photo provided by Kent State University
British Open champion Ben Curtis when he attended Kent State and played golf under coach Herb Page. Photo by Jeff Glidden
Ben Curtis was introduced to golf when he was just 3 years old, and the love he felt for the sport grew into his award-winning career.
An Ohio native, he played golf at Kent State University, and he later won the 2003 British Open — on his first try.
“It was amazing. It’s the biggest tournament in the world,” says Curtis, who also was on the winning Team USA at the 2008 Ryder Cup and won the PGA Tour four times. “Every great player that’s ever played this game has won that tournament. To be in that same class, it’s an unbelievable feeling.”
Now retired from competitive golf, the 45-year-old Kent resident’s passion is coaching, which he does at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent — where he coaches his son, Liam Curtis — and at his Ben Curtis Golf Academy in Hudson, mostly focused on individual lessons for middle and high schoolers. He also coaches some college students, including at Kent State.
Over time, he and his wife, Candace, decided to stay in Northeast Ohio, and they run the Ben Curtis Family Foundation, which partners with schools in Portage, Summit and Stark counties to combat childhood food insecurity.
“We had a place in Florida, but it just never felt like home,” Curtis says. “There’s a lot of people that are in our same boat that feel the same way. It says a lot about [Ohio’s] people and about the cities and towns.”
The international athlete now focuses on local success, drawing from his victories and guiding students toward their own wins.
“[Coaching is] a great way to help these young men and women that want to play, want to do what I did. As a young kid, I had this dream of playing on the PGA Tour. So I just want to help them, guide them through that process.
When the job became open at Roosevelt, [Liam] was like, Will you do it? I’m like, Well, I don’t want to get in the way. I want to be able to watch. He was very adamant that I coach, and I think he enjoys it.
It’s also fun to tell stories. He’s asking questions about the [PGA] Tour.
He’s really gotten a drive for it.
We want him to go out and beat every record that I’ve done or everything that I’ve accomplished — beat it big time.
I try to keep it simple for the kids. Let them know it’s a fun sport. You learn a lot by playing. Experience, it’s probably more valuable than anything I would ever say.
Seeing our [Roosevelt] kids win the Suburban League was a joy and how much fun they had doing it.
When my son made it to States last year, that was a big thrill.
He gets that adrenaline. And same when I won my other events.
They’re the moments you live for, right? You do all the hard work for those moments.
It’s something I’ll never forget.” — as told to Alexandra Sobczak
