Ben Curtis posted a 2-under 69 Sunday to win the 132nd British Open Championship by one stroke. Curtis finished the tournament as the only player under par at 1-under-par 283 to make the major title his first career victory in 16 starts on the PGA Tour. Third-round leader Thomas Bjorn had the championship in hand but a costly double-bogey at the par-3 16th and a bogey at the 17th dropped him one back of Curtis, who was already in the clubhouse. While Curtis was taking practice shots, preparing for a possible play-off, Bjorn needed a birdie at the difficult 18th to force the extra session. Bjorn sent his drive into the rough and left his approach short of the green. His birdie effort from just off the putting surface missed the cup and victory belonged to Curtis. The PGA Tour rookie is the first player to win a major championship in his first start at a major since Francis Quimet captured the US Open in 1913. For Bjorn it was his second runner-up finish at the British Open. He finished alongside Vijay Singh in a tie for second at even-par 284. Tiger Woods, who was seeking his first major of the season, came up short with a final-round 71. Woods joined Davis Love III in a tie for fourth at 1-over-par 285. Curtis was two strokes off the lead to start the final round at Royal St. George’s and jumped out of the gate with a birdie at the opening hole to reach even par. Curtis two-putted for birdie at the fourth to take the lead for the first time. However, Singh ran off three consecutive birdies starting at the fifth to move into first alone. At the par-5 seventh, Curtis again two-putted for a birdie and knocked his approach to five feet at the ninth to match Singh at 3 under. Curtis took the outright lead again with a birdie at the 10th and pulled two shots clear of the field with a birdie at the 11th after his tee shot landed 6 feet from the cup. He struggled on the difficult closing holes with four bogeys down the stretch, but the six birdies Curtis collected over his first 11 holes were good enough to earn him the biggest victory of his career. Twice major champion Singh, playing with Woods, birdied four of the first seven holes to forge one clear of the field with 11 holes to play. Denmark’s Bjorn, who bounced back from a bogey at the first with birdies at three and four, had completed six holes while Curtis picked up four shots to reach the turn in four-under 32. Britain’s Phillip Price was alone in fifth place at even par after nine holes while Sergio Garcia, who offset a bogey-five at the first with a birdie at the 532-yard seventh, and Nick Faldo were a further stroke back in a tie for sixth. Six-times major champion Faldo, who began the day five off the pace, had briefly closed to within two of the lead with a birdie-three at the fifth and an eagle-three at the seventh, where he holed out from 20 feet. Although the 46-year-old Briton missed a four-foot putt at the eighth to run up a bogey-five, he struck his tee shot to a similar distance at the par-three 11th to get back to one over for the tournament. South Africa’s Hennie Otto, first-round leader after an opening 68, closed with a 69 to hold the clubhouse lead at four-over 288. Twice champion Greg Norman had made the first significant move among the early starters, firing a three-under-par 68 to hold the clubhouse lead at six-over 290. The 48-year-old Australian, winner of the last Open played at Sandwich in 1993, bogeyed the par-three third but reeled off three birdies in six holes to reach the turn in two-under 34. He picked up further shots at the 12th and 13th, but faltered with a bogey-five at the 428-yard 17th, where he overshot the green with his approach after splitting the fairway off the tee. Norman was later joined at six over by eight-times major winner Tom Watson, who closed with a two-under 69. John Daly, the 1995 champion at St Andrews, faded to a nine-over-par 80 for a 72-hole total of 19-over 303, level with 1991 US Masters winner Ian Woosnam, who returned a 75.
