Curtis was a late riser
His charge came after his round
SOUTHPORT, England - Five summers ago, Ben Curtis came riding in from out of nowhere. Yesterday morning, he came riding in on a wind that was unlike anything he had experienced in years.
And if you're wondering, Curtis does dream that the end result of this ride will be similar.
"Oh, yeah, definitely," he said. "If I had a choice of winning a major, this would be it."
Twenty-four hours earlier, the only claret jug that Curtis seemed in position to hold was a replica of the one he had won in 2003 at Royal St. George's. But it's amazing what a ferocious wind delivered to the 31-year-old American in yesterday's third round of the 137th British Open.
How about a very real opportunity to get a matching claret jug?
Curtis had finished his day's work, but it was barely 3 p.m. and his score of 7-over-par 217 was eight off the lead of K.J. Choi, who was just getting onto the course. But Curtis acknowledged that matching the low round of the day, an even-par 70, had given him a chance.
"I'm just going to let the weather and the conditions and the guys play and see how I stand," he said.
Where he stood some five hours later was just five off the lead, tied for fifth.
If he was stunned, he wasn't alone. After all, Curtis had hurdled 33 players thanks to a day of golf that even left diehard links players at a loss for words. But for sure, he wasn't going to get ahead of himself. The early-morning round he had played in no way compared to the fourth-round 69 that lifted him past luminaries such as Tiger Woods, Davis Love, Thomas Bjorn, and Vijay Singh five years ago.
"To deal with the pressure and to play the way I did on [Sunday] in a major in your first time around, I think that will always be my best round," said Curtis, who entered the 2003 British Open as the 396th-ranked player in the world. Though he trailed by two strokes through 54 holes, nobody gave much of a chance to the unheralded player from Kent State. But Curtis stunned observers with a closing 69, and became the first player since Francis Ouimet to win a major in his very first attempt.
"Don't know anything about him," said Love that day, and even Fred Couples conceded, "I didn't know if he was an American or not."
Since then, people have come to know Curtis. He added two PGA Tour wins in 2006, and tied for eighth in last year's British Open. He's respected as a guy who can grind it out in tough conditions and play the hard courses well. In other words, there's no surprise that he handled Royal Birkdale alongside Phil Mickelson.
"It was fun to watch and fun to pull for," said Mickelson, who was first to high-five Curtis after the theatrics at the 451-yard, par-4 third.
Curtis had ripped a splendid 3-wood behind a downwind gale and had just 165 yards left. "A little uphill lie, ball below my feet," said Curtis. "I thought it was going in that front right bunker . . ."
Instead, it skirted wide, bounded toward the green, and found its way into the cup, just the seventh eagle of the championship, and the first at a hole other than the par-5 17th. When he sandwiched birdies at the fifth and seventh around a bogey at the sixth, Curtis had something going. Out in 31, Curtis concedes he had to just hold on coming home, though three consecutive bogeys starting at the par-4 11th halted his momentum. Five straight pars to finish up, however, seemed to regain some.
The only thing is, Curtis considered it pointless to scan the leaderboard.
"Most likely we'll be in the top five or [top] 10 anyway," said Curtis, who proved a pretty good prognosticator. "So it's going to be fun to go out there tomorrow and see what can happen."
Judging from past experiences, he has a good idea how wild it can be.
