John Huggan: Todd Hamilton steps through Open door

Published on Saturday 23 January 2010 20:32

JUST ABOUT five and a half years ago Todd Hamilton won the Open Championship at Royal Troon, beating Ernie Els in a play-off. Four days ago, the same Todd Hamilton mistakenly jumped on the caddie bus leaving Abu Dhabi Golf Club, a man looking for a ride back to the hotel and, these days, a place to play.

After finishing a lowly 133rd on the PGA Tour money-list last year – then failing to regain his exempt status at the qualifying school – the now 45-year-old American has belatedly taken advantage of the ten-year exemption afforded by his Open victory and has joined the European Tour.

"I'll play at least the minimum of 12 events in Europe," he says. "I see this year as an opportunity for resurrection, one I'm lucky to have. I have only limited status on the PGA Tour. So I will have limited opportunities over there.

"I'm playing the three tournaments here in the Middle East. I'm in the Masters and the Open. So that's five already. I'm not afraid of the travel either. I played the Asian Tour for five years then had eight more years in Japan. I enjoyed all of it. It was all exciting and different and I view the European Tour in much the same way. It's an opportunity to make a living and improve my game."

So he has much to look forward to, even if the last few years have seen a definite and inexorable decline in the Hamilton fortunes. And, for all that he would understandably prefer to be playing his golf nearer to his wife and three children back home, he won't be missing certain aspects of life on the PGA Tour.

"The way courses are typically set up in the US seems to me very mundane," he claims. "It's the same every week and they are ruining golf by doing it that way. When I'm at home I don't go to my club and play every day. That would be boring. So I play all over town if I can. I like variety.

"There's not much of that on the PGA Tour. It seems like the tee-markers are moved five yards in four days. The courses are always long and the rough is always high. Not every par-3 has to be 230 yards with the pin placed maybe four yards from the edge of the green. And the ground always seems to be soft. You don't need rough to make a good test. If you get the ball running off line and there is nothing to stop it, the course is actually more challenging and interesting.

"Short grass works because it tempts us to go for shots we maybe shouldn't go for. And it is so much more interesting around the greens. From a tight lie, I have options. I can use my lob wedge. I can use my 9-iron. And I can use my putter. If the grass is long, all you do is chop it out with a 60-degree wedge. We are all good at that shot by now."

Still, for all that he is understandably inclined to look forward at the moment, Hamilton is not averse to glancing back at what is easily the highlight of his globe-trotting career, the day he defied the odds, saw off Els and hoisted the Claret Jug skywards.

"The strange thing is I remember only bits and pieces of the week," he reveals. "But I do recall not getting to bed until maybe 6:30 on the Sunday morning. I was a bit nervous, but more anxious. I knew I was playing well and had a chance to win. I sat up all night watching television, wearing out the remote. But that wasn't the worst thing I could have done. I wasn't teeing off until mid-afternoon so I had plenty of time to sleep.

"When I got up I watched some of the golf to see the pin positions and how the course was playing. I remember seeing (low amateur] Stuart Wilson missing a putt on the last green. As it turned out, that putt was almost the same as the one Ernie missed to win in regulation. I knew standing there it had a big break on it. Ernie would have had to hit a perfect putt to make it."

Four play-off holes later, Hamilton defeated the South African – Els recently admitted that it was "definitely my hardest ever loss" – and claimed what was his sixth tournament win in only 18 months. His game may not be the prettiest, but Hamilton has always known how to get the job done when in contention.

"Winning didn't scare me," he confirms. "And winning breeds winning. I was used to the pressure and I was confident of what I was doing. Plus, the course was a good one for me. My ball flight is well suited to links golf. I don't drive the ball a long way unless I get some run on it. My irons tend to fly quite low. I went to college in Oklahoma where it is windy and I live in North Texas, where it blows a lot too. So I can handle the wind. Having said that, I wouldn't have bet on myself to win.

"I didn't get to Troon until Tuesday lunchtime, in fact. My flight to Chicago had been cancelled so that cost me a day. And I had only played the course once before that week. So I teed off on Thursday with only 27 holes of practice behind me."

Maybe that is a formula he should resurrect. His Open victory represents Hamilton's most recent first-place finish.

"I played well after I won the Open, but didn't win," he sighs. "I know this sounds bad but it didn't seem like it was that great of an accomplishment. I definitely had an 'is that all there is?' feeling about it for a while.

"Anyway, by the end of the '04 season I was getting worse, although in the first half of 2005 I was consistent enough. I made a lot of cuts and earned maybe $500,000. But after that it was straight downhill. I had a long period where I was hardly making a cut. And it was that way until 2008, when I had a little run of form.

"It was mostly a mental problem. My swing has never been technically sound so I have always needed to hit a lot of balls."

Then again, amidst all the troubles and strife, there has always been one beacon of light, the replica Claret Jug that sits atop his television at home in Texas. As Hamilton points out, his place in history is secure.

"I love that I was the 'champion golfer of the year'," he says with a smile. "And every year I love to listen to (R&A chief executive] Peter Dawson saying just that at the prizegiving, knowing that it was me he was talking about in 2004. I know it doesn't make me the best golfer in the world, but for that one day I felt like I was. And I have the Claret Jug and the gold medal to prove it."