Curtis closes in on shock win

American Ben Curtis was today in contention for a sensational victory in the 132nd Open championship.

Curtis, ranked 396th in the world, was the unknown name more than holding his own amongst some of the world’s best golfers at Royal St George’s.

The 26-year-old from Ohio was six under for 11 holes of his final round and five under for the tournament, leading the Open by two shots on his championship debut and in his rookie season.

Curtis was two shots ahead of overnight leader Thomas Bjorn, three clear of double major winner Vijay Singh and four ahead of world number one Tiger Woods.

Bjorn began with a one-shot lead but opened with a bogey at the first after his approach ran through the back of the green, and was joined at the top of the leaderboard by Singh and Curtis.

Curtis birdied the first from six feet to improve to level par, while Singh birdied the second from 10 feet after Woods’ missed putt from a similar angle showed him the perfect line.

Curtis, who had previously played on the second-tier Hooters Tour in the United States, then took the lead outright for the first time with a two-putt birdie on the fourth.

Bjorn quickly joined him on one under with a 25ft birdie on the third and the challengers continued to gather.

Nick Faldo, two days on from his 46th birthday, birdied the fifth and then holed from 35ft for an eagle on the seventh to get within two shots of the lead, and after missing from two feet for par on the also birdied the 11th to lie one over.

Curtis is in his debut season on the US Tour and only qualified for the Open by virtue of finishing 13th in the Western Open earlier this month, his best ever finish.

But the world number 396 was showing no sign of nerves and calmly two-putted the seventh for his third birdie of the day to rejoin Bjorn in the lead.

Singh then made it a three-way tie with a birdie on the sixth, with Woods just one behind after birdies on the fourth and fifth.

Both players then birdied the seventh but dropped shots on the eighth, Woods three-putting while Singh did superbly to salvage a five after hitting his second shot under a bush.

Up ahead Curtis was playing some brilliant golf, a birdie on the ninth taking him out in 32 and two more in a row leaving him two shots clear with just seven holes to play.