Miles and smiles for the master of Troon

Should Hamilton win Sunday's final he will fly back across the Atlantic with golf 's biggest first prize cheque in his pocket, made out to the extravagant sum of £1million.

But even if he goes out to Britain's Ryder Cup hero Lee Westwood in the first round, Hamilton will still receive £60,000.

The American is having difficulty taking it all in. After all, he says, this time last year he was contemplating playing out the season with six tournaments in Japan where he plied his trade as a journeyman professional.

Now he needs an atlas to keep track of a diary for the next few weeks that starts here in England and then takes in events in Atlanta, India, Japan, Hawaii and South Africa before concluding with an invitation to Tiger Woods' Target Challenge in California.

Meanwhile, wife Jacque has had to deal with moving to a new luxury home in Westlake, Texas, where the Hamiltons will be a 'par three' from Justin Leonard's front door and a 'par five' away from John Daly.

Still, there are consolations for dealing with all the hassle. After Troon, he bought Jacque a topofthe range Mercedes. And the fake diamond earrings she wore in Scotland have been replaced by real gems.

Yet money cannot buy everything and what didn't result from that play-off victory over Ernie Els was a call-up to the United States Ryder Cup team.

Having claimed his maiden US PGA Tour victory at the Honda Classic earlier in the spring Hamilton would have qualified for a Cup debut if the American side had been decided on results over one year, as happens in Europe, instead of two.

As it was, he didn't even make one of captain Hal Sutton's two wild card picks.

That oversight by Sutton was all the more remarkable because not only was Hamilton coming off a major victory but his experience of winning match play tournaments in Japan might have served the United States well.

"It's not like they spit on you or throw things at you," he said. "But the Japanese crowds were rooting for their guys so you could say it was a hostile environment.

"I don't know if Hal Sutton knew I had won a couple of match play events in Japan. Granted, it was not against PGA players or guys from the European Tour, but it was head-to-head competition.

"I would have loved to have played in the Ryder Cup. It would have been a great experience. But I'm not to the point where I'm going to lose sleep or slice my wrists over it."

A philosophical Hamilton can prove a point this week by beating Westwood and world No1 Vijay Singh on the way to a final where he could lock horns once again with Els, the defending champion. Alas, the form book suggests that Jacque won't be looking for another new car after the weekend, with Hamilton himself admitting: "Right now, I'm a little tired. My game reflects that, too."

But then the nice guy winks and adds: "My golf wasn't in very good shape prior to the Open Championship, either."

First round draw and times (seedings in brackets): Match 1: Ernie Els (SA, 1) v Scott Drummond (Scotland, 16) 8.20am/12.45pm Match 2: K J Choi (Korea, 8) v Angel Cabrera (Arg, 9) 8.32/12.57 Match 3: Padraig Harrington (Ire, 5) v Chris Riley (US, 12) 8.44/1.09 Match 4: Mike Weir (Can, 4) v Thomas Levet (Fra, 13) 8.56/1.21 Match 5: Retief Goosen (SA, 3) v Jeff Maggert (US, 14) 9.08/1.33 Match 6: Todd Hamilton (US, 6) v Lee Westwood (Eng, 11) 9.20/1.45 Match 7: Miguel Angel Jimenez (Sp, 7) v Steve Flesch (US, 10) 9.32/1.57 Match 8: Vijay Singh (Fiji, 2) v Bernhard Langer (Ger, 15) 9.44/2.09