Major winners have been there, want to do that one more time

Behind the surprising co-leaders, five former major winners will resume play Monday in the top 10. Among them, David Duval and Todd Hamilton are trying to author the comeback story of the year.

By T.J. Auclair, PGA.com Interactive Producer

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- The dreary, gray skies hovering over Bethpage Black for this never-ending 109th U.S. Open won’t seem to go away, but neither will a number of major champions.

Eleven players found themselves in the top 10 through three rounds. Five of them are former major winners.

Along with Phil Mickelson (tied for fifth at 2 under, six shots off the lead) -- a two-time Masters and PGA Champion who is always a favorite to add to his major championship resume -- are 2001 British Open champ David Duval (3 under, tied for third); ’03 Masters champ Mike Weir (2 under, tied for fifth); two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen (1 under, tied for eighth); and ’04 British Open champ Todd Hamilton (1 under, tied for eighth).

It’s not surprising to see Mickelson, Weir and Goosen in the mix. They’ve all played well lately and have at least 10 top-10 finishes in majors, each.

But Duval and Hamilton? Now that’s another story.

Let’s start with Duval, the man nearest the leaders. His journey is well-documented. The world’s former No. 1 player, Duval reached his ultimate goal of winning a major in 2001 at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.

It seemed as though that win in England would be the first of many major victories to come for Duval, who was Tiger Woods before the Tiger Woods we know today truly developed into a world-beater.

Duval amassed an amazing 13 wins from October of 1997 until that thrilling Sunday at Royal Lytham and St. Annes in 2001.

What has transpired for Duval since that win is something no one could have ever predicted. In the last seven years, his best finish is a tie for sixth in Las Vegas at the end of 2002.

Entering this week, he was ranked No. 882 in the world. Duval has stressed to anyone who will listen this year that his game is close to breaking out. Skepticism has been warranted, seeing as he’s missed the cut in eight of 13 starts this season, withdrew in another and had a tie for 55th at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, his best finish this season.  

This week couldn’t be more different than what Duval’s done on the course over the last several years. After a 3-under 67 in the first round, he shot even-par 70 in rounds two and three.

“A lot of what happens with confidence and success, they’re so closely entwined that as you’re not having success, you’re losing confidence and you’re short-term memory starts to remember the bad stuff,” Duval said about his struggles since 2001. “My short-term memory had certainly got to that point, but I remember good stuff and I remember good stuff playing well and not two years ago when I knew I was playing well but didn’t have anything to draw on.

“I know I’ve been there before,” added Duval, who thinks that fact can help him in the final round, where he’s 1 over after two holes. “It’s not like a distant memory, but I think more than anything, the benefit I have possibly headed into the next round is that I know the other side of it too… I feel comfortable in what I’m doing and confident in what I’m doing and that’s all you can ask for.”

As for Hamilton, his fall from grace wasn’t nearly as devastating nor unexpected as Duval’s, because we never knew him the way we knew Duval.

After failed attempts to qualify for the PGA TOUR, Hamilton spent a large portion of his career playing on the Japan Golf Tour, where he won 11 times and was the all-time leading non-Japanese money leader.

In 2003, Hamilton took another crack at q-school and made it to the TOUR as a 38-year-old rookie in 2004.

Early that spring, Hamilton picked up his first TOUR win at the Honda Classic. A few months later, he shocked everyone at Royal Troon by taking down Ernie Els in a playoff.

Since that British Open triumph, Hamilton has exactly three top-10 finishes on the PGA TOUR. He turned a lot of heads with a tie for 15th in the Masters, followed by a tie for fourth at the Verizon Heritage the next week -- his best finish since the Open win -- but with 11 missed cuts in 17 starts this season, there was no reason to expect Hamilton to have a shot at a second major title this week. Now with rounds of 67-71-71, you’ve got to wonder if the Texan has one more major in him.

“I’ve had some good feelings this week, so far,” said Hamilton, who was 2 over through three holes in his final round. “I didn’t get off to the greatest start tonight, so I’m not in the best state of mind, but the first few days have been good and it’s been fun to be in that position again.”

If Duval or Hamilton were to add a second major championship to his bio sheet on Monday, it would be the game’s story of the year.