FARMINGTON, Pa. -- Ben Curtis, start-to-finish steady on a day when the leaderboard was filled with higher scores than the previous three days, claimed a win for the second time in three months by winning the 84 LUMBER Classic by two shots Sunday.

Not only keeping his lead but building on it down the stretch, he broke out of a four-way tie for the lead at the turn with Charles Howell III, Robert Garrigus and Ryan Moore by getting three birdies in a span of five holes from No. 12 through No. 16, thanks to some excellent putting.

But it was a par during that stretch may have won it for him, and the $828,000 first prize for finishing at 14-under 274, two ahead of Howell.

Curtis flew a shot over the par-4 14th green and onto a grassy, uphill apron that left him with an extremely difficult shot. But he used a utility club -- the same one that helped him win the 2003 British Open -- to roll it to about 12 feet, then sank that putt to save par and stay in the lead.

Curtis won the Booz Allen Classic in late June, his first victory since that British Open.

He went up by three shots by dropping a 13-footer on No. 15, when Howell three-putted from 49 feet, then effectively won it by sinking a 50-footer on the par-5 16th that allowed him to withstand a bogey on No. 17, a par 3.

Curtis won cheers from the Pittsburgh-area gallery by wearing black and gold colors for the fourth day in a row -- he is an avowed Browns fan who normally despises the Steelers. The former Kent State golfer won his third career title by holding off 15 others who began the day within three shots of the lead.

Some fans chanted "Here we go Steelers, here we go!" when Curtis walked past, but the frown on his face revealed his true colors -- namely brown, orange and white.

"I'm going to get my Browns hat out," he said.

This figures to be a very big week for Curtis, whose wife, Candace, is due to give birth any day to the couple's first child. Curtis is so eagerly awaiting the birth, he said he would skip the final round if his wife went into labor Sunday morning.

Not only did that not happen, Candace startled her husband by driving in from Ohio for the final round and walked onto the No. 18 green to give him a congratulatory hug.

"I got a little surprise from my wife," Curtis said.

Long before that, the sun came out, the temperature climbed into the 70s and rain-soaked greens dried up for the first time all week in western Pennsylvania's mountainous Laurel Highlands. That meant scores were generally higher than on Saturday, where 29 golfers shot in the 60s.

Divots: Curtis wears NFL colors as part of an endorsement contract with Reebok. ... Of the three Ryder Cup golfers left in the field, only Chris DiMarco (3 under) was below par. ... Howell, who took home $496,800, also finished second in New Orleans. Brett Quigley was third, three shots back, and won $312,800. ... Garrigus, a 2005 qualifying school graduate, tied with Ted Purdy for fourth, by far his best finish. Garrigus had only one other Top 15 finish, a 15th-place tie at the Cialis Western Open.

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