The American outsider

Todd Hamilton, has surprised everyone by winning the British Open

Todd Hamilton

If Todd Hamilton's tale is talked about only as yet another outsider "" after Ben Curtis last year "" to win the British Open, it would indeed be an incomplete story. For it is also the story of golf's growing prominence in Asia.

Earlier this year, K J Choi was in contention for the Masters and ended up finishing third. At the Open, after remaining at the top three for the first two rounds, Choi slipped to 16th by finish and Jyoti Randhawa ended tied 27th.

Hamilton may have been born in Illinois and holds an American passport but when it comes to golf, he was discovered by Asia. Blessed with the calmness of a champion poker player, he showed little signs of nerves as the world watched him work around the often-unforgiving Royal Troon.

Hamilton was seven when he first began playing golf on a nine-hole course close to his home. But he took it up seriously only when he started attending college at the University of Oklahoma. The competitive college circuit prepared him for the tougher road ahead. Yet, when he turned pro in 1987, at age 22, he did not exactly have a dream start.

After two years on the Canadian Tour in 1988-89, he decided to turn to Asia, a route once taken by the late Payne Stewart way back in the early 1980s before hitting the big time. It was also the route Tom Lehmann had taken in the mid-1980s after an unhappy start to his pro career in the US. The story of Vijay Singh's rise through the golf courses of Asia, especially Malaysia, is also well-known.

When Hamilton first arrived in Asia, in 1988, the Asian Tour was loosely put together with a series of National Opens. There were no organised Tours but enough events to carry a good player through the year. But Hamilton was focused on becoming a successful pro not just in Asia but also in the US.

After turning pro, Hamilton found bucks in the US. Before he won the Asian Tour Merit List, he almost decided to give up golf. It appears that just before the start of the 1991-92 season, his backers had taken a decision to extend support for just one more year. Hamilton did not know of their decision but went on to become the top money earner and topped the Asian Order of Merit that year.

That gave him two tickets "" an exemption to the Japanese Tour for the following year and a berth at the British Open at Muirfield in 1992.

It was in Japan that Hamilton made his mark and money. In the decade since then, he won 11 international titles, six of them in Japan, including four in 2003.

He also won the Thailand Open, the Singapore Masters and the Korean Open in the 1990s. While playing in Japan, he would make a trip home every year to qualify for the US PGA Tour. On his eighth attempt in 2003, he managed to get an exempt card for 2004. He was tied 16th at the Q-School where Arjun Atwal came seventh and Daniel Chopra, sixth.

Hamilton had three starts in 2003. And last year, he launched his first full campaign on the PGA tour for the first time. He missed the cut in two of his first three events but claimed a 40th and a 15th before he played at the Honda Classic.

Rounds of 68, 66 and 68 gave him a four-shot lead going into the final round. As the pressure soared, he began to look shaky. Then came the terrific finish with birdies at the final two holes. He beat Davis Love by a single shot to capture his first US PGA Tour title.

He made the cut on his Masters debut but missed three weekends in succession after the Augusta event. The US Open at Shinnecock Hills came in the middle of another run of three missed cuts.

His debut at British Open was at Muirfield in 1992 where he finished 12 over and missed the cut. Four years later, he finished 44th at Lytham. But before winning this year, he had never shot a sub-70 round in the Open. This time, he managed as many as three in four.

No story on the 2004 British Open can be complete without the mention of Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods. While Woods struggled to keep his reputation intact, Els and Mickelson have been in the running at each of this year's three Majors.

Woods' winless streak at the Majors stands at nine. But he keeps talking about getting back to his 1999-2002 form. On the final day, for a while, it seemed he might well have been right. Standing on a five-foot birdie putt at the seventh, he was just two behind the leaders and had the putt fallen, he would have been just one behind. It didn't, and Woods faded away to ninth.

At Troon, Mickelson was third behind Hamilton and Els. Els, meanwhile, was beaten by an inspired Mickelson at the Masters and was very much in the title hunt at the start of the final day at the US Open.

But the treacherous Shinnecock Hills saw his score fall to 81 and he finished ninth. Hamilton barely managed to keep Els at bay despite that hiccup of a bogey at the final hole. In the play-off, Hamilton displayed the kind of calmness that only champions have. And now, he also has the Claret Jug to show for it.