SANDWICH, England -- Even before the 132nd Open Championship began, the question was being asked: "Will Royal St. George's Golf Club identify the best golfer or the luckiest golfer?" In the wake of one of the biggest upsets in the sport's history, little-known 26-year-old Ben Curtis, a first-year professional from Columbus, Ohio, the same neck of the woods as Jack Nicklaus, is the British Open champion for 2003.

Was he lucky? Or was he good?

Probably both. As a raw rookie on the PGA Tour, Curtis doesn't yet have the pedigree that shouts out "major champion." Maybe he was just too inexperienced to understand he wasn't supposed to win.

But when it counted down the stretch, he made the shots when high-profile champions like Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Thomas Bjorn and Davis Love could not.

"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."

In the end, he made a crucial 12-foot putt for par at the 72nd hole, then waited while all those big names failed to make the killing shots to overtake him.

In the end, Curtis finished at one-under-par, the only player in the tournament to break par. Singh and Bjorn tied for second at even par, while Woods and Love were another shot back.

He becomes the first player to win a major championship for his first professional tournament win since John Daly won the PGA Championship in 1991.

"There's so many professional golfers out there who set the dream to win a major," said Curtis, just 26 and fresh off the Hooters Tour. "I did it my very first try and I feel I got a lot of lucky bounces and some that didn't go so well."

If there is a tragic figure from this Open Championship, it is Bjorn, the normally unflappable Dane, whose meltdown on the 16th hole opened the door for Curtis to win.

At about the same moment Curtis was making his crucial putt at 18, Bjorn, leading by two shots, was depositing his tee shot at the par-3 16th into a greenside bunker.

Twice he blasted out of the bunker and twice the ball trickled back into the sand. When he finally escaped, he had made a double-bogey five.

Clearly rattled, he proceeded to bogey the 17th, leaving Curtis all alone at the top.

"It was an expensive mistake," Bjorn said. "That's the way Open golf is and that's the way things happen on this golf course."

Early in the back nine, Curtis made a move, breaking clear of his pursuers. At one point, after his third straight birdie at 11, he got as low as 5-under but he came back to earth with bogeys at 12, 14, 15 and 17 and looked as if he'd fallen out of the picture.

But none of the others were capable of putting him to sleep. Both Singh and Woods had opportunities but couldn't capitalize.

"I made some poor shots and didn't make putts on the back nine," Woods said. "I had a chance. I was at 2-under-par there for a while, put myself in position, but I didn't make the shots."

As far as Curtis having luck on his side, Woods wasn't necessarily buying it.

"You can look at that in just about every major championship. It's going to work out for somebody. You've got to have things go your way in order to win."

In the wake of the victory, Curtis was incapable of putting his accomplishment in perspective. Two weeks ago, he qualified for this event by finishing 13th at the Western Open, an event that Woods won easily. In that tournament, Curtis barely survived the cut, then shot rounds of 68 and 69 on the weekend to earn his spot.

Criticisms of Royal St. George's centred upon its uneven fairways and landing areas, coupled with its many pot bunkers and penal rough. Players complained there was too much luck involved in whether a well-struck drive would be rewarded or thrown off into a bunker or the rough.

"It was a tough test," Love said. "Very, very tough. It seems like our majors are bordering on the unfair all the time. You see a lot of funny bounces deciding the majors and that's what's frustrating."

LEADER CARDS

Par out 443 543 544-36

Curtis 343 443 443-32

Singh 433 532 454-33

Bjorn 542 443 444-34

Woods 443 433 454-34

Love III 553 642 545-39

Par in 434 454 344-35-71-284

Curtis 325 465 354-37-69 -283

Singh 534 544 444-37-70 -284

Bjorn 434 445 554-38-72 -284

Woods 534 445 354-37-71 -285

Love III 333 354 354-33-72 -285