‘Well done if you backed him.’ A line that would have be banded around a fair bit immediately after the 133rd Open Championship. In fairness to then 38-year-old American Todd Hamilton, he was ranked 56th in the world at the time; he’d also won on the PGA Tour several months prior to lifting the Claret Jug at Royal Troon. However, it would be fair to say the man from Galesbugh, Illinois was one of the more unfancied runners that week.
It’s also probably fair to say that most armchair fans – certainly those in Europe – didn’t know much about the American who would walk off with the Claret Jug. This was a player who spent most of career competing in Japan, and he arrived in South Ayrshire in 2004 for what was just his fourth Open Championship.
Hamilton opened up the week with a solid if unspectacular round of 71, but he followed that with a pair of 67s to take a one-shot lead over Ernie Els of South Africa going into the final round. Masters champion Phil Mickelson was lurking too, as was US Open champion Retief Goosen, whilst a certain Tiger Woods was just four shots back. If Hamilton was going to win, he was going to have to hold off a number of the world’s best players.
For Els, this was a golden opportunity to claim his second Open title, his first coming just two years earlier at Muirfield. A fourth Major Championship would further cement his status as one of the game’s greats, too, while Mickelson had recently got the Major monkey off his back with victory at Augusta.
“I haven’t been in a position in a tournament like this but I’ve played in a lot of golf tournaments around the world and I’m just going to try and make this seem like one of those other golf tournaments,” Hamilton said before his final round. Was he trying to downplay the challenge? If he was, it was a fine attitude to take into Sunday.
As it happened, the pressure on his shoulders probably didn’t feel quite as extreme after what happened early on in the final round. Mickelson and Thomas Levet burst out of the traps, and Hamilton dropped back to -7, just one ahead of Woods. Step aside, Mr H, it was now time for the big guns to battle it out.
However, this was a player who would not be intimidated by the names on the leaderboard, and he continued to show his creative side with his recovery wood from off the greens. It was a shot that served him well all week. Very well. He would not go away and by the time he reached the 18th, the pressure was on playing partner Els to make up a shot and force a playoff.
Nerves. They must have played a part on 18. Hamilton leaked his iron off the tee into heavy rough. Then, up stepped Els with his approach. Hamilton must have felt sick to see it settle 10 feet from the flag. From having one hand on the Claret Jug, there was now the possibility of the most untimely of two-shot swings.
When Hamilton missed his par effort, Els found himself eyeing up a 10-footer for birdie. It was not to be, the South African’s attempt veering hard to the left at the last moment. Extra holes would be required, with both players finishing on -10.
In the end, Hamilton settled it with that trusty little bump-and-run with his rescue. Els had bogyed the 17th, but once again he set up a good birdie opportunity on the final hole. The American was off the green but played a delightful hybrid that rolled out to two feet. Els would miss, leaving Hamilton his chance of glory – and he took it with both hands.
“I hit a lot of those shots in the practice round, not from 30 yards off the green, though,” Hamilton said afterwards when explaining his use of the hybrid chip-and-run. “It's a very versatile club. It's about a 14 degree loft, so it's basically a 1-iron, which is great to chip-and-run shots with.”
Tournaments are often remembered for players hitting spectacular shots when it matters most – think Woods’ putt at the 2008 US Open, his famous chip at Augusta, and Bryson DeChambeau’s bunker shot on the 72nd hole of the US Open at Pinehurst in June this year. Then there’s Hamilton’s hybrid – solid if unspectacular you might say. He was a worthy champion.
