04/20/24
July 20, 2003
When we say 'Open', we mean 'Open'...: From Kent, Ohio to Kent, UK: Ben Curtis won the Open Championship at Royal St George's in Sandwich, stunning the golf world. The first first-time entrant to win the competition since Tom Watson in Carnoustie, Curtis proved himself a worthy winner by being the only competitor to finish the tournament under par. What's more amazing is that he'd only ever played at a links course once before, and held his nerve while the big names buckled under the pressure and the course. So much to talk about: was this a demonstration of 'golf the way it should be', on a tough links course carved out by the elements rather than designed on a PC? Did the world's top golfers under-prepare by seeking out big bucks on very different courses? Is this the start of a rise to prominence for Curtis, or just a flash in the pan?
It was a pretty good Open, I guess. At least Tiger was prominent at the beginnning of the day. Even though he started the day in the second-to-last group I didn't think this was the tournament for him after the way he played the last eight holes in the third round. My guess on Curtis is that he will have himself a real nice career for the next twenty years, maybe like fellow British Open winner Justin Leonard. Plenty of money, plenty of tournament wins, and maybe one more major.
posted by vito90 at 07:54 AM on July 21, 2003
Curtis was once the top-ranked U.S. amateur in the world and is still a rookie who only took a few years to play his way onto the PGA Tour. He's got game, and this win shows he's got some mental toughness as well. I expect he'll be more than the answer to a trivia question. One amazing fact: According to ESPN, Curtis is the first golfer to win his first major since Francis Ouimet came out of nowhere to win the U.S. Open in 1913 and put American golf on the map.
posted by rcade at 08:21 AM on July 21, 2003
vito's comment makes an interesting point, one that's a clear difference between individual sports like golf and tennis (and cycling) and team sports like football (world) and football (US). In the former, there can be one athlete so dominant that every article has to account for him or her but in the latter, even when there are great players (on the level of, say, Jordan or Bonds), most articles only mention that star if he's involved in the game. Of course in the individual sports, the star usually is involved in the event but I find it amusing that, for instance, weeks that Tiger takes off he still gets included.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:26 AM on July 21, 2003
I'm happy for the guy and reckon he deserved to win because he consistently refused to let the course get the better of him. What I'm less happy about is that you could still get 50/1 on him at the beginning of the final day, and I was too hungover to drag meself out of bed and down to the bookies.
posted by squealy at 11:59 AM on July 21, 2003
Best line from the ESPN piece that rcade referenced: "Dude, you're getting a claret jug!" But, I thought that Daly's PGA victory was his first major, and the ESPN piece doesn't explain why that isn't so. After the conclusion of the Open, and the presentation ceremony, I was listening to ESPN radio while they spoke with some Golf Channel analyst, Jill Something. Who said that she hadn't seen Ben's fiance's engagement ring, but said "If you can't skate on it, don't marry him." Methinks he can afford to buy a nice rink, uh, ring now.
posted by gnz2001 at 12:39 PM on July 21, 2003
look at Ben Curtis, he certainly didn't prepare by playing a lot of links golf. He did, however, come in with no expectations on placement, but with confidence in his game. He was, though, as the people at Sandwich noted, the first professional to arrive at the course, and had more time to get acquainted with the links while many the big boys went after the money at Loch Lomond. And that also gave him time to shake the jetlag out of his game. Good points, though.
posted by etagloh at 04:49 PM on July 21, 2003
If preparing for links golf was such an advantage, the leaderboard would've looked much more European, since they play links regularly and especially leading up to the Open. Actually, the links course is a dying breed, even in Europe, particularly with the bloated European tour: if you look at the European preparation for the Open this year, it was on target-golf courses such as the K Club in Kildare (an Arnold Palmer-designed course) and Loch Lomond (designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish and opened in 1994). And as the BBC's commentators have said, it's actually rare these days to play on a links course in the conditions that Sandwich brought to the Open: that is, windy and dry, rather than teeming down with rain.
posted by etagloh at 04:58 PM on July 21, 2003
was this a demonstration of 'golf the way it should be', on a tough links course carved out by the elements rather than designed on a PC? Yes, in that major championship golf should be very difficult, and it was certainly a demonstration of steady play under difficult and unpredictable course conditions. Did the world's top golfers under-prepare by seeking out big bucks on very different courses? No. I could say: look at Ben Curtis, he certainly didn't prepare by playing a lot of links golf. He did, however, come in with no expectations on placement, but with confidence in his game. After that, it's "stay out of your way" and see what happens. With so many big names close to the lead, it wouldn't be fair to say Curtis' win was a fluke. He managed his game and the course the best. I don't think the 'top golfers' should've prepared any different. If preparing for links golf was such an advantage, the leaderboard would've looked much more European, since they play links regularly and especially leading up to the Open. Is this the start of a rise to prominence for Curtis, or just a flash in the pan? Just a flash in the pan, I say, though he will have much more security to pursue his golf career, since he will now have PGA TOUR membership for five years with invites to all the majors. For a struggling Hooters tour pro, that weight off his shoulders, not to mention the $1.1 million paycheck, will help him to succeed on the PGA TOUR.