Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Sunday

Ben Curtis Wins British Open

Aired July 20, 2003 - 16:49   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.


SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everyone. The Tiger wasn't strong enough, the great Dane simply couldn't catch up. We're not talking about wild animals but about a wild finish at the British Open. An unknown American named Ben Curtis, not Ben Crenshaw, not Curtis Strange, outlasting the biggest names in golf to win what many consider the biggest prize in golf, certainly the most storied. Joining us now to talk about this great story is Brain Katrek of pgatour.com. Brian, thanks for coming in today. Greatly appreciate it.
BRIAN KATREK, CONTRIBUTOR PGATOUR.COM: Sean, it's great to be here. This is a festive day in the world of golf.

CALLEBS: What was it like watching that. When he started out and he had a great round going today, but you had to wonder, OK, when is the bottom going to fall out?

KATREK: I think that people probably wondered that about most of the field, everybody except possibly Tiger, maybe Vijay Singh. And it just never did, and actually he thought it did in the back nine. Ben Curtis went out at 32, was 4 under par, gotten to six under par at one point in the tournament, fore bogeys on the back nine, he thought he was done. That putt right there it meant a lot at the time, but he had no idea that was the putt to win the British Open.

CALLEBS: You know, if he would have had to stand over that par putt on 18 knowing the field was out there and it was either playoff or walk home with the Clarett Jug, how much more difficult would that have been?

KATREK: There's no words to describe it. I mean, this is not only his first professional major victory it's his first professional major appearance, first time he's played in a major.

CALLEBS: And this was a guy who was not even an also ran on the tour. Best finish 13th.

KATREK: Never had a top ten finish, came through Q school tied for 26th and got through there a couple years on the hooters tour. Yes, it's utterly amazing. This may be the most -- the biggest come from behind or come out of no where victory in the history of the majors.

CALLEBS: A little bit about this guy. He's won the U.S. amateurs, the Ohio amateur two times. His dad and everybody else just north of Columbus, Ohio watching cheering wildly today. How much is this young man's life changed?

KATREK: It's changed immensely. He no longer has to go to Q school. He's got an exemption now on the PGA tour, he is into the British Open for the next ten years, he doesn't have to worry about Q school for five years. His life's completely changed. A great heralded amateur career, a semi finalist in the U.S. Amateur today David Gosett (ph), the only other two players to win the Ohio amateur twice, Arnold Palmer and John Cook. Those are some pretty good names. And now all of a sudden Ben Curtis looks like he's belonging in that group.

CALLEBS: Maybe this guy is living up to the pedigree. Let's talk about Tiger. Going in he was what, a couple of shots off the lead going in today. He played relatively well, but U.S. golfers don't play links golf very much, and I think it kind of showed toward the end. I mean, none of these guys came in strong, and Tiger is now 0 for 3 this year in the majors.

KATREK: Well and now all of a sudden we can say he's back in a slump again.

CALLEBS: I'm not going to say that. I would never say that.

KATREK: There's been 1 tournament since he won. This golf course -- and again I don't want to say this to take anything away from Ben Curtis. This golf course was unfair. You heard a little bit about it from Davis Love, a little bit about it from Tiger Woods. This is not a surprise that this is the least fair golf course and setup since Carnoustie (ph) back in '99. And Paul Larie won that. And if it had not been him it would have been John Vandebelt.

CALLEBS: Which is the worst collapse anybody will ever see in major golf ever. I don't think it will ever be that bad again.

KATREK: It could be.

CALLEBS: Let's talk about Thomas Bjorn. the great Dane. Double bogeyed 16. Left a shot in the putt bunker on 16. Bogeyed 17. Struggled, bogeyed 18. What happened to this guy?

KATREK: Well, this is part of it. This is not a bad shot. That ball's out of the bunker by 20 feet. And Ian Baker Finch who's part of the TNT and ABC broadcast team, who's won this tournament before, called the bunkers vacuum cleaners. And you see that right there. That ball was out by 20 feet, comes back in. I don't snow if it was a mental lapse, or a physical lapse, just a really bad break on the 70th hole of the championship and it cost Thomas Bjorn a major.

CALLEBS: But quickly, people are going to remember this for Ben Curtis. They aren't going to remember it for being a tough course that tripped up Tiger, Vijay Singh, and everybody else down the finals.

KATREK: That's the way it should be remembered, Sean. Ben Curtis went out there, qualified at the western open, set his mind to it, and won his very first major championship. CALLEBS: And just to give you an idea today, Ben Curtis's paycheck, in U.S. dollars 1 million one hundred twelve thousand dollars, seven hundred and twenty bucks.

KATREK: He's going to have to declare that at the airport.

CALLEBS: Brian, thanks for coming in.

KATREK: You got it.

