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Hamilton ends Els dream in playoff drama
by Mark Thornhill, EM Publications.
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| Todd Hamilton is the
sixth American winner at Royal Troon. (photo by AP) |
Journeyman US Tour player Todd Hamilton beat Ernie Els in a play-off to secure
a shock win in the Open Championship at Royal Troon.
Hamilton, leading by one going down the last,
took a bogey, and left former Champion Els a 10-footer
for the title, which the big South African left
short. They both then teed up again at the first
in a four-hole playoff.
Masters champion Phil Mickelson was third on nine under, with England's Lee
Westwood fourth on his own at six under after a closing 67. Mickelson has followed
up his Masters win with 2nd place in the US Open and 3rd in the Open. The lefthander
led midway through the final round but a missed putt on 13 proved too much to
come back from.
Tiger Woods finished at three under and Scotland's Colin Montgomerie ended
up a disappointing 76.
In the playoff, Els pulled his tee shot and ran up a bogey at the 17th, the
third playoff hole, leaving Hamilton a shot ahead with one to go. Despite a good
second shot, Els again failed from about 10ft leaving Hamilton a 2-footer to secure
his place in Open history.
| "I
had a great week, the golf course was great, the R&A was great and we have
a great champion." - Ernie Els |
Els, who won the Open at Muirfield in 2002 and was second in 2000 and 1996,
began the day at seven under and went out in two-under-par before a double bogey
at the 10th seemed to have scuppered his chances.
But birdies at 13, 16 and 17 made sure the pressure was on Hamilton.
The South African had the added pressure of chasing the world number one spot,
if he had won and Woods had finished outside the top 17.
Former European number one Lee Westwood put a smile of the face of the British
fans as he surged to a closing 67 to record his best-ever Open finish.
Davis Love came from nowhere with a final-round 67 to finish alongside France's
Thomas Levet. Love's round ended in spectacular style as he holed a six-iron from
192 yards.
US Open champion Retief Goosen carded a disappointing two-over 73 to sit at
four under with American Scott Verplank (71).
Ernie Els was full of praise for Todd Hamilton afterwards -
"He played wonderful, he kept his nerve when he needed to and I know how
much he's going to enjoy it. I didn't have a great play-off but I had a great
week, the golf course was great, the R&A was great and we have a great champion."
Hamilton was jubilant but measured with his winners speech, and will be a very
popular if surprising winner - "it's a very special feeling but I'm more
tired than excited, and I felt very calm the whole day. I'm usually a nervous
guy, but sometimes it seems almost fun. I'm a great believer that you bring confidence
from your previous wins to the next match, and thats how I felt."
With Royal Troon providing a superb test, and a good mix of weather, the R&A
and golf fans worldwide can be justly satisfied with a fne championship.
Collated final round scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated)
(x) denotes amateur, Par 71)
274 Todd Hamilton (USA) 71 67 67 69 (£720,000), Ernie Els (Rsa) 69 69 68
68 (£430,000) (Hamilton wins after 4 hole play-off)
275 Phil Mickelson (USA) 73 66 68 68 (£275,000)
278 Lee Westwood 72 71 68 67 (£210,000)
279 Davis Love III (USA) 72 69 71 67, Thomas Levet (Fra) 66 70 71 72 (£159,500
each)
280 Scott Verplank (USA) 69 70 70 71, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 69 70 68 73 (£117,500
each)
281 Mike Weir (Can) 71 68 71 71, Tiger Woods (USA) 70 71 68 72 (£89,500
each)
282 Darren Clarke 69 72 73 68, Mark Calcavecchia (USA) 72 73 69 68, Skip Kendall
(USA) 69 66 75 72 (£69,333 each)
283 Stewart Cink (USA) 72 71 71 69, Barry Lane 69 68 71 75 (£56,500 each)
284 Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 69 73 72 70, Justin Leonard (USA) 70 72 71 71, Kenny
Perry (USA) 69 70 73 72, K.J. Choi (Kor) 68 69 74 73 (£47,000 each)
285 Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 70 76 71, Gary Evans 68 73 73 71, Bob Estes (USA) 73
72 69 71, Paul Casey 66 77 70 72, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 67 71 74 73 (£38,100
each)
286 Ian Poulter 71 72 71 72, Colin Montgomerie 69 69 72 76 (£32,250 each)
287 Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 73 72 70 72, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 72 68 74 73, Takashi
Kamiyama (Jpn) 70 73 71 73 (£29,000 each)
288 Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 71 72 74 71, David Toms (USA) 71 71 74 72, Bo Van Pelt
(USA) 72 71 71 74, Keiichiro Fukabori (Jpn) 73 71 70 74, Mark O’Meara (USA)
71 74 68 75, Nick Price (Zim) 71 71 69 77 (£24,500 each)
289 Steve Lowery (USA) 69 73 75 72, Tjaart Van Der Walt (Rsa) 70 73 72 74, Stuart
Appleby (Aus) 71 70 73 75, Hunter Mahan (USA) 74 69 71 75, Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn)
70 74 70 75, Kim Felton (Aus) 73 67 72 77 (£18,750 each)
290 Charles Howell III (USA) 75 70 72 73, Adam Scott (Aus) 73 68 74 75, Kenneth
Ferrie 68 74 73 75, Andrew Oldcorn 73 70 71 76, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 69 74 71
76 (£14,800 each)
291 Alastair Forsyth 68 74 79 70, Jerry Kelly (USA) 75 70 73 73, Mathias Gronberg
(Swe) 70 74 73 74, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 74 71 71 75 Sean Whiffin 73 72 71
75, Paul Bradshaw 75 67 72 77, Shaun Micheel (USA) 70 72 70 79 (£11,964
each)
292 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 72 72 73 75, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 71 74 72 75, Steve
Flesch (USA) 75 70 70 77 (£10,550 each)
293 Paul McGinley 69 76 75 73, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 68 77 74 74, James Kingston
(Rsa) 73 72 74 74 (£10,200 each)
294 Gary Emerson 70 71 76 77, Paul Broadhurst 71 74 72 77, Brad Faxon (USA) 74
68 73 79 (£9,900 each)
296 Chris DiMarco (USA) 71 71 78 76, (x) Stuart Wilson 68 75 77 76, Mark Foster
71 72 76 77 (£9,600 each)
297 Marten Olander (Swe) 68 74 78 77, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 71 72 73 81 (£9,350
each)
298 Paul Wesselingh 73 72 76 77, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 73 70 77 78 (£9,150
each)
299 Bob Tway (USA) 67 68 73 82 (£9,000)
300 Rich Beem (USA) 69 73 77 81, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 70 74 74 82 (£9,000
each)
303 Sandy Lyle 70 73 81 79 (£9,000)
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