Hamilton celebrates with his caddy.

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American Todd Hamilton tonight claimed a stunning Open championship victory at Royal Troon.

Playing only the eighth major of his career, Hamilton defeated former champion Ernie Els in a four-hole play-off after the pair had tied on 10 under par.

The 38-year-old from Galesburg, Illinois - a small town with a population of just 1,500 - played the four extra holes in level par to lift the famous claret jug and first prize of £720,000.

It looked as though his chance had gone when he bogeyed the 18th hole in regulation play after Els had birdied the 17th to pile on the pressure.

But he held his nerve superbly and it was the world number two Els - who had won at Muirfield in 2002 in a four-man play-off - who made the crucial error by missing the green on the third extra hole and failing to get up and down.

Phil Mickelson finished third on nine under while England's Lee Westwood finished alone in fourth on six under after a closing 67, one ahead of Davis Love who holed his second shot to the 18th for an eagle to also card a closing 67.

Tiger Woods birdied the fifth and sixth but dropped shots on the 10th and 11th and was never seriously in contention, eventually carding a 72 to finish three under par.

Colin Montgomerie, starting the day five off the lead, also never figured on his home course, the 41-year-old Scot coming home in 40 for a disappointing 76 and two-over-par total of 286.

Collated final totals (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 ()

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

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

286 Ian Poulter 71 72 71 72, Colin Montgomerie 69 69 72 76

287 Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 73 72 70 72, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 72 68 74 73, Takashi Kamiyama (Jpn) 70 73 71 73

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

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

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

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

292 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 72 72 73 75, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 71 74 72 75, Steve Flesch (USA) 75 70 70 77

293 Paul McGinley 69 76 75 73, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 68 77 74 74, James Kingston (Rsa) 73 72 74 74

294 Gary Emerson 70 71 76 77, Paul Broadhurst 71 74 72 77, Brad Faxon (USA) 74 68 73 79

296 Chris DiMarco (USA) 71 71 78 76, (x) Stuart Wilson 68 75 77 76, Mark Foster 71 72 76 77

297 Marten Olander (Swe) 68 74 78 77, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 71 72 73 81

298 Paul Wesselingh 73 72 76 77, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 73 70 77 78

299 Bob Tway (USA) 67 68 73 82

300 Rich Beem (USA) 69 73 77 81, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 70 74 74 82 303 Sandy Lyle 70 73 81 79

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