William Todd Hamilton (born October 18, 1965) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

. He is best known for his victory at the 2004 Open Championship.

Early life

Hamilton was born in the small west-central

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

city of Galesburg. He grew up in an even smaller town,

Oquawka Oquawka is a village in Henderson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,371 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Henderson County. Oquawka is part of the Burlington, IA–IL Micropolitan Statistical Area. Geograph ...

, in Henderson County on the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. He attended Union High School in

Biggsville, Illinois Biggsville is a village in Henderson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 304 at the 2010 census, down from 343 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Burlington, IA–IL Micropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Biggsville is ...

and the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

, where he played collegiately.

Professional career

Hamilton turned professional in 1987 but was unable to gain entrance to the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

. Instead he played internationally for many years, primarily on the

Japan Golf Tour The Japan Golf Tour ( ja, 日本ゴルフツアー機構) is a prominent golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offers the third-highest annual prize fund out of the regular (that is not for seniors) men's professional tours after th ...

after gaining his card as winner of the 1992

Asia Golf Circuit The Asia Golf Circuit was the principal men's professional golf tour in Southeast Asia from the early 1960s through to the mid-late 1990s. The tour was founded in 1961 as the Far East Circuit. The first series of five tournaments was held in 1962 ...

Order of Merit winner. When he left the Japan Golf Tour after 12 seasons, he was the tour's 2nd all-time leading non-Japanese money winner (to USA's

David Ishii David S. Ishii (born July 26, 1955) is an American professional golfer of Japanese descent. Early life Ishii grew up on the island of Kauai in Hawaii and graduated from Kauai High School. As a junior in high school, he won the Hawaii State High ...

), with earnings of over 630 million

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...

(about $6.18 million in 2014 US dollars) with 11 tour wins. After eight tries, at the age of 38, Hamilton went back to

Qualifying School In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

in 2003, where he finally earned his first PGA Tour card. Hamilton won his first PGA Tour event at the 2004

Honda Classic The Honda Classic is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in south Florida. It was founded in 1972 as Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Classic, and prior to a schedule change in 2021 was frequently the first of the Florida events in late winter ...

. He birdied the final two holes to beat

Davis Love III Davis Milton Love III (born April 13, 1964) is an American professional golfer who has won 21 events on the PGA Tour, including one major championship: the 1997 PGA Championship. He won the Players Championship in 1992 and 2003. He was in th ...

by one stroke at 12 under par. Later that year, Hamilton won a major championship in one of golf's all-time upsets when he defeated

Ernie Els Theodore Ernest Els (; born 17 October 1969) is a South African professional golfer. A former , he is known as "The Big Easy" due to his imposing physical stature (he stands ) along with his fluid golf swing. Among his more than 70 career victor ...

in a four-hole playoff to win

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

Royal Troon Golf Club Royal Troon Golf Club is a Links (golf), links golf course in Scotland, located in Troon, South Ayrshire, southwest of Glasgow. Founding and early years The club, which now has a total of 45 holes, was founded in 1878, initially with five holes ...

. After shooting an opening round 71, Hamilton fired a second round 67 to move to -4 and a fifth-place tie with future

World Golf Hall of Fame The World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site honors both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 go ...

rs Els,

Vijay Singh Vijay Singh ( hif, विजय सिंह ; born 22 February 1963), nicknamed "The Big Fijian", is a Fijian professional golfer. He has won 34 events on the PGA Tour, including three major championships: one Masters title (2000) and two ...

and

Colin Montgomerie Colin Stuart Montgomerie, Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 23 June 1963) is a Scotland, Scottish professional golfer. He has won a record eight European Tour PGA European Tour#Order of Merit winners, Order of Merit titles, including a stre ...

as well as

Michael Campbell Michael Shane Campbell (born 23 February 1969) is a New Zealand professional golfer who is best known for having won the 2005 U.S. Open and, at the time, the richest prize in golf, the £1,000,000 HSBC World Match Play Championship, in the s ...

. Hamilton again shot a 67 in the third round to take a one-shot lead over Els. Entering the tournament's 72nd hole, Hamilton held a one-shot lead over Els, but Hamilton bogeyed the 18th hole, leaving Els with a 12-foot birdie putt for the win, which he missed. Els and Hamilton headed for the four-hole aggregate playoff, in which Hamilton carded four pars while Els managed three pars and a bogey, and Hamilton took the win. These two victories in his first season on the PGA Tour led to Hamilton being named the 2004

PGA Tour Rookie of the Year The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

and reaching a peak world ranking of 16. In his 187 subsequent tour starts, he missed the cut 111 times and had just three top-10 finishes. In 2006, Hamilton captained the American team in

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

's celebrity golf tournament, the

All*Star Cup ''The All-Star Cup'' (stylised as "All*Star Cup") is a celebrity Golf match first held at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport in 2005 that pitted two teams of celebrities against each other in a Ryder Cup-style competition. The first series was a ...

. He lost his full exempt status on the PGA Tour in 2010. Hamilton played on the

Web.com Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at that level. Th ...

in 2014 and 2015. Hamilton became eligible to play on the

Champions Tour PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many years ...

after turning fifty years of age in October 2015.

Personal life

Hamilton lives in

Westlake, Texas : Westlake is a town in Denton and Tarrant counties in the U.S. state of Texas and a suburb of Dallas/Ft Worth. The population is 1,623 as of the 2020 United States census. History The area known as Westlake was originally settled in 1847 by ...

Professional wins (17)

PGA Tour wins (2)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

Japan Golf Tour wins (11)

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (1–4)

Asia Golf Circuit wins (2)

Other wins (2)

*1992 Rolex Masters (Singapore) *1999

Oklahoma Open The Oklahoma Open is the Oklahoma state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by the Oklahoma Golf Association. It has been played every year since 1910 at a variety of courses around the state. It was ...

Major championships

Wins (1)

¹Defeated Ernie Els in 4-hole playoff; Hamilton (4-4-3-4=15), Els (4-4-4-4=16).

Results timeline

CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (2007 PGA – 2008 Open Championship) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied

Results in senior major championships

''Results not in chronological order before 2017.'' "T" indicates a tie for a place
CUT = missed the halfway cut
NT = No tournament due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

References

External links

* * *
Article about "outsider" Open Winners
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Todd American male golfers Oklahoma Sooners men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Japan Golf Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Winners of men's major golf championships Golfers from Illinois Golfers from Texas People from Galesburg, Illinois People from Westlake, Texas 1965 births Living people