Todd HAMILTON

USA

Many of the game's biggest stars - Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, Retief Goosen, Davis Love, Tiger Woods - all finished in the top 10 at Royal Troon in 2004, but victory went to unheralded American Hamilton.

After making a name for himself in Asia he was 38 when he finally won a place on the PGA Tour in America at his eighth attempt in 2003. The following March, as a Tour rookie, he won the Honda Classic thanks to birdies on the final two holes and four months later he beat Els in a four-hole play-off to follow Ben Curtis as a surprise holder of the Claret Jug.

The victory, which lifted him into the world's top 20, sparked celebrations in Oquawka, Illinois, previously best known for a circus elephant buried in the town square. He had been an 11-time champion on the Japan Golf Tour and became their all-time leading overseas money-winner with earnings of over 630 million yen, but Troon was his last worldwide success and remains his only top 10 finish at a major. He turned 50 in October 2015.