2004 Open Championship

2004 Open Championship

Tournament information
Dates	15–18 July 2004
Location	Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland
Course(s)	Royal Troon Golf Club, Old Course
Tour(s)	European Tour PGA Tour Japan Golf Tour
Statistics
Par	71[1]
Length	7,175 yards (6,561 m)[1]
Field	156 players, 73 after cut[1]
Cut	145 (+3)[1]
Prize fund	£4,000,000 €6,001,690 $7,490,400
Winner's share	£720,000 €1,078,430 $1,348,272
Champion
Todd Hamilton
274 (−10), playoff
«2003 2005»

The 2004 Open Championship was the 133rd Open Championship, held 15–18 July at the Old Course of Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland.

Todd Hamilton won his only major championship, defeating 2002 champion Ernie Els by a stroke in a four-hole playoff.^[2] Phil Mickelson finished third, followed by Lee Westwood in fourth.^[3] Hamilton was the sixth consecutive American to win at Royal Troon.^[4]

History of The Open Championship at Royal Troon

Royal Troon first hosted The Open Championship in 1923 and the 2004 Open was its eighth. Royal Troon's list of champions includes Arthur Havers (1923), 4-time Open winner Bobby Locke (1950), 7-time major winner Arnold Palmer (1962), Tom Weiskopf (1973), 5-time Open champion Tom Watson (1982), Mark Calcavecchia (1989), and Justin Leonard (1997).

Course

Old Course^[5]

Hole	Name	Yards	Par		Hole	Name	Yards	Par
1	Seal	370	4		10	Sandhills	438	4
2	Black Rock	391	4		11	The Railway	490	4
3	Gyaws	379	4		12	The Fox	431	4
4	Dunure	560	5		13	Burmah	472	4
5	Greenan	210	3		14	Alton	178	3
6	Turnberry	601	5		15	Crosbie	483	4
7	Tel-el-Kebir	405	4		16	Well	542	5
8	Postage Stamp	123	3		17	Rabbit	222	3
9	The Monk	423	4		18	Craigend	457	4
Out		3,462	36		In		3,713	35
					Total		7,175	71

Lengths of the course for previous Opens (since 1950):^[1]

1997: 7,079 yards (6,473 m), par 71 1989: 7,067 yards (6,462 m), par 72 1982: 7,067 yards (6,462 m), par 72

1973: 7,064 yards (6,459 m), par 72 1962: 7,045 yards (6,442 m), par 72 1950: 6,583 yards (6,019 m), par 70

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Player	Country	Year won	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	To par	Finish
Ernie Els	South Africa	2002	69	69	68	68	274	−10	2
Tiger Woods	United States	2000	70	71	68	72	281	−3	T9
Mark Calcavecchia	United States	1989	72	73	69	68	282	−2	T11
Justin Leonard	United States	1997	70	72	71	71	288	E	T16
Mark O'Meara	United States	1998	71	74	68	75	288	+4	T30
Nick Price	Zimbabwe	1994	71	71	69	77	288	+4	T30
Sandy Lyle	Scotland	1985	70	73	81	79	303	+19	73

Missed the cut

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	Total	To par
John Daly	United States	1995	70	78	148	+6
Ben Curtis	United States	2003	75	74	149	+7
Greg Norman	Australia	1986, 1993	73	76	149	+7
Tom Lehman	United States	1996	73	78	151	+9
Nick Faldo	England	1987, 1990, 1992	76	77	153	+11
Paul Lawrie	Scotland	1999	78	77	155	+13
Tom Weiskopf	United States	1973	80	80	160	+18

Source:^[6]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 15 July 2004

Paul Casey and Thomas Levet both carded 66 (−5) and held a two stroke lead over a group of nine players. The group at 3-under included amateur Stuart Wilson and Vijay Singh. Defending champ Ben Curtis carded a 75 (+4). In total there were 39 rounds under par, 25 of those being in the 60s. Home favourite Colin Montgomerie started with a 2-under 69.

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
T1	Paul Casey	England	66	−5
	Thomas Levet	France
T3	K.J. Choi	South Korea	68	−3
	Gary Evans	England
	Kenneth Ferrie	England
	Alastair Forsyth	Scotland
	Mathew Goggin	Australia
	Mårten Olander	Sweden
	Carl Pettersson	Sweden
	Vijay Singh	Fiji
	Stuart Wilson (a)	England

Second round

Friday, 16 July 2004

Skip Kendall stormed into the lead with a 66 to reach the halfway stage at 135 (−7). Casey dropped down the leaderboard with a 77, while Levet shot a 70 to drop down into second. K.J. Choi continued his good start with a 69, keeping the him in a tie for third place with Barry Lane. Todd Hamilton finished the round with a 67 to move up into a tie for fifth place.

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Skip Kendall	United States	69-66=135	−7
2	Thomas Levet	France	66-70=136	−6
T3	K.J. Choi	South Korea	68-69=137	−5
	Barry Lane	England	69-68=137
T5	Michael Campbell	New Zealand	67-71=138	−4
	Ernie Els	South Africa	69-69=138
	Todd Hamilton	United States	71-67=138
	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	69-69=138
	Vijay Singh	Fiji	68-70=138
T10	Retief Goosen	South Africa	69-70=139	−3
	Phil Mickelson	United States	73-66=139
	Kenny Perry	United States	69-70=139
	Scott Verplank	United States	69-70=139
	Mike Weir	Canada	71-68=139

Amateurs: Wilson (+1), Campbell (+5), Tiley (+5), Flanagan (+6), McElhinney (+10).

