Todd Hamilton back in the winners circle at Fujisankei

BY Bruce Young | Japan Tour | 2003 Fujisankei Classic | Wrap | 11 May 2003

37-year-old Todd Hamilton claimed his first victory in five years on the Japan Golf Tour when he won the Fujisankei Classic by five strokes from Tetsuji Hiratsuka and Shigeru Nonaka, with another two shots back to veteran Jumbo Ozaki and Zhang Lian-Wei.

Hamilton, who’s last win in Japan was during the 1998 season, has been a regular on the JGT since 1992 and, until the last few years, has featured regularly amongst the leading money winners each season. His first six years on this tour yielded many good results including seven victories previous to this week. Between 1992 and 1998 he won in each season and was a regular amongst the top ten on the money list. The last five years however, have not been quite as productive, so his win today was a surprise. Hamilton, who now resides in Texas, has made the cut in all three of his starts this season but 29th at the Token Homemate Cup had been his best finish.

Hamilton started the last round with a lead of four over Hiratsuka and five over Nonaka and others. He did not put a foot wrong in the final round and at no stage was threatened as his lead extended to five at the Kawana Golf Club south of Tokyo.

26-year-old Australian Paul Sheehan continued to impress in his first full season in Japan with a sixth place tie to go with the eighth placing he recorded at the Chunichi Crowns last week. He finished as the leading Australasian and will secure 3.6 million yen or $A47,000 and is now in 12th place on the Japan Golf Tour money list of 2003 with $A126,000.

David Smail was 12th, Steve Conran 17th, Craig Jones 56th, Richard Lee 61st and Richard Backwell 71st.

The JGT now heads to the 110 million yen ($A1, 450,000) PGA Championship in the Ibaragi Prefecture north east of Tokyo.