CALLEBS: Appreciate it, thanks much.

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 20, 2003 - 16:49   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everyone. The Tiger wasn't strong enough, the great Dane simply couldn't catch up. We're not talking about wild animals but about a wild finish at the British Open. An unknown American named Ben Curtis, not Ben Crenshaw, not Curtis Strange, outlasting the biggest names in golf to win what many consider the biggest prize in golf, certainly the most storied. Joining us now to talk about this great story is Brain Katrek of pgatour.com. Brian, thanks for coming in today. Greatly appreciate it.
BRIAN KATREK, CONTRIBUTOR PGATOUR.COM: Sean, it's great to be here. This is a festive day in the world of golf.

CALLEBS: What was it like watching that. When he started out and he had a great round going today, but you had to wonder, OK, when is the bottom going to fall out?

KATREK: I think that people probably wondered that about most of the field, everybody except possibly Tiger, maybe Vijay Singh. And it just never did, and actually he thought it did in the back nine. Ben Curtis went out at 32, was 4 under par, gotten to six under par at one point in the tournament, fore bogeys on the back nine, he thought he was done. That putt right there it meant a lot at the time, but he had no idea that was the putt to win the British Open.

CALLEBS: You know, if he would have had to stand over that par putt on 18 knowing the field was out there and it was either playoff or walk home with the Clarett Jug, how much more difficult would that have been?

KATREK: There's no words to describe it. I mean, this is not only his first professional major victory it's his first professional major appearance, first time he's played in a major.

CALLEBS: And this was a guy who was not even an also ran on the tour. Best finish 13th.

KATREK: Never had a top ten finish, came through Q school tied for 26th and got through there a couple years on the hooters tour. Yes, it's utterly amazing. This may be the most -- the biggest come from behind or come out of no where victory in the history of the majors.

CALLEBS: A little bit about this guy. He's won the U.S. amateurs, the Ohio amateur two times. His dad and everybody else just north of Columbus, Ohio watching cheering wildly today. How much is this young man's life changed?

KATREK: It's changed immensely. He no longer has to go to Q school. He's got an exemption now on the PGA tour, he is into the British Open for the next ten years, he doesn't have to worry about Q school for five years. His life's completely changed. A great heralded amateur career, a semi finalist in the U.S. Amateur today David Gosett (ph), the only other two players to win the Ohio amateur twice, Arnold Palmer and John Cook. Those are some pretty good names. And now all of a sudden Ben Curtis looks like he's belonging in that group.

CALLEBS: Maybe this guy is living up to the pedigree. Let's talk about Tiger. Going in he was what, a couple of shots off the lead going in today. He played relatively well, but U.S. golfers don't play links golf very much, and I think it kind of showed toward the end. I mean, none of these guys came in strong, and Tiger is now 0 for 3 this year in the majors.

KATREK: Well and now all of a sudden we can say he's back in a slump again.

CALLEBS: I'm not going to say that. I would never say that.

KATREK: There's been 1 tournament since he won. This golf course -- and again I don't want to say this to take anything away from Ben Curtis. This golf course was unfair. You heard a little bit about it from Davis Love, a little bit about it from Tiger Woods. This is not a surprise that this is the least fair golf course and setup since Carnoustie (ph) back in '99. And Paul Larie won that. And if it had not been him it would have been John Vandebelt.

CALLEBS: Which is the worst collapse anybody will ever see in major golf ever. I don't think it will ever be that bad again.

KATREK: It could be.

CALLEBS: Let's talk about Thomas Bjorn. the great Dane. Double bogeyed 16. Left a shot in the putt bunker on 16. Bogeyed 17. Struggled, bogeyed 18. What happened to this guy?

KATREK: Well, this is part of it. This is not a bad shot. That ball's out of the bunker by 20 feet. And Ian Baker Finch who's part of the TNT and ABC broadcast team, who's won this tournament before, called the bunkers vacuum cleaners. And you see that right there. That ball was out by 20 feet, comes back in. I don't snow if it was a mental lapse, or a physical lapse, just a really bad break on the 70th hole of the championship and it cost Thomas Bjorn a major.

CALLEBS: But quickly, people are going to remember this for Ben Curtis. They aren't going to remember it for being a tough course that tripped up Tiger, Vijay Singh, and everybody else down the finals.

KATREK: That's the way it should be remembered, Sean. Ben Curtis went out there, qualified at the western open, set his mind to it, and won his very first major championship. CALLEBS: And just to give you an idea today, Ben Curtis's paycheck, in U.S. dollars 1 million one hundred twelve thousand dollars, seven hundred and twenty bucks.

KATREK: He's going to have to declare that at the airport.

CALLEBS: Brian, thanks for coming in.

KATREK: You got it.

CALLEBS: Appreciate it, thanks much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com