2004 British Open Golf Tournament Winner and Scores

The British Open was played for the 133rd time in 2004 and this year produced a surprise winner following a playoff.

Winner: Todd Hamilton, 274

Where it was played: Royal Troon Golf Club, Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland

Tournament dates: July 15-18, 2004

Leader after first round: Paul Casey and Thomas Levet, 66

Leader after second round: Skip Kendall, 135

Leader after third round: Todd Hamilton, 205

What Happened at the 2004 Open Championship

For the second consecutive Open, there was a surprise winner, following Ben Curtis' victory the previous year. This time it was another journeyman American, Todd Hamilton, who had played mostly in Japan prior to this. Hamilton was a relatively unknown player who gave the clubs known as hybrids a big boost by using them throughout this championship from the fringe and from those British Open run-ups that are so famous.

Hamilton took over the lead in the third round, shooting 67. His edge entering the final round was one stroke over Ernie Els and two over Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen and Thomas Levet.

And Hamilton still had a one-stroke lead (over Els) on the 72nd hole, but got into trouble. Els actually had a birdie putt to win the Claret Jug, but the putt came up short. Then Hamilton managed to save bogey, which dropped him from the title but kept him in a playoff.

After three playoff holes Hamilton was again one ahead of Els, and again Els had a birdie putt, one that could even it up again. But again Els missed, and this time, rather than bogeying, Hamilton parred to win the Open Championship.

The four-hole, aggregate-score playoff went like this:

Hamilton, 4-4-3-4—15
Els, 4-4-4-4—16

Hamilton never won again on any top-level pro golf tour. And he had no other finishes in the Top 10 of any major. Els was already a three-time major champion, including the 2002 Open Championship. And he went on to win the 2012 British Open.

Mickelson finished in solo third, one stroke out of the playoff. It was easily his best chance at winning The Open to this point in his career. And that is something that Mickelson ultimately achieved — he won the 2013 British Open.

2004 British Open Final Scores

p-Todd Hamilton 71-67-67-69—274
Ernie Els 69-69-68-68—274
Phil Mickelson 73-66-68-68—275
Lee Westwood 72-71-68-67—278
Thomas Levet 66-70-71-72—279
Davis Love 72-69-71-67—279
Scott Verplank 69-70-70-71—280
Retief Goosen 69-70-68-73—280
Mike Weir 71-68-71-71—281
Tiger Woods 70-71-68-72—281
Darren Clarke 69-72-73-68—282
Mark Calcavecchia 72-73-69-68—282
Skip Kendall 69-66-75-72—282
Barry Lane 69-68-71-75—283
Stewart Cink 72-71-71-69—283
KJ Choi 68-69-74-73—284
Justin Leonard 70-72-71-71—284
Joakim Haeggman 69-73-72-70—284
Kenny Perry 69-70-73-72—284
Bob Estes 73-72-69-71—285
Gary Evans 68-73-73-71—285
Michael Campbell 67-71-74-73—285
Paul Casey 66-77-70-72—285
Vijay Singh 68-70-76-71—285
Colin Montgomerie 69-69-72-76—286
Ian Poulter 71-72-71-72—286
Jyoti Randhawa 73-72-70-72—287
Takashi Kamiyama 70-73-71-73—287
Rod Pampling 72-68-74-73—287
Mark O'Meara 71-74-68-75—288
Shigeki Maruyama 71-72-74-71—288
Bo Van Pelt 72-71-71-74—288
David Toms 71-71-74-72—288
Nick Price 71-71-69-77—288
Keiichiro Fukabori 73-71-70-74—288
Kim Felton 73-67-72-77—289
Tetsuji Hiratsuka 70-74-70-75—289
Stuart Appleby 71-70-73-75—289
Tjaart Van der Walt 70-73-72-74—289
Steve Lowery 69-73-75-72—289
Hunter Mahan 74-69-71-75—289
Andrew Oldcorn 73-70-71-76—290
Adam Scott 73-68-74-75—290
Charles Howell 75-70-72-73—290
Trevor Immelman 69-74-71-76—290
Kenneth Ferrie 68-74-73-75—290
Alastair Forsyth 68-74-79-70—291
Mathias Gronberg 70-74-73-74—291
Miguel Jimenez 74-71-71-75—291
Jerry Kelly 75-70-73-73—291
Paul Bradshaw 75-67-72-77—291
Shaun Micheel 70-72-70-79—291
Sean Whiffin 73-72-71-75—291
Raphael Jacquelin 72-72-73-75—292
Steve Flesch 75-70-70-77—292
Ignacio Garrido 71-74-72-75—292
Carl Pettersson 68-77-74-74—293
James Kingston 73-72-74-74—293
Paul McGinley 69-76-75-73—293
Paul Broadhurst 71-74-72-77—294
Gary Emerson 70-71-76-77—294
Brad Faxon 74-68-73-79—294
Mark Foster 71-72-76-77—296
Chris DiMarco 71-71-78-76—296
a-Stuart Wilson 68-75-77-76—296
Marten Olander 68-74-78-77—297
Rory Sabbatini 71-72-73-81—297
Martin Erlandsson 73-70-77-78—298
Paul Wesselingh 73-72-76-77—298
Bob Tway 76-68-73-82—299
Christian Cevaer 70-74-74-82—300
Rich Beem 69-73-77-81—300
Sandy Lyle 70-73-81-79—303

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