Ben Curtis was hitting a wedge on the practice range at Royal St. George's when the caddie he had known all of a week delivered the news. "Ben, you're the Open champion."
The most unpredictable links in golf. A wacky week at the game's oldest championship. And, finally, the unlikeliest of major winners: a PGA Tour rookie ranked No. 396 in the world.
Even Andrew Sutton, the caddie Curtis hired last Sunday to provide some local knowledge, had never heard of his new boss.
PHOTO: AP
Told Ben Curtis was looking for a caddie, Sutton asked, "Ben who?"
Golf's newest major champion acknowledged the obvious.
"I'm in great company," Curtis said. "Right now, many people are probably saying, `Well, he really doesn't belong there.' But I know I do."
Not even Tiger Woods and an All-Star cast of challengers could sort out the humps and hollows along Sandwich Bay any better.
Curtis earned his spot in golfing lore by closing with a 2-under 69, leaving him the only player to break par at 1-under 283.
He got plenty of help from Thomas Bjorn of Denmark, who took three shots to escape a pot bunker, dropped four shots on the final four holes and finished as the hard-luck runner-up with Fiji's Vijay Singh.
"It is going to be a tough few days,'' Bjorn said. ``But it's only a game."
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 Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Ben Hogan.
"Obviously, Ben is a fantastic golfer," said Sutton, his caddie for the week. "But what impressed me the most is how laid-back he is."
Curtis, who spent the last two years on the Hooters Tour and qualified for the British with a 13th-place finish in the Western Open, was just two strokes behind coming into the final round, but hardly anyone gave him a chance to win. Not against a lineup like this: Woods, Bjorn, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia and Kenny Perry.
But hardly anything went according to plan at this tournament:
-- Woods opened with a triple bogey when two dozen marshals and 2,000 fans couldn't figure out where his ball was hiding.
-- Bjorn was penalized two strokes Thursday for slamming his club into a bunker after failing to get out -- a no-no when the ball is still in the sand.
-- Love hit a tee shot that was going out of bounds Friday until it ricocheted off a white boundary stake only 3 inches wide.
-- Local hero Mark Roe, who would have been paired with Woods in the final round two shots behind, was disqualified Saturday for putting his score on Jesper Parnevik's card.
"When I went to bed last night, I really thought I was going to win this thing," Curtis said. "You've got to have that feeling."
He's believed to be the first player since Francis Ouimet at the 1913 US Open to win a major championship in his first try.
"To be honest, I would have been happy to make it to the weekend," the 26-year-old Ohio native said. "Obviously, I did that and went out there and probably played the best weekend of my life."
For Bjorn, it ended with the worst four holes of his life.
The Dane surrendered the lead by going bogey-double bogey-bogey, then needed to chip in for birdie at No. 18 to force a playoff.
When the ball curled right of the cup, Bjorn had earned a place alongside Jean Van de Velde, Ed Sneed and Doug Sanders by frittering away a championship that was in his grasp.
"I stood at 15 with hand on the trophy," Bjorn said, "and I let it go."
Even Curtis' fiancee was sympathetic.
"I'm so happy for Ben," said Candace Beatty, a former college golfer. "But I feel so bad for Thomas."
The ghastliest hole for Bjorn was the par-3 16th. His tee shot drifted right of the pin -- the one place not to go -- caught the ridge and dropped into the bunker.
He blasted out over the lip, but the ball slid back down the slope and into the sand. Another blast, same result. Bjorn finally got it out and made double bogey.
"I just hit a couple of poor bunker shots at the wrong time," he said. "It was an expensive mistake."
Bjorn wasn't the only one who wilted.
Woods couldn't find the fairway down the stretch and let a perfect opportunity to capture his ninth major title slip away. Now, he'll get to listen to more talk about his major slump -- he's failed to win in his last five attempts.
Singh didn't make enough putts and finished with Bjorn at even-par 284. Love was doomed by a bad start and wound up tied for fourth with Woods at 285.
There have been other surprises in the majors.
Paul Lawrie won at Carnoustie four years ago when Van de Velde collapsed on the final hole; John Daly captured the 1991 PGA Championship as the ninth alternate; Jack Fleck beat Hogan in a playoff in the 1955 US Open at Olympic Club.
Still, this ranks among the greatest shockers of all.
Curtis' best finish of the year came two weeks ago at the Western Open, a tie for 13th that allowed him to qualify for his first major championship.
After Sunday, he'll get to play them all.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later