By SAM WEINMAN
The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News

Ben Curtis of Ostrander, OH, smiles during a news conference after winning the British Open. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

SANDWICH, England - At every juncture he looked as if he had wandered in off the street. Even on the 18th green, when Ben Curtis squinted into the early evening sun and hoisted the claret jug trophy into the air, he looked as if he expected to have to give it back.

Curtis smiled thinly during that ceremony at Royal St. George's Sunday. He waved at the massive galleries around the green. And yet all throughout the most unlikely major champion in golf history he seemed to be wrestling with this question:

What in the world did I just do?

There is no simple answer to that question, because there's no simple way to explain how a 26-year-old PGA Tour rookie fended off the best players in the world to win the 132nd British Open. Yet across 18 frantic holes of golf in the season's third major, that's exactly what Curtis did. He rattled off birdies early and stumbled late, but somehow, as he waited on the driving range for a playoff that never came, he found himself alone in red numbers.

Watching the TV in the trailer next to the range, Curtis saw the course of his own life altered forever. There was Thomas Bjorn chipping for birdie. There was the ball sliding past the hole. Once hoping to make the cut, Curtis, at 1-under par 283, claimed a one-shot win over Bjorn and Vijay Singh and a two-stroke win over, among others, Tiger Woods.

"Oh man," Curtis said, shaking his head. "That's about all I can say."

You think Rich Beem was an unlikely winner at last year's PGA Championship? Beem was practically Jack Nicklaus next to Curtis. The 396th ranked player in the world, the Ohio native had never played in a major before this week. He had never even finished in the top-10 in a PGA Tour event. Up until two weeks ago, he had no intention of making the trip across the Atlantic, but when he finished tied for 13th in the Western Open, he learned he had qualified to be here.

He is thought to be the first player since Francis Ouimet at the 1913 U.S. Open to win a major championship in his first attempt.

"I came in here this week just trying to play the best I could and hopefully make the cut and compete on the weekend," Curtis said. "Obviously I did that."

That he would end up holding off the likes of Woods down the stretch hardly entered his mind. Though just two strokes behind Bjorn to start the day, Curtis was easily the least heralded name among the leaders - a group that also included Davis Love III, Sergio Garcia and Kenny Perry. But only Curtis was able to handle one of the most difficult stretches of the golf course with ease. After moving to 2-under par through seven holes, he took a two-streak lead over Bjorn with three consecutive birdies on holes 9 through 11, then spent the rest of the afternoon trying not to come to pieces.

It wasn't easy. Curtis missed a six-footer for par on no. 12. He missed a 10-footer on 14. So calm and composed through the early part of the day, Curtis was now forcing himself to take deep breaths while walking down the fairway.

"I was shaking in my boots, obviously," he said.

Fortunately for him, plenty of other players were running into trouble. Once as low as 2-under, Woods made several critical errors on the back nine, including a devastating bogey on the par-4 17th. Singh, his playing partner, didn't fare much better, missing the green on the par-3 16th and failing to get up-and-down for par.

Neither of those players, however, endured a mishap like Bjorn's on 16. Holding a two-shot lead over Curtis at the time, the 32-year-old Dane pushed his tee-shot on the 163-yard hole into the right greenside bunker. Twice he tried to blast out and onto the green. Twice the ball rolled back into the sand. Just as he had made a costly error with a two-shot penalty in the sand on Thursday, Bjorn may have lost the tournament with the double-bogey 5 Sunday. And when he went on to make a bogey on 17, he settled in a shot behind Curtis at even par.

"It was an expensive mistake," Bjorn said. "That's the way the Open golf is and that's the way things happen on the golf course. I had my good breaks this week but I got a bad one there and lost the Open on that 16th hole."

Where exactly Curtis won it is difficult to say, but no putt was more important than his 10-footer for par on18. At the time, Bjorn still held a two-stroke lead, but having just passed through the difficult closing holes himself, Curtis knew his pursuers wouldn't have an easy time.

"I knew I needed that putt on 18 to win - to have a chance at least, I should say," Curtis said. "I didn't necessarily think it was going to be the winning putt."

But it was, and now Curtis joins a list of improbable major winners - from Ouimet in 1913 to Orville Moody in 1969 to John Daly in 1991. But he also joins a list of Open winners that runs from Hogan to Nicklaus to Woods.

"Many people are probably saying, 'Well, he doesn't really belong there,"' Curtis said. "But I know I do, so that's all that matters."

Comparing British Open leaders' final 18 holes

A closer look at the final round for each of the top finishers:

Player	FH	GR	PT	Eagles	Birdies	Pars	Bogeys	Other	Score
B. Curtis	7	11	29	0	6	8	4	0	69
V. Singh	3	10	26	0	5	9	4	0	70
T. Bjorn	3	12	29	0	4	10	3	1	72
T. Woods	9	14	33	0	4	10	4	0	71
D. Love	5	12	30	0	4	9	5	0	72

KEY: FH-fairways hit; GR-greensinregulation; PT-putts.

Longshot legacy

Ben Curtis joins memorable company:

• Buster Douglas, as a 42-1 longshot, knocked out Mike Tyson in 1990 for the heavyweight title

• John Daly, won the 1991 PGA Championship as the 9th alternate

• Michael Chang, in 1989, won the French Open at 17 years old.

• Boris Becker, in '85, won Wimbledon at 17.

Curtis at a glance

Age: 26

Birthplace: Columbus

Residence: Kent, Ohio

Personal: Engaged to Candace Beatty

Education: Kent State (2000, Recreation Management major)

Turned pro: 2000

Joined PGA Tour: 2003

Career earnings: $195,689 (before British win, his first on tour)