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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