tim rosaforte
for one day, it’s all about ben
two weeks ago, ben curtis
was hitting balls at the kent
state golf center with coach
herb page looking on. after
90 minutes of watching the
2003 british open cham-
pion hit cuts and draws to a
target green, herb kiddingly
said, “ben, you’ve got a
problem.”
february. about the only
other steady competition
he’s had was playing against
the college kids in the kent
state qualifiers—and even
then he wouldn’t beat ev-
erybody.
that stopped curtis from
raking another ball.
“what do you mean?” he
said.
in san antonio, the low-key
ohioan made the most of
his opportunity, winning
by two strokes over matt
every and John huh to earn
a masters invitation and
exempt status for the next
two years.
finishing second twice in
2008 (including the pga
championship) to make the
ryder cup team. but after
the dry spell that followed,
curtis badly needed a victory to rejoin the game’s upper echelon, and on sunday
at the valero texas open,
he got it.
at the right time, a 23-foot
par save on the 71st hole at
the tpc san antonio which
was followed with a closing
birdie. “there are so many
things that can happen in
a tournament,” curtis said.
“today, there were so many
things that could have gone
wrong, but luckily i stuck
with it and hung on.”
“you need to play more,”
said page.
“couldn’t have happened to
a nicer person,” said page. “i
tell you, he has not changed
since college, since he won
the open. he’s just a quiet,
humble, person. it’s never
about ben.”
that’s easy to say, but not
easy to do while boxed
within 126 and 150 on the
previous year’s money list.
that’s why the valero texas
open was only his fourth
event on the pga tour in
2012, and it’s why he used
his 10-year exemption as an
open champion to spend 23
days away from his family
to play the european tour’s
desert swing in January and
“i know i may look calm, but
i’m definitely not inside,” he
said. “i have a will inside me
that i know i can do it.”
curtis had been seeing signs
of a rebound. he was in con-
tention at the dubai desert
classic but shot 73 on sun-
day to finish t- 13. he be-
lieved he played well enough
tee-to-green at the shell
houston open, but took 67
putts over the first two days
and missed the cut.
it was on sunday.
curtis comes out of the
fraternity of first-time ma-
jor winners from 2002-04
that includes rich beem,
shaun micheel and todd
hamilton. ranked 396th in
the world when he won at
royal st. george’s, curtis is
the only one of the four to
validate his achievement,
winning twice in 2006, and
“you always have to believe,
but you never know,” curtis
said. “the last couple years
have been tough. i just
haven’t putted the way i
wanted to.”
funny then, that as with
the 72nd hole at royal st.
george’s nine years ago,
curtis’ made the big putt
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