2003 Open Championship: Ben Curtis wins at Royal St George's Golf Club
Ben Curtis won the 2003 Open Championship at Royal St George's Golf Club, Sandwich, England with 283 (−1), by 1 stroke over Thomas Bjørn and Vijay Singh.
Updated October 23, 2026
See 2003 in The Open room, or every year on The Open winners list.
- Dates
- 17 July 2003 to 20 July 2003
- Course
- Royal St George's Golf Club, Sandwich, England
- Edition
- 132nd Open Championship
- Format
- 72 holes of stroke play
- Par
- 71
- Field
- 156
- Made the cut
- 75 (cut at 150)
- Purse
- £3,900,000 · winner's share £700,000
- Trophy
- Claret Jug (replica to winner)
- Champion
- Ben Curtis · age 26 · USA · born Columbus, USA
- Champion's title
- 1st Open title
- World ranking entering
- No. 396
- Winning score
- 72-72-70-69 = 283 (−1) · won by 1 stroke
- Runners-up
- Thomas Bjørn (284), Vijay Singh (284)
- 54-hole leader
- Thomas Bjørn (212) · Ben Curtis was 2 strokes back
- Deciding hole
- No. 16, round 4
- Caddie
- Andy Sutton
Top 14 as recorded
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Curtis | 72 | 72 | 70 | 69 | 283 | −1 |
| T2 | Vijay Singh | 75 | 70 | 69 | 70 | 284 | E |
| T2 | Thomas Bjørn | 73 | 70 | 69 | 72 | 284 | E |
| T4 | Tiger Woods | 73 | 72 | 69 | 71 | 285 | +1 |
| T4 | Davis Love III | 69 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 285 | +1 |
| T6 | Fredrik Jacobson | 70 | 76 | 70 | 70 | 286 | +2 |
| T6 | Brian Davis | 77 | 73 | 68 | 68 | 286 | +2 |
| T8 | Kenny Perry | 74 | 70 | 70 | 73 | 287 | +3 |
| T8 | Nick Faldo | 76 | 74 | 67 | 70 | 287 | +3 |
| T10 | Sergio García | 73 | 71 | 70 | 74 | 288 | +4 |
| T10 | Retief Goosen | 73 | 75 | 71 | 69 | 288 | +4 |
| T10 | Hennie Otto | 68 | 76 | 75 | 69 | 288 | +4 |
| T10 | Phillip Price | 74 | 72 | 69 | 73 | 288 | +4 |
| T10 | Gary Evans | 71 | 75 | 70 | 72 | 288 | +4 |
What happened at the 2003 Open Championship
Bjørn led by two with three to play, then needed three attempts to escape the greenside bunker at the 16th and made double bogey.
Curtis, playing his first major, holed an eight-foot par putt at the 18th to post 283, the only under-par total.
Bjørn, three ahead after birdieing the 14th, took three shots to get out of a greenside bunker at the 16th for a double bogey, dropping four shots in three holes as Curtis's 283 held up.
How this was built
Every value is shown as recorded in GNN's The Open data. A value no source confirmed is left out; nothing is estimated. Where sources disagree, the organizer's own record is used.
Data: the-open.json (The Open room's data), with GNN's Open Championship addendum tables L (top ten by round), H (deciding hole), W (final-day weather).