Ben Curtis

Ben Curtis is an American golfer who was born in Columbus, Ohio on May 26, 1977 and grew up in Ostrander, Ohio. His family runs the Mill Creek Golf Club, also in Ostrander.

As an amateur, Curtis found much success, winning the Ohio Amateur Championship in 1999 and 2000 (joining professional golfers John Cook and Arnold Palmer as the only men to win the Ohio Amateur in consecutive years), and also the Player's Amateur Championship in 2000.

Curtis is best known for winning The Open Championship (British Open) of 2003. This victory was considered a major upset, as the 26-year old's best finish in a professional tournament prior to his victory had been 13th place at the Western Open only two weeks before; that finish qualified him to play in the British Open.

The 2003 Open Championship was Curtis' first appearance in a major; he became the first golfer since Francis Ouimet in the 1913 U.S. Open to win his major championship debut.

On the last day of The Open Championship of 2003 he was most certainly benefiting from the fact that he could close his 1-under-par score without the added pressure of knowing it was for the win. Thomas Björn was three shots ahead of Curtis when Curtis hit his final putt, but ended up dropping back four shots on the closing holes.

Curtis's major championship victory did not spur him into becoming a regular high finisher. In 2004 he had only one top ten finish on the PGA Tour. In 2005 he had two. Finally, in June 2006 he went away with his second win, the Booz Allen Classic.

Curtis and his wife Candace currently reside in Stow, Ohio.

[edit] Results in major championships

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

[edit] External links

• PGA TOUR bio page
• Ben Curtis at Golf Stars Online Links to feature articles, interviews, career statistics etc.