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Curtis back at scene of biggest win

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Curtis back at scene of biggest win

Finally, Ben Curtis will get to defend a championship. Well, sort of.

In 2006, the Ohioan won twice on the PGA Tour. He captured the Booz Allen Classic and the 84 Lumber Classic. By 2007, both tournaments were out of business and there were no titles for Curtis to defend.

The only other tournament he has won, and one that is unlikely to go belly-up anytime soon, was the British Open in 2003 at Royal St. George's in Sandwich, England. The Open Championship will return to that course tomorrow for the first time since.

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Technically, Louis Oosthuizen is the defending Open champion off his seven-stroke win last summer at St. Andrews. But Curtis is the defending Sandwich champion. Close enough.

You might think Oosthuizen was a surprise winner a year ago. And you would be right.

But it was Louie's ninth start in a major championship, he was well known in his native South Africa, at least recognizable on the European Tour, had played upon occasion in the U.S., and had six previous wins worldwide. If you had scanned the World Golf Rankings for his name at the start of the British Open you would have found it before dozing off. He may have an odd name - he was christened Lodewicus Theodorus Oosthuizen - but he was not a complete no-name.

When Ben Curtis reported to the first tee at Sandwich in '03, he was ranked 396th in the world, long past the nodding-off point on that list. He was a winless PGA Tour rookie courtesy of a 26th-place finish at the 2002 qualifying school tournament.

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To add to his lack of credentials, Curtis had never been to England, never played on a links course, and was teeing it up in his very first major championship.

When all was said and done, he was the only player to break par that week and he sat atop a leaderboard that sported the likes of Thomas Bjorn, Vijay Singh, Davis Love III, and Tiger Woods all within two shots of the top spot.

It was the biggest upset in golf in 90 years, since Francis Ouimet's U.S. Open victory.

"Looking back, my whole goal there was just to have fun and play all four days," Curtis, now 34, said in a recent interview. "To be holding the Claret Jug at the end of it, I guess it [was] a fairy tale in a sense. I'll never forget what happened, that's for sure."

While the rest of the world asked "who?" Ohioans celebrated.

Ben Curtis is one of us to the core. He was born here (Columbus), grew up here (Ostrander), went to college here (Kent) and resides here (Stow). He won two state high school titles and two state amateur crowns. When he wants a soft drink he asks for a pop, he's eaten buckeyes at tailgate parties, and he likes his chili ladled over spaghetti noodles. He's as Ohio as Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf.

Ohioans celebrated with Curtis again when he won twice in '06, and when he tied for second at the '08 PGA to lock up a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team. His 2-and-1 singles win on the final day over Lee Westwood helped the Yanks to a rousing upset victory at Valhalla and we celebrated again.

It has been pretty quiet since. Curtis has but two top-10 finishes in the last 2 1/2 years and has dipped to No. 194 in the world rankings, which is about the point naps are taken.

Maybe a return to the barren knolls and deep pot bunkers of Royal St. George's can spark another upset. Curtis has already showed us that fairy tales can come true.

Contact Blade sports columnist Dave Hackenberg at: dhack@theblade.com or 419-724-6398.

First Published July 13, 2011, 5:31 a.m.

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