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Talk With Father of Ben Curtis
Aired July 21, 2003 - 13:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LARRY SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: What a great story. Ben Curtis, 26- year-old rookie ranked 396th in the world.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: This as good an upside as you get in sports, period.
SMITH: It is. It's like me winning a tournament, any tournament at all.
In fact, we have his dad on the phone, Bob -- Bob Curtis.
Mr. Curtis, are you there?
BOB CURTIS, FATHER OF BEN CURTIS: Yes I am.
SMITH: Welcome to CNN.
CURTIS: Well, thank you.
SMITH: And what have the last 24 hours been like for you and your family?
CURTIS: Well, they've been the longest and the shortest that I think I've ever spent. We've been very busy, and really haven't had time to reflect on it very much yet.
SMITH: I understand you're at the airport, or on your way to the airport in Cleveland, to pick Ben up, is that right?
CURTIS: We're on our way to the airport to greet him, actually. Candice (ph), his fiancees parents, are going to actually pick him up. He lives in that area now. We're just there to greet him and let him take us out to dinner.
SMITH: Well, he won $1.1 million. I think he can afford that.
CURTIS: Steak and lobster would be good.
O'BRIEN: Probably doesn't need an airplane to get back, he's flying so high.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: He's going on jet.
Bob, I got a question for you. You are a golf course superintendent. I guess we were reading, it's your father or your wife's father built the Mill Creek Golf Course, and he used to practice on this, I guess as a little boy? CURTIS: Yes, it's my wife's father built it and designed it, and Ben played there. We lived on the 18th, and he played there basically up until he moved off to college.
PHILLIPS: So would he be out there on the holes late at night in his pajamas?
CURTIS: He went to the putting green one night when he was about five in his pajamas at 11:00, and the little footies in them and decided to do some footing. Little tiger woods slippers.
PHILLIPS: It was the putt that won it for him.
O'BRIEN: Didn't Arnold Palmer grow up in the same way? He grew up on a course his dad was involved with?
Anyway, just tell us what he is, in the conversations you've had with your son, what is he saying? Is he just -- can he believe it? Is he understanding what has happened to him, or has he not been able to absorb it?
CURTIS: Well, actually, we only got to talk to him for just a few minutes after the ceremony yesterday. So you know, there he was very excited, and had giggles and laughing, and he was having a good time and really enjoying it, but we haven't talked to him since then.
SMITH: Bob, I've got 10 seconds. Very quickly, what was it like as a father to watch your son first year on the tour win an event like the British Open, one of the greatest events in all of golf?
CURTIS: Well, it makes you so proud and just happy that he turned out to be the nice young man that he is.
SMITH: What a great future, too. Hey, congratulations to you and your family.
CURTIS: Thank you very much.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Bob.
SMITH: Bob Curtis, father of Ben Curtis, 26-year-old, in case you missed it. What a great win it was Sunday at the British Open to beat -- and the big names out there, too, that were right, behind him, Thomas Bjorn and Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, all chasing him, and he still got it done.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 21, 2003 - 13:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LARRY SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: What a great story. Ben Curtis, 26- year-old rookie ranked 396th in the world.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: This as good an upside as you get in sports, period.
SMITH: It is. It's like me winning a tournament, any tournament at all.
In fact, we have his dad on the phone, Bob -- Bob Curtis.
Mr. Curtis, are you there?
BOB CURTIS, FATHER OF BEN CURTIS: Yes I am.
SMITH: Welcome to CNN.
CURTIS: Well, thank you.
SMITH: And what have the last 24 hours been like for you and your family?
CURTIS: Well, they've been the longest and the shortest that I think I've ever spent. We've been very busy, and really haven't had time to reflect on it very much yet.
SMITH: I understand you're at the airport, or on your way to the airport in Cleveland, to pick Ben up, is that right?
CURTIS: We're on our way to the airport to greet him, actually. Candice (ph), his fiancees parents, are going to actually pick him up. He lives in that area now. We're just there to greet him and let him take us out to dinner.
SMITH: Well, he won $1.1 million. I think he can afford that.
CURTIS: Steak and lobster would be good.
O'BRIEN: Probably doesn't need an airplane to get back, he's flying so high.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: He's going on jet.
Bob, I got a question for you. You are a golf course superintendent. I guess we were reading, it's your father or your wife's father built the Mill Creek Golf Course, and he used to practice on this, I guess as a little boy? CURTIS: Yes, it's my wife's father built it and designed it, and Ben played there. We lived on the 18th, and he played there basically up until he moved off to college.
PHILLIPS: So would he be out there on the holes late at night in his pajamas?
CURTIS: He went to the putting green one night when he was about five in his pajamas at 11:00, and the little footies in them and decided to do some footing. Little tiger woods slippers.
PHILLIPS: It was the putt that won it for him.
O'BRIEN: Didn't Arnold Palmer grow up in the same way? He grew up on a course his dad was involved with?
Anyway, just tell us what he is, in the conversations you've had with your son, what is he saying? Is he just -- can he believe it? Is he understanding what has happened to him, or has he not been able to absorb it?
CURTIS: Well, actually, we only got to talk to him for just a few minutes after the ceremony yesterday. So you know, there he was very excited, and had giggles and laughing, and he was having a good time and really enjoying it, but we haven't talked to him since then.
SMITH: Bob, I've got 10 seconds. Very quickly, what was it like as a father to watch your son first year on the tour win an event like the British Open, one of the greatest events in all of golf?
CURTIS: Well, it makes you so proud and just happy that he turned out to be the nice young man that he is.
SMITH: What a great future, too. Hey, congratulations to you and your family.
CURTIS: Thank you very much.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Bob.
SMITH: Bob Curtis, father of Ben Curtis, 26-year-old, in case you missed it. What a great win it was Sunday at the British Open to beat -- and the big names out there, too, that were right, behind him, Thomas Bjorn and Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, all chasing him, and he still got it done.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
