Hamilton Treasures First Win

After blowing a four-shot lead, PGA Tour rookie Todd Hamilton recovered with a 10-foot birdie putt to regain a share of the lead, then finished off Davis Love III with a four-foot birdie putt on the final hole Sunday to win the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

“This is a dream come true,” said Hamilton, who closed with a two-over 74. “There’s probably a lot of other golfers who deserve it more talent-wise, but I guarantee you no one will appreciate it more than I will.”

Not many others have spent 17 years just trying to reach golf’s biggest arena.

Hamilton, 38, spent a dozen years toiling in Asia, playing everywhere from Pakistan to Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, and went through PGA Tour qualifying eight times before he finally got his card in December.

Hamilton, who finished at 12-under 276, earned $900,000 -- almost as much as his best year in Japan -- along with a two-year exemption on tour. And the perks don’t stop there.

He should easily move into the top 50 in the world ranking and qualify for the Masters.

“Until I got my tour card, I always doubted something like this would happen,” he said. “I don’t think it’s sunk in.”

Love, who played college golf against Hamilton and was trying to win for the 19th time on tour, had to settle for a runner-up finish in the Honda Classic for the second straight year. He closed with a 69.

“He finished like a true champion and birdied those last two holes when he knew he had to do it,” Love said. “It’s a great, great story. I know he’s worked long and hard for it.”

Love lost a final-round lead last year to Justin Leonard. This time, Love applied pressure by playing mistake-free down the stretch, taking the lead with a great lag putt from a deep swale off the 17th green, and he looked like a winner when he saved par with a six-foot putt on the 18th.

Hamilton had not made a birdie throughout the day, and twice had to make tough par saves just to keep his slim hopes alive.

“He gave everyone a chance,” Love said. “And then he took it away from us.”

Brian Bateman, who had never finished in the top 10 on the PGA Tour, had a share of the lead at 10 under when he finished with his 68. He wound up third and earned $340,000.

Kevin Na, at 20 the youngest player on the PGA Tour, shot a 69 and tied for fourth with Robert Allenby (70), Woody Austin (70) and Fredrik Jacobson (73).

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Karen Stupples had a breakthrough week at Randolph Park, shooting the best 72-hole score in LPGA Tour history to win her first tour title at Tucson.

The 30-year-old Englishwoman broke the tour record for raw score Sunday, closing with a seven-under 63 to finish the Welch’s/Fry’s Championship at 22-under 258. She beat Grace Park and Jung Yeon Lee by five strokes in the season-opening tournament.

Wendy Doolan set the previous record (259) last year, the first time the tournament was played on the 6,176-yard Dell Urich layout.