There was a time not so long ago that a victory such as Todd Hamilton's at the
Open championship would have left the sporting world in a state of shock for
months.
Not any more.
When the 38-year-old American arrived home in Texas on Monday, proudly clutching
the famous claret jug as if it were his fourth child, there were no shortage of
people he could contact to find out how his life might change.
For Hamilton is simply the latest in a rapidly-growing line of surprise
winners - and the message he left behind is that there can be many more joining
that list in the years to come.
Hamilton needed 17 years to make the leap from amateur star to major champion
and in that time had seven failures at the US Tour qualifying school before
finally earning a card last December.
Even with 11 Japan tour victories to his name and a win in the Honda Classic
in Florida in March he arrived in Scotland as a 250/1 outsider. Not ridiculous
odds at all because he had never finished higher than 29th in seven previous
majors and did not have a single top 20 finish in his last 11 tournaments.
"Never give up. Fairytales happen," was his message after beating world
number two Ernie Els in a four-hole play-off at Royal Troon.
The success earned him £720,000 on the spot and means that not only is there a
place for him in every Open until his 66th birthday, but he does not have to
worry about his US Tour card until 2009 at the very earliest.
Invitations will soon start flooding in, including one to the HSBC world match
play championship at Wentworth in October. Just 16 players compete there for
golf's richest first prize of £1million.
But there is one event he cannot be sure of appearing in yet - the Ryder Cup
in September.
And he might have presented captain Hal Sutton with a problem he did not
envisage.
Safe to say that Hamilton was not on Sutton's short list for his two wild card
selections following next month's US PGA championship.
But, having moved up from 58th to 15th on the points table, the bottle he
showed has to make him a front-line contender for Oakland Hills if he does not
climb into one of the automatic top 10 spots in the four weeks which remain.
"I haven't thought about it," he admitted. "I hadn't played well for three
or four months and I don't even look at the standings.
"I know Tiger is usually top and all the other normal guys that are on the
team are always up there, but I don't even know what the standings are.
"Hopefully this bit of magic will continue."
But if Sutton takes the view that there are still two players he would rather
have in his line-up then five of America's last eight major champions - David
Duval, Rich Beem, Ben Curtis, Shaun Micheel and Hamilton - he could well be left
out in the cold.
That is a position Bernhard Langer can only envy. He faces the strong
possibility now of being the first European captain since John Jacobs in 1981 to
lead a European side into action without a single major winner amongst them.
Three of Langer's top four players in the world rankings - Padraig Harrington,
Sergio Garcia and Fredrik Jacobson - did not even survive the halfway cut at
Troon and for Jacobson that had serious consequences because he has dropped from
fifth to 12th in the points race.
Against that, there was Lee Westwood's charge into fourth place (his best-ever
placing in a major) and Thomas Levet's second near-miss in the Open in three
years.
The last European winner, however, remains Paul Lawrie five years and 20
majors ago and that has become the longest barren spell since the 10 years prior
to Seve Ballesteros' 1979 Open victory.
But Hamilton's win has offered hope to Europe's underachievers.
Just like Curtis did, he has won a major in his rookie season on the US Tour
and he said: "I hope our victories can spur guys, whether they're on the PGA
Tour, the Canadian tour the Hooters tour or the Challenge Tour here in Europe.
"If they look at us and say 'if that guy can do it, who is that guy?' I
should be able to do that. I think that's good for the game of golf.
"I struggled on the Asian tour for five years, but then I won their Order of
Merit, which allowed me to play the Japanese circuit. I had success there and
then finally I got my tour card at home.
"I'd always dreamt of playing the PGA tour and it felt like winning the Open
championship."
He should know - he has now done both. And who knows what lies ahead?
The same applies, of course, for Woods (stuck on eight majors for over two
years now and ninth this time), for Phil Mickelson (first, second and third in
the first three majors this season) and for Els, so upset that he could not hole
the 10-footer for victory on the 72nd hole and virtually the same putt to take
the play-off into sudden death.
And what of Colin Montgomerie? Did his last good chance to win a major
disappear over the horizon with his closing 76?
It was almost certainly the Scot's last chance to win the Open on his home
course. He gave it a go and provided some of the most memorable moments of the
week, but falling back into a tie for 25th with the Union Jack-trousered and
ever-colourful Ian Poulter was not the ending he or his fans wanted.
And, as a result, he and Hamilton have something in common. They both may need
a wild card entry into the Ryder Cup.
THE OPEN NEWS
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