SHOCK Open winner Todd Hamilton today set his sights on helping the United States to regain the Ryder Cup.

Hamilton's play-off victory at Troon put him in contention for a place in the team that will take on Europe at Oakland Hills in September. He said: "Hopefully this bit of magic I have will continue in the Ryder Cup."

Caddie Ron Levin backed the 38-year-old from Illinois to give a vital edge to the 12-man American squad captained by Hal Sutton. "Todd's a great guy for Sutton to have around," he said.

Ernie Els admitted that he will be haunted by the putt he missed for Open victory. The big South African misread the 10-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole which would have given him the claret jug for the second time in three years.

"I'll be thinking about that putt for a while," said Els. "It was such a weird pin placement - if you were short, you had such a difficult putt. If I'd known that, I would probably have hit it past." Tweet