Curtis among former Open champs to miss the cut

Ben Curtis, who shocked the golf world by winning the 2003 Open, missed the cut Friday by four shots. Joining Curtis among the early departures from Royal Troon are former champs Greg Norman and Nick Faldo, along with 2003 U.S. Open winner Jim Furyk and PGA Championship runner-up Chad Campbell.

TROON, Scotland (AP) - Hardly anyone knew Ben Curtis when he won The Open Championship a year ago. And few noticed his early exit Friday from blustery Royal Troon.

Missing the halfway cut by four strokes with a 75-74, the American joined a long line of former Open champions who won't be around this weekend at the seaside course on the Firth of Clyde.

Curtis, a 500-1 longshot a year ago, played in a threesome with Nick Faldo -- another former champion to miss the cut.

"He tried his best," Faldo said of his playing partner. "He tried on everything."

A year ago, Curtis became the first man since Francis Ouimet in 1913 to win a major in his first attempt. Since then, he's missed the cut in three of the four majors. In the U.S. Open where he made it, he finished 18 strokes behind winner Retief Goosen.

"It just didn't seem like I got any good breaks this week," said Curtis, playing in a wind that Faldo called "fiddly." "That's just the way it goes. There's always next year, next time around and next week."

As a former champion, the 27-year-old Ohioan is exempt until his 66th birthday.

Three-time winner Faldo turns 47 on Sunday, so time is running out after rounds of 76-77. He was not so matter-of-fact. Asked if he was disappointed, Faldo snapped back: "Are you kidding? It's eating me up."

Faldo also missed the cut this year in the Masters and U.S. Open.

Two-time champion Greg Norman bowed out with 73-76, the first time in 24 years he missed the British Open cut. Norman was as emphatic as Faldo.

"From my perspective, my putting was just very, very pathetic -- and everything else," said the 49-year-old Australian. "I just couldn't get anything going. End of story."

"I was working at my game coming in here, I really was. I just had a bad feel with the putting and couldn't get anything going."

Also going home is last year's U.S. Open winner Jim Furyk and PGA Championship runner-up Chad Campbell.

Campbell, who has risen to No. 13 in the world rankings, has missed the cut in all three majors this year -- the last two by one stroke.

Other former Open winners are on the way home including Paul Lawrie (1999), Tom Lehman ('96), John Daly ('95), and 61-year-old Tom Weiskopf, who won his only major 31 years ago at Troon but shot back-to-back 80s. Lawrie is the last European to win a major.

Mark O'Meara ('98) and Mark Calcavecchia ('89) barely got through, shooting the final cutoff mark of 3-over 145. Nick Price ('94) and Justin Leonard ('97) were both even-par.

Adding in Ernie Els and Tiger Woods, the other former champion remaining is '85 winner Sandy Lyle. The 46-year-old Scot shot 73 to go with Thursday's 70.

David Duval, who won three years ago, pulled out on Wednesday with a back injury.

"It's a minefield out there," Lyle said of deep bunkers and stiff wind.

"The second round for me at the moment is the hardest round," he added. "I never liked Friday very much anyway. But I don't mind Friday night when you have made the cut."

Copyright (c)2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.