News >> Ben Curtis Captures Booz Allen Classic
Former Hooters Tour Member Earns Second PGA Victory
Potomac, MD (June 27, 2006)…It took six days but former Hooters Tour member Ben Curtis captured his second career PGA Tour title Tuesday at The Booz Allen Classic and first since winning the British Open in 2003.The Kent, Ohio native fired rounds of 62-65-67-70 for a four day total of twenty-under par 264, five shots better than Billy Andrade, Padraig Harrington, Nick O’Hern and Steve Stricker. Curtis’ 264 was one off of the tournament scoring record.
“It was just a big relief to get it done and finally get this win. I’ve been waiting for three years and it finally came,” said Curtis. “We bowed to the superintendents because they did a wonderful job of getting the course ready today. They’ve worked harder than we did to get this tournament done.”
Curtis took the Booz Allen Classic lead in the first round with a nine-under par 62 and went wire to wire for his first Tour win in nearly three years.
It was the first Tuesday finish on the PGA Tour in twenty-six years, but it was worth the wait for Curtis.
“Anyone who plays this game, they don’t want to be a 54-hole winner,” said Curtis. “Obviously you’ll take it, you won’t complain about it, but I think if you have your choice to play 72-holes, you want to play 72 holes.”
In two full seasons on the Hooters Tour in 2001 and 2002 Curtis collected one win and more than $91,500 in earnings. In his twenty-five career starts on the Hooters Tour, Curtis made the cut in twenty-three with seven top 5’s and twelve top ten’s.
The NGA/Hooters Tour is the 3rd largest men’s 72-hole professional golf tour in the country behind the PGA and Nationwide Tours, and boasts alumni like 2003 PGA champion Shaun Micheel, 2003 British Open champion Ben Curtis, 2003 US Open champion Jim Furyk, British Open and PGA champion John Daly, two-time US Open winner Lee Janzen, British Open champion Tom Lehman, as well as PGA champion David Toms, Tour Championship winner Chad Campbell, 2004 Bellsouth winner Zach Johnson and back to back Reno Tahoe Open winner Vaughn Taylor to name just a few. All told, the NGA/Hooters Tour alumni have an incredible nine Majors to their credit. The NGA Hooters Tour has helped more than 100 golf professionals acquire their PGA, Nationwide and Champion’s Tour card. In fact, 34% of the players that earned their 2006 PGA Tour cards, and 43% of the players that earned full exempt status on the Nationwide Tour started their careers on the NGA Hooters Tour.
For more information about the NGA Hooters Tour, please check out our website at www.hooterstour.com or contact the Tour office toll free at 800-992-8748.
