By Frank Malley, PA Chief Sports Writer

In the end the most unpredictable golf championship in years gave us the most unlikely of winners - Ben Curtis.

And anyone who watched the events which triggered detonations of cheers all around Royal St George's must have been left breathless and more than a little bemused.

Ben who? You might well ask. In the Brazilian rain forest of newsprint which greeted the morning of the Open's final round there was not a mention of Curtis, but for his name at one over on the list of scores.

But as he progressively rose on the final day scoreboard the American reporters in the press marquee and the television producers outside scurried around trying to discover something about one of their own.

Incredibly, Curtis was playing his first major championship. He was ranked 396 in the world. He had never won a tournament on the Tour. A 26-year-old rookie by any yardstick even if he did come from Kent - in Ohio that is.

Yet he had held off the challenge of the world's best, including eight-time major champion Tiger Woods whose own verdict was that Curtis's victory was "pretty remarkable".

And so it was. In his own way Curtis's achievement was as stunning as the night Buster Douglas left Mike Tyson staring at the ceiling of the Tokyo Dome.

It ranked with the feat of Boris Becker, coming to Wimbledon as a 17-year-old and flying back to Germany with the most famous gold trophy in tennis. Or John Daly, 168th in the world and a first reserve, winning the USPGA.

For a man of such inexperience to control the nerves, handle the emotions and at the same time display his burgeoning talent in its brightest hue was verging on the impossible.

But no more remarkable than the twists and turns of the sort of sporting day which has become unique to the Open championship - an afternoon when the leaderboard took on the characteristics of a game of snakes and ladders.

Up climbed Vijay Singh, down slid Davis Love, up went Philip Price, down went Kenny Perry, up went Nick Faldo, then down went Nick Faldo - and all the while Sergio Garcia visited the sorts of places known only to Kent hackers, even if he did extricate himself from most of them with typical Spanish expertise.

By the 11th hole Curtis had taken a grip on the tournament at five under par and leading by two shots.

Could he hang on? Could he do what so many before him had failed to do, notably Jean Van de Velde the day he paddled in a greenside burn at Carnoustie while the old Claret Jug slipped through his hands?

It did not look that way when he had slipped to one under after 17 holes and Denmark's Thomas Bjorn was leading the Open by three shots.

In most sporting contests, however, invariably there is a winner and a loser. And for all that the new name of Curtis was engraved tonight on that silver jug this Open was lost by Bjorn - just as much, if not more than it was won by Curtis - in a greenside bunker at the 16th.

Twice Bjorn attempted to splash out of that bunker only to see his ball slip back down the upturned saucer of a green and roll agonisingly into the sand. Manfully he made it at the third attempt but by now Curtis was in the clubhouse having posted his score and Bjorn's nerves were as frazzled as the fairways at a scorched Sandwich.

A play-off was still possible but once the momentum has swung in this most technical of games you might as well try to turn the tide on this Kent shoreline.

Thus there was an air of inevitability about the five-feet par putt Bjorn missed at the 17th which left Curtis all alone at the top of the Open leaderboard.

Minutes later the man no-one knew was giving a speech to 200million watching world-wide and his name was engraved alongside that of legends such as Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

Unbelievable? Almost.

But, after marrying his fiancee Candice, he'll be back next year to defend his championship at Troon and the thought brought tears of joy to his eyes.

It had been an emotional rollercoaster of a day - as much for everyone who witnessed it as for a man called Ben Curtis.