now comes what might be the really tough part for Ben Curtis - trying to convince others that Sandwich was not a freak result.

When you have won the Open championship ranked 396th in the world questions will inevitably be asked. And the most unexpected Major winner in recent times was instantly aware of that.

''Right now many people are probably saying 'Well, he doesn't really belong there','' said the 26-year-old American, who took the Claret Jug home not just from the first Open he had played, but also the first Major.

''But I know I do, so that's all that matters.''

The harsh truth is that Curtis backed into the title. From two ahead he played the last seven holes in four over par and won only because Thomas Bjorn played the last four in four over.

It does not make good reading put in that light, but a lot of Majors are won by simply hanging in there as best you can even when par becomes an unreachable goal.

Yes, Curtis was a virtual unknown - a rookie without a coach, without any real experience of links golf and with a caddie he had not met before. But he went out and hung in there better than Tiger Woods, better than Ernie Els, better than anybody.

He is the first man since John Daly to make his maiden US Tour win a Major, the first since Tom Watson to grab the Open at his first attempt and the first, it is thought as records are hard to find on this, since Francis Ouimet in 1913 to win a Major without any previous experience of them.

It was a stunning achievement. Until last week Daly was the lowest-ranked player to become a Major champion since the world rankings were introduced in 1986. Daly was 168th, whereas Curtis was 228 places below that!

He might care to talk to Paul Lawrie, the only other player from outside the top 100 to win a Major in the last 17 years, about suddenly being thrust into the limelight.

Lawrie held the same trophy aloft in 1999 only because Jean Van de Velde triple-bogeyed the last hole and, even though he then gave a brilliant performance in the subsequent play-off, he does not feel he has been given enough recognition for his achievement.

''There are not many British-born Major winners, so I do feel a little bit aggrieved,'' said the Scot, who admits he is partly responsible for that because he opted for the continuation of ''a normal life'' rather than Beckham-style exposure.

Curtis knows his life changed the moment that Bjorn, stunned by letting his three-stroke lead disappear over the closing stretch, failed to get the birdie he needed to tie on the last.

''I want to keep as normal as possible. I'm a normal guy with a lot of talent,'' he said.

''My life is going to change, but I'm looking forward to it. A lot of great challenges lie ahead of me. It's going to be awesome.

''I came here just trying to play the best I could and I would have been happy just to make the cut.

''To win is unbelievable and I can't describe how I feel. I was so focused on what I was doing that I didn't really think about winning.

''I was shaking in my boots, obviously, but I let my work speak for itself. I feel like my game is good for Major championship golf.

''There's so many professional golfers out there that set the dream just to win a Major. I did it at my first try.''

The first time Curtis joined some pretty good company was three years ago, emulating Arnold Palmer by winning two successive Ohio amateur championships. The same year he was a member of the four-man American side that won the world team title in Germany - Britain and Ireland were second with a line-up that included Luke Donald and Paul Casey.

He turned professional soon afterwards, but needed three attempts to come through the US Tour qualifying school, finally making it last December with just one stroke to spare. This was just his 16th tour start.

Just how much of an outsider he was until now can also be measured by the fact that he has spent what he reckons was ''a brief 20 seconds'' in the company of Woods - and that was eight or nine years ago.

He will be seeing a lot more of him in the future.

Curtis can play in every Open until 2043, he is in the next five Masters, United States Opens and US PGA championships, the next ten Players Championships and he does not have to worry about the qualifying school for five years.