Third round

Saturday, 17 July 2004

Hamilton surged up the leader with a second consecutive 67 to finish the day at 205 (−8). Ernie Els, the 2002 champion, moved up to second at 206 with a 68, while one shot behind lay the reigning Masters champion Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen, and Thomas Levet at 207 (−6).

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Todd Hamilton	United States	71-67-67=205	−8
2	Ernie Els	South Africa	69-69-68=206	−7
T3	Retief Goosen	South Africa	69-70-68=207	−6
	Thomas Levet	France	66-70-71=207
	Phil Mickelson	United States	73-66-68=207
6	Barry Lane	England	69-68-71=208	−5
T7	Scott Verplank	United States	69-70-70=209	−4
	Tiger Woods	United States	70-71-68=209
T9	Skip Kendall	United States	69-66-75=210	−3
	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	69-69-72=210
	Mike Weir	Canada	71-68-71=210

Final round

Sunday, 18 July 2004

A see-saw final round led to a two man playoff between Hamilton and Els. Hamilton, playing in only his eighth major, looked like a sure bet to win after chipping in for birdie from 30 feet (9 m) on the par-3 14th to get to 10 under. Then he holed a 12-foot (4 m) birdie on the par-5 16th to keep his cushion. Els had to make birdies to keep up, and he came through with pure putts on the 16th and 17th. Then came the wild 72nd hole, with Hamilton holding a one shot lead. Hamilton pushed his iron off the tee and into the rough, then chopped it across the fairway next to a guard railing that restricted his swing. Els hit his approach to within the shadow of the flag, a 12-foot birdie attempt. Hamilton chipped to 20 feet (6 m) and missed to take bogey. Els suddenly had a putt to win, but left it short. Mickelson carded a final round 68 to finish a shot back at 275 (−9). A 67 moved Lee Westwood into sole fourth, matching Davis Love III for low score of the final round.

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money (£)
T1	Todd Hamilton	United States	71-67-67-69=274	−10	Playoff
	Ernie Els	South Africa	69-69-68-68=274
3	Phil Mickelson	United States	73-66-68-68=275	−9	275,000
4	Lee Westwood	England	72-71-68-67=278	−6	210,000
T5	Thomas Levet	France	66-70-71-72=279	−5	159,500
	Davis Love III	United States	72-69-71-67=279
T7	Retief Goosen	South Africa	69-70-68-73=280	−4	117,500
	Scott Verplank	United States	69-70-70-71=280
T9	Mike Weir	Canada	71-68-71-71=281	−3	89,500
	Tiger Woods	United States	70-71-68-72=281

Amateurs: Wilson (+12)
Source:^[6]

Scorecard

Final round

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	4	4	5	3	5	4	3	4	4	4	4	4	3	4	5	3	4
Hamilton	−8	−7	−7	−8	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−8	−9	−9	−9	−10	−10	−11	−11	−10
Els	−7	−7	−8	−9	−8	−8	−9	−9	−9	−7	−7	−7	−8	−8	−8	−9	−10	−10
Mickelson	−6	−6	−6	−8	−8	−8	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−8	−8	−8	−9	−9	−9
Westwood	−2	−2	−1	−1	E	−1	−2	−3	−3	−4	−4	−4	−4	−4	−4	−5	−5	−6
Levet	−6	−6	−6	−8	−8	−8	−8	−7	−7	−7	−7	−7	−7	−7	−6	−6	−5	−5
Love	E	E	−1	−2	−2	−2	−2	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−5
Goosen	−5	−5	−5	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−5	−5	−4	−4	−4	-4	−4	−4	−4	−4

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:^[7]

Playoff

After 72 holes, Hamilton and Els were tied for the lead at 274 (−10), requiring a four-hole aggregate playoff, played over the 1st, 2nd, 17th, and 18th holes. (The first use of this format in The Open was fifteen years earlier in 1989, also at Royal Troon.) Both players parred the first two holes, both par fours, and Hamilton managed a par 3 on the 222-yard (203 m) 17th. Els overshot the green and bogeyed,^[8] then parred the last, leaving Hamilton a par putt to win the Open, which he subsequently holed.^[2][9] Els had all four rounds in the 60s for the second time in an Open without winning; the other time was at Royal St. George's in 1993.

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money (£)
1	Todd Hamilton	United States	4-4-3-4=15	E	720,000
2	Ernie Els	South Africa	4-4-4-4=16	+1	430,000

Scorecard

Hole	1	2	17	18
Par	4	4	3	4
Hamilton	E	E	E	E
Els	E	E	+1	+1

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par

References

External links

• The Open.com – 2004 summary and results
• European Tour: 2004 Open Championship
• About.com: 2004 British Open

Preceded by 2004 U.S. Open	Major Championships	Succeeded by 2004 PGA Championship

2004 Men's Major Golf Championships The Masters U.S. Open The Open Championship PGA Championship

The Open Championships 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Coordinates: 55°31′55″N 4°39′04″W / 55.532°N 4.651°W / 55.532; -4.651