Heaven and Hell

THOSE cynics among you who don't believe in fairy-tales will have to think again. Before a ball was struck at Royal St Georges on Thursday, nobody on this side of the Atlantic had ever heard of Ben Curtis.

You could have walked into the bookmakers and slapped any sum on him winning the 132nd Open Golf Championship and received a warm if disbelieving welcome.

But Curtis, who is still unknown to many fellow members of the US Tour and admitted he only ever spoke to Tiger Woods for twenty seconds in his amateur days back in 1995, pulled off an amazing triumph yesterday in front of a stupefied audience at Sandwich.

While some of the most famous names in the game were cracking under the pressure, the 26 year-old from Columbus, Ohio, the birthplace of a Jack Nicklaus, also had his nervous moments but held his head enough to finish on 283, one under par, and a shot ahead of Denmark's Thomas Bjorn and Vijay Singh of Fiji.

Tiger Woods remains without a major title since the 2002 US Open as he settled for 4th place with fellow American Davis Love III. For Ireland, an event that began on a moderate note, continued in the same vein with Padraig Harrington best placed of our quartet in a share of 22nd.

Just who IS Ben Curtis?

His childhood was spent only 50 yards from the practice putting green at Millcreek Golf Club which his grandfather built and where his father is superintendent. In 2000, he was voted the top ranked amateur golfer in the world and helped the United States to win the Eisenhower Trophy in Germany.

He turned professional that year but soon realised the two scenes were worlds apart. He played the third ranked Hooters Tour before coming through the US qualifying school last November.

13 tournaments have yielded a total of $195,689, his best finish being a tied 13th in the Western Open , thereby picking up one of the sixteen spots available for direct entry to the Open itself.

Jack Nicklaus's first major victory, the US Open in 1962, was also his initial tournament win as a professional. Tom Watson captured the Open in 1975 on his first appearance in Europe. In 1991, John Daly was ninth alternate when he got into the US PGA and duly emerged champion.

Somehow, and no doubt the subsequent fortunes of this illustrious trio have something to do with this perception, Curtis's victory supersedes everything that has gone before. Not for him the comforts of private air travel or even a five star hotel.

His family couldn't afford to join him in England and he travelled only with his fiancee, Candice, and stayed in a bed and breakfast at Wingham. Now that he is is stg£700,000 richer in prize money and perhaps three or four times more again in endorsements life will change very quickly for an erudite and forthright young man.

He doesn't even have a regular caddy. Once he knew he was coming to the Open, he contacted his agents, IMG, and they nominated Andy Sutton, who usually carries for European Tour pro John Bickerton, and has also been on Andrew Coltart's bag. This was a one-off that earned Sutton a sum in excess of stg£70, 000.

"He was a lot of help, especially in the first few days," stated Curtis. "When we were practising around the greens he would say try this and try that because I was just sticking with the nine iron.

He was always there, supportive, keeping me patient. My game plan out there was to be very patient and accept the bounces and take what the course gives you. I had never played a links before. I tried to get used to the bunkers, the yardages, the wind changes."

When Curtis, who began the final day two behind Thomas Bjorn, reached the turn in 32 and then started back with two successive birdies to move to five under, he was two ahead of the Dane, three better off than Vijay Singh and four over Tiger Woods.

Inevitably, though, the enormity of what he was doing dawned on the rookie and predictably enough he dropped shots at three of the next four and also bogeyed the 17th. Crucially he knocked in a nine footer on 18 and in the end that was the difference between victory and a play-off.

"I knew I needed that putt to have any chance," he said. "I didn't necessarily think it was going to be the winning putt. I looked up at the scoreboard when I finished and saw that I was two back [of Thomas Bjorn] and he had three to play, and I knew 17 and 18 were playing particularly difficult. I knew there was a chance. I then heard he had doubled 16 so I just tried to keep relaxed."

The difficulty of the course and the pressure of the occasion overwhelmed the hapless Bjorn. He described it like this: "I probably did all the right things until the 15th. I found a fairway bunker and then at 16 my tee shot trickled into the bunker and I took three to get out. I had allowed a three shot lead to go.

Sixteen was an expensive mistake. I tried to hit every single shot into the middle of the greens and I just got one there that caught in the wind a little bit and it leaked off to the right. I lost my Open at the 16th."

While Curtis and Candice partied the night away, Bjorn slipped quietly out of town on his way to Portmarnock and this week's Nissan Irish Open in a state of near despair. The great fear must be that he will carry the scars of this championship all the way to the grave. He threw away two precious shots by incurring a two stroke penalty for a piece of impetuosity in Thursday's first round the difference between first and second.

Bjorn isn't the only player ruing events on that very first day. Tiger Woods lost a ball at the very first hole to run up a triple bogey seven. He finished two behind Curtis and wasn't happy about being put on the clock. But he also agreed that "I made some poor shots and didn't make putts on the back nine. It's hard now to reflect on the tournament, it's too close to the situation. Given time, I'll be able to assess what happened. You've got to have things go your way in order to win. When I've won, I've had some great breaks."

As for Ben Curtis, he claims he "just wants to stay the same, my life is going to change but I'm looking forward to it and a lot of great challenges ahead." Like marrying the bubbly Candice next month. Let the fairytale continue!