TROON, Scotland - Todd Hamilton always had the talent. What he needed was a passport.
That's what happens when an All-American golfer fails in five straight tries at PGA Tour qualifying, then realizes his best chance for a pro career takes him to all corners of the globe.
An odyssey that began on the back roads of Asia led to an improbable destination at Royal Troon, where Hamilton outplayed Ernie Els in a four-hole playoff to win the British Open on Sunday.
By now, his travels are as well known as the creative chip he played with a utility club from 40 yards off the green to save par on the final hole of the playoff.
He spent a dozen years in faraway lands, from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, until he finally found a home away from home on the Japanese tour. He got his PGA Tour card in December on his eighth try, a rookie at 38.
Hamilton never spent much time dreaming about a major championship. He was too busy trying to get to the major leagues, and the idea of finding a new line of work crossed his mind more than once.
"Back in late '91, early '92, I was playing the Asian Tour," he said. "I didn't know it at the time, but the people who backed me financially were going to put together some money to allow me to go play the Asian Tour one more time.
"So it seems like probably a fairy tale," he said, the silver claret jug at his side. "And to me, it really is."
It is much more than that.
Hamilton is another example that the road to a major championship can take some strange turns.
Mike Weir can relate.
Long before he was fitted for a green jacket at Augusta National Golf Club, the scrappy Canadian paid $50 a month to store his belongings so he wouldn't have to pay rent while he honed his game in Asia.
He recalls playing the Indonesian Open, catching a cab to the golf course and lugging his bag through muddy waters when the cab broke down outside Jakarta. When he finally got to the course, he took a 9 on a par 3 during his round of 80 and missed the cut.
"I think probably then, I had a tough time thinking I would win the Masters," Weir once said.
Rich Beem's unlikely path didn't take him out of the country, but to something called the Dakota Tours. Out of hope, Beem took a job selling car stereos in Seattle for $7 an hour before he gave golf one more try. Seven years later, he stared down Tiger Woods to win the 2002 PGA Championship.
David Toms first played pro golf in Australia and didn't win on the PGA Tour until he was 30.
Vijay Singh never had a college degree, much less a pedigree. He honed his game in the steamy jungles of Borneo until he had enough cash to go to Europe. Even then, he worked as a bouncer in a Scottish bar for extra cash as he tried to get his tour card.
Hamilton was an All-American at the University of Oklahoma, but it took him 17 years to get his PGA Tour card, a dozen years of that journey spent at the most remote outposts in golf.
Els also travels the world, usually with an appearance fee that covers a lot more than the cost of travel, and he remembers Hamilton well.
"Whenever our paths crossed, wherever we were in the world, we always had a nice chat," Els said. "I always knew he was a good player."
The Augusta Chronicle ©2012 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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