said. "In the long run, I think I'll prove I belong and that I wasn't a fluke."
By winning the first major he entered, Curtis lost the luxury of developing outside the spotlight as a professional golfer. Nobody takes notice when your average rookie Q-school qualifier takes his time getting comfortable on the PGA Tour. He doesn't have his missed cuts amplified and his faults critiqued.
Curtis, however, has a silver Claret Jug signifying the champion golfer of the year. When the rest of that championship year is so-so at best, everyone notices.
"I thinks he deals with it well," his wife said. "That's the hardest part, with everybody expecting you to do something. People forget that any good player, they're all at levels, they have to grow. It's just the people he's being measured against, they're past that stage. But if you measure him against somebody from the same time frame that he's been out here, it would be different."
Curtis amiably deals with the publicity and the questions about his evolution.
"Every level that I've been on has taken some time to progress - high school, college and pro," he said. "I know I can play with these guys, especially at the elite level, where you don't have to do something crazy; just play solid golf, and you have a chance to win."
In the meantime, he'll enjoy his first swing through the major circuit now that he has a five-year exemption into all the fields. He missed the cut in the PGA, but he's looking forward to his Masters Tournament debut.
"I thought I could be there one day, but within a year was quite an accomplishment," he said of Augusta National Golf Club. "I didn't think it would happen this soon, but I'm going to go in there trying to win."
Stranger things have happened. Just ask him.
Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.
