As a US Tour rookie, Todd Hamilton's player profile is to be found at the back of the tour media guide, sandwiched between Dan Halldorson and Donnie Hammond.

As Open champion following his shock victory at Royal Troon however, his name is now etched on the famous Claret Jug underneath the likes of Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros and Jack Nicklaus.

Not bad for a 38-year-old from the small town of Galesburg, Illinois - population 1,500 - who only secured his US Tour card in November last year at the eighth attempt.

"To be honest I never even considered contending or even playing too much in the majors," admitted Hamilton, who spent the last 12 years competing on the Japan Golf Tour, winning 11 tournaments.

"I just tried to improve on my golf game in Japan, tried to become more patient with my game, improve on the things I needed to do and somehow get on to the US Tour.

"I really didn't look at the majors as an ultimate goal. My goal was to get on the PGA Tour. It took me quite a long time. But I'm kind of glad that it worked out that way, having some struggles here and there and fighting back to achieve my dream."

If simply making it on to the US Tour was his dream, heaven only knows what he will make of waking up on Monday morning as the Open champion.

Thomas Levet insisted earlier this week that one golf shot could not change your life, but the 289 Hamilton needed to negotiate Troon this week certainly will do.

And if he thinks coping with the aftermath of his first tour win at the Honda Classic was tough, he ain't seen nothing yet.

"For two, maybe three weeks after the Honda it wasn't very fun at all because I'm not a person that likes to return phone calls or get phone calls or do things like this," Hamilton said.

"I know it's part of the job and it's a good problem to have, but I'm not a big fan of doing that. It was real stressful for a couple of weeks after that.

"I grew up in a small town of 1,500 people. My dad got 150 phone calls from people. My phone only holds 10 messages, so when I got to Bay Hill the next week I cleared the messages, turned the phone off for 15 minutes. Turned it back on, 10 more messages.

"So I guess it's like paying taxes. You don't enjoy it, but it's a good problem to have."

It certainly is a better problem to have than when Hamilton was close to quitting the game more than a decade ago, and only winning the 1992 Asian Tour Order of Merit kept him going.

"I don't know what I would have done outside of golf had I quit playing," Hamilton said. "I enjoy playing. I probably could have taught golf.

"I don't really know a lot about the golf swing to teach like a David Leadbetter or a Rick Smith or someone like that, but I can help amateurs get feelings for certain things they may need to do in their swings."

Hamilton figured out enough about his own swing to win six times, including four last year, on the Japan Tour. He would spend four to six weeks at a time in Japan, reacquaint himself with his wife and kids in McKinney, then go back on the road.

"If you're not doing well, it's very difficult," Hamilton said. "You start missing a few cuts in a row, and it's very boring. You can't just get in your car and go and see a movie or go to the mall or go down to the grocery store and grab some food.

"So it kind of forces you to play well. There is no must-see TV in Japan, trust me. Hopefully, it's toughened me up."

Tough enough to win at Palm Beach Gardens this year, when a four-shot lead had turned into a one-stroke deficit with two holes to play. Trailing Davis Love, Hamilton picked the time of his life to go birdie-birdie.

"You know, there are probably a lot of people who think this is a fluke," he said afterwards. "I would like to prove that to not be true.

"It may not happen next week. It may not happen this year. Hopefully somewhere down the line I can say, 'Hey, I won another one."'

What a one to win.