AVONDALE, La. — Ben Curtis knows how cruel sport can be. His favorite team, the Cleveland Browns, has had two winning seasons since returning to the N.F.L. in 1999. Even in their leanest years, the Browns have recorded at least two victories, which is perhaps why Curtis did not think twice before setting a goal of winning at least once a year on the PGA Tour.

At the time Curtis could not see the valley through the clouds. He was coming off a victory in the first major championship he had entered but learned soon enough that golf can be more heartbreaking than Earnest Byner’s fumble near the goal line in an A.F.C. championship game.

In the two years after he won the 2003 British Open at Royal St. George’s, Curtis missed 27 of 44 cuts. He did not have a top-10 finish in 23 events in 2011 and fell off the tour radar, his status so low he made only three starts — and earned one paycheck — in the first three months of 2012.

Curtis, 34, never lost his thirst for competition or his talent, but somewhere along the way he misplaced his putting stroke.