SANDWICH (England), July 20: Little-known American Ben Curtis produced one of the biggest surprises in major championship history on Sunday, winning the 132nd British Open by a stroke.

The 26-year-old Curtis, a 250-1 outsider at the start of the tournament, fired a closing 69 to finish at one-under 283, Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn having thrown away a three-shot lead with four holes remaining.

Ryder Cup player Bjorn, who bounced back from a bogey at the first with birdies at three, four, seven and 14, took three shots to escape from a greenside bunker at the par-three 16th.

He then bogeyed the par-four 17th, failing to get up and down from just off the green, to hand victory to the American.

Bjorn, who started the day one clear of the field, carded a one-over 72 to slip back into a tie for second with twice major winner Vijay Singh, who returned a 70.

The Dane will never forget, though, that he could have begun the last day three ahead had he not been penalised for striking the sand at the penultimate hole of his opening round, following a fluffed bunker shot, and been docked two strokes.

World number one Tiger Woods, who had been bidding for a ninth career major, faltered after a strong start, closing with a 71 to end up joint-fourth at one over, level with Davis Love III, who shot a 72.

Curtis, a rookie on the PGA Tour who qualified for the British Open by tying for 13th at the Western Open earlier this month, produced sparkling form with his approach play over the first 11 holes.

Appearing remarkably calm, he reeled off four birdies to reach the turn in four-under-par 32, at that point tied for the lead with Singh.

As Singh faltered at the eighth, Curtis picked up further shots at 10 and 11, rifling his approaches to five and 12 feet, to stretch his lead to two.

But the Ohio-based professional, a semifinalist at the 1999 US amateur championship, dropped his first shot of the day at the par-four 12th, where he failed to get up and down from the back of the green.

After finding the rough off the tee at the 459-yard 13th, Curtis also bogeyed 14, 15 and 17 to fade to one under, before Bjorn threw away his own golden chance of a major breakthrough with his poor finish.

Woods lost momentum with two bogeys around the turn after three early birdies in four holes had lifted him to within a stroke of then-leader Singh with 11 to play at a sun-drenched Royal St George’s.

But Woods dropped his first shot of the day at the 455-yard eighth, missing a five-foot putt for par, and also bogeyed the par-four 10th, where he found heavy rough with his second shot and failed to get up and down in two.

Although he reached the green in two to set up another birdie at the par-five 14th, he dropped further shots at the par-four 15th, where he overhit his approach, and at the 17th, where he also misjudged to slip back to level par.

The 27-year-old American, wearing his trademark final-round maroon shirt, had got off to a good start, making birdie at the par-five fourth for the third time this week and then sinking a curling 16-foot putt at the 420-yard fifth.

He then two-putted for birdie number three at the 532-yard seventh, briefly drawing level with Curtis and overnight leader Bjorn in a share of second place.

Six-time major champion Nick Faldo, who began the day five off the pace, briefly closed to within two of the lead with a birdie-three at the fifth and an eagle-three at the seventh, where he holed out from 20 feet.

However the 46-year-old Briton missed a four-foot putt at the eighth to run up a bogey-five and, despite further birdies at 11 and 14, dropped three shots in the last four holes for a closing 70 and a share of eighth place at three-over 287.

Collated final round scores (British unless stated):

283 — Ben Curtis (US) 72, 72, 70, 69.

284 — Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 73, 70, 69, 72; Vijay Singh (Fiji) 75, 70, 69, 70.

285 — Davis Love III (US) 69, 72, 72, 72; Tiger Woods (US) 73, 72, 69, 71.

286 — Brian Davis 77, 73, 68, 68; Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden) 70, 76, 70, 70.

287 — Nick Faldo 76, 74, 67, 70; Kenny Perry (US) 74, 70, 70, 73.

288 — Gary Evans 71, 75, 70, 72; Sergio Garcia (Spain) 73, 71, 70, 74; Retief Goosen (South Africa) 73, 75, 71, 69; Hennie Otto (South Africa) 68, 76, 75, 69; Phillip Price 74, 72, 69, 73.

289 — Stuart Appleby (Australia) 75, 71, 71, 72; Chad Campbell (US) 74, 71, 72, 72; Pierre Fulke (Sweden) 77, 72, 67, 73.

290 — Ernie Els (South Africa) 78, 68, 72, 72; Mathias Gronberg (Sweden) 71, 74, 73, 72; Greg Norman (Australia) 69, 79, 74, 68; Tom Watson (US) 71, 77, 73, 69.

291 — Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 75, 73, 70, 73; K.J. Choi (South Korea) 77, 72, 72, 70; Peter Fowler (Australia) 77, 73, 70, 71; Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 75, 73, 74, 69; Thomas Levet (France) 71, 73, 74, 73; J.L. Lewis (US) 78, 70, 72, 71.

292 — Mark Foster 73, 73, 72, 74; S.K. Ho (South Korea) 70, 73, 72, 77; Paul McGinley (Ireland) 77, 73, 69, 73; Andrew Oldcorn 72, 74, 73, 73; Nick Price (Zimbabwe) 74, 72, 72, 74; Mike Weir (Canada) 74, 76, 71, 71.

293 — Stewart Cink (US) 75, 75, 75, 68; Jose Coceres (Argentina) 77, 70, 72, 74; Bob Estes (US) 77, 71, 76, 69; Shingo Katayama (Japan) 76, 73, 73, 71; Scott McCarron (US) 71, 74, 73, 75; Adam Mednick (Sweden) 76, 72, 76, 69; Gary Murphy (Ireland) 73, 74, 73, 73; Marco Ruiz (Paraguay) 73, 71, 75, 74; Duffy Waldorf (US) 76, 73, 71, 73.

294 — Robert Allenby (Australia) 73, 75, 74, 72; Rich Beem (US) 76, 74, 75, 69; Tom Byrum (US) 77, 72, 71, 74.

295 — Markus Brier (Austria) 76, 71, 74, 74; Fred Couples (US) 71, 75, 71, 78; Brad Faxon (US) 77, 73, 70, 75; Mathew Goggin (Australia) 76, 72, 70, 77; Tom Lehman (US) 77, 73, 72, 73; Ian Poulter 78, 72, 70, 75; Anthony Wall 75, 74, 71, 75.

296 — Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 78, 72, 74, 72; Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 77, 73, 72, 74; Raphael Jacquelin (France) 77, 71, 72, 76; David Lynn 73, 76, 71, 76; Mark McNulty (Zimbabwe) 79, 71, 77, 69; Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 79, 71, 75, 71.

297 — Darren Clarke 75, 75, 71, 76; Alastair Forsyth 74, 70, 78, 75; Skip Kendall (US) 73, 76, 73, 75; Peter Lonard (Australia) 73, 73, 70, 81; Phil Mickelson (US) 74, 72, 73, 78; Craig Parry (Australia) 73, 73, 76, 75.

298 — Charles Howell III (US) 71, 76, 77, 74; Stephen Leaney (Australia) 74, 76, 78, 70; Len Mattiace (US) 74, 75, 74, 75; Mark O’Meara (US) 73, 77, 77, 71.

300 — Katsuyoshi Tomori (Japan) 72, 77, 75, 76.

301 — John Rollins (US) 72, 76, 78, 75.

302 — Chris Smith (US) 74, 73, 76, 79.

303 — John Daly (US) 75, 74, 74, 80; Ian Woosnam 73, 75, 80, 75.—Reuters