Hamilton hitting his stride at just the right time

text size

Serota/Getty Images

Todd Hamilton continues to perform well following a tie for 15th last week at the Masters.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- Todd Hamilton says he began to lose his way here in 2005, so perhaps it's fitting that Harbour Town may be the next step on his road to recovery.

Hamilton shot a bogey-free 5-under 66 on Friday to take the lead after the morning round of the Verizon Heritage. It's the second straight strong week for Hamilton, who tied for 15th at last week's Masters. He's now made the cut in three straight events after missing in seven of the season's first eight tournaments.

RELATED

Hamilton interview
Hamilton's scorecard
Replay Hamilton's round

Hamilton won the Open Championship in 2004 and remembers playing well through the rest of that season and during the opening months of 2005. That's when the room began to spin. He missed the cut in 11 of the final 16 events that year, troubles that he links back to Harbour Town.

"I had a good really good finish (tie for 22nd at the Heritage Verizon) and it seemed like after that I just tanked," Hamilton said.

His struggles continued in 2006 and 2007, when he only made the cut in one-third of his events, and had only one top-10 finish. Things got a little better in 2008, but he entered the season down to the final year of his exemption for winning the Open Championship.

"So I need to do something," Hamilton said.

The inadvertent breakthrough may have come after the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he made the cut and tied for 59th. He didn't play the Shell Houston Open because of the wind -- "I just got tired of fighting it," he said -- and went home to Dallas and didn't touch a club for four days.

He showed up mentally fresh at the Masters and surprised a lot of experts by making the cut and remaining on the fringe of contention all weekend. The strong play of his overall game, particularly chipping and putting, has carried over to the Verizon Heritage and led to a first-round 68. He followed that with a 66. It's his best back-to-back rounds since the Wyndham Championship in 2007, when he opened with a 66 and 69.

The winds at Harbour Town didn't bother Hamilton, not like that 40-mph steer-busting gusts he sees in north Texas. Hamilton hit 11 of 14 fairways and 11 greens in regulation. Twice he was able to get up and down from the sand to salvage par and keep his round on track.

Hamilton knows the urgency of the season. Down to the final year of being fully exempt, he wanted to play well early so he wouldn't need to play 10 or 12 straight weeks in order to keep his card.

"I actually thought this was going to be a good year for me," Hamilton said. "And getting off to a slow start I think that's when I started thinking, 'Man, you better start doing something and not waste your opportunity. You've got one year of a free pass left. You better start getting after it.'"

Hamilton said his options are limited. "I don't know how to do a whole lot of other things," he said. "My father owned a grocery store when I was growing up and I was a pretty good bagger. No offense to the people that do that, but I wouldn't want to have to do that."

Hamilton shouldn't worry. A few more rounds like he's had this week and he'll never need to ask that immortal question: Plastic or paper?