The Journeyman Arrives

Tour Rookie Hamilton Wins British Open

TROON, Scotland, July 18 -- The Latin motto at Royal Troon Golf Club reads "Tam arte quam marte," which translates "as much by skill as by strength." Todd Hamilton, a 38-year-old PGA Tour rookie who wandered golf's backwaters for most of his career, lived up to the standard as he made his way around the windswept seaside course Sunday in the 133rd British Open.

Winning a four-hole aggregate score playoff against Ernie Els by one shot, he was rewarded with the Claret Jug and the designation as "champion golfer of the year" as the unlikely winner of the Open.

With one final two-foot putt for par on the 18th green of the playoff, Hamilton recorded his fourth straight playoff par and defeated the world's second-ranked player, earning the largest payday of his life ($1.34 million) with a final-round 69.

For Els, runner-up in the Masters in April and tied for ninth in the U.S. Open last month, it was another opportunity missed to secure his fourth major title. His stretch run of three birdies on his final six holes over Royal Troon's rugged back nine -- not to mention a remarkable par out of a gorse bush at the 490-yard 11th -- left the two men tied at 10-under par 274 after 72 holes.

Els posted 68 and was the only player in the field with four rounds in the sixties. But he missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole of regulation that would have clinched his second British Open title in three years. Instead, this Open will be remembered for Hamilton's stunning 50-yard chip shot using a hybrid utility club he also smacked off the tee several times, leaving him that final two-footer.

"I think my pro career, not to be conceited or anything, is a pretty neat story," said Hamilton, who follows the equally obscure Ben Curtis as the British Open champion and is the seventh straight American to win the title at Troon. "The last year and a half has really just come out of the blue. I knew I was a decent golfer. I knew I tried hard. I knew I worked hard. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well, and a lot of times I felt in tournaments like this, I really didn't belong. Maybe all that can change now."

Els gave Hamilton credit for "staying with his game plan . . . sticking to his guns."

That strategy included avoiding pot bunkers because Hamilton has never been known as a wizard in the sand. He rarely used a driver, preferring irons off tees for accuracy over distance, and he played to his strengths -- chipping and putting close to save countless pars and make just enough birdies.

Els had a chance to write the story most assumed would unfold, especially after Hamilton's off-target iron off the 18th tee sailed into a deep, grassy lie in the rough on the 72nd hole. The matted fescue grabbed the club head on his second shot and the ball rocketed across the fairway into the left rough. When he chipped to within 15 feet and missed the par putt, the opening was there for Els, a two-time U.S. Open champion.

He had hit a seemingly perfect approach from the fairway that left himself 10 feet to navigate in front of the hole.

"That's the putt I'm going to be thinking about for a while," Els said of a right-to-left breaker that never came close to grazing the cup.

Els also will look back on a pulled 4-iron off the tee on the third extra hole of the playoff. After both parred the first two holes (Nos. 1 and 2), Hamilton hit his tee shot at the third, the 222-yard 17th, to within 25 feet of the pin. Els then pulled his own 4-iron into deep rough, and managed to get a difficult chip to within 12 feet. Hamilton two-putted for par, but Els missed his par-saving effort and fell a shot behind.

At the 76th hole, both men found the fairway, though Hamilton was allowed a free drop, leaving him 208 yards to the flag, because his iron off the tee had landed in a cross walk. Els hit a perfect drive, and after Hamilton's second shot landed 30 yards short of the green, the South African seemed in perfect position to take advantage, especially when he left himself a 20-footer for birdie.

Then it was Hamilton's turn to make some Open history. He did it with a utility club with 14 degrees of loft he employed more than a dozen times to chip over the last four days. He also used it off the tee as a substitute 1-iron. He ran his third shot to within two feet of the hole, and when Els missed his birdie putt and tapped in for par, Hamilton's final stroke secured a title he could only dream about while playing the Asian and Japanese tours.

"I've always felt that if you can win golf tournaments, whether it be a junior club championship, a ladies' club championship, The Players Championship . . . or the Japan Open, that can only benefit you in the long run," said Hamilton, who won 11 events on the Japanese tour, including four titles last year. He finally secured his PGA Tour card in qualifying school last December, the eighth time he had tried, then won the Honda Classic in February when he beat Davis Love III by a shot.

Hamilton, ranked 56th in the world, held off a number of other players Sunday. Phil Mickelson briefly shared the lead on the back nine before missing a three-foot par putt at 13. He birdied the 542-yard 16th to get within a shot of Hamilton, who birdied the same hole 20 minutes later with a 12-footer, and when Mickelson parred in for a 68-275, he fell a shot short of the playoff and had to settle for third place to go along with his runner-up finish in the U.S. Open.

Tiger Woods pushed into contention with back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth holes, only to see his chances dashed with bogeys at the 11th and 12th. He tied for ninth at 72-281, his ninth straight major without a victory.

Hamilton can look forward to a hero's welcome in his home town of Oquawka, Ill., four hours west of Chicago. Earlier in the week, he said it was best known for having an elephant buried in the town square. In 1972, a circus had come through, and an elephant had been chained to a tree that was struck by lightning. It died instantly and, rather than removing it, townspeople simply dug a large hole.

"And its name was Norma Jean," Hamilton said, "I swear to God!"