1972 U.S. Open (golf)

1972 U.S. Open
Tournament information
DatesJune 15–18, 1972
LocationPebble Beach, California
36°34′05″N 121°57′00″W / 36.568°N 121.950°W / 36.568; -121.950
Course(s)Pebble Beach Golf Links
Organized byUSGA
Tour(s)PGA Tour
Statistics
Par72
Length6,812 yards (6,229 m)[1]
Field150 players, 70 after cut
Cut154 (+10)
Prize fund$194,600[2]
Winner's share$30,000
Champion
United States Jack Nicklaus
290 (+2)
Location map
Pebble Beach is located in the United States
Pebble Beach
Pebble Beach
Location in the United States
Pebble Beach is located in California
Pebble Beach
Pebble Beach
Location in California
← 1971
1973 →

The 1972 U.S. Open was the 72nd U.S. Open, held June 15–18 at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. Jack Nicklaus, age 32, captured his third U.S. Open title, three strokes ahead of runner-up Bruce Crampton.[3][4][5][6] This was the first of six major championships held to date at Pebble Beach: five U.S. Opens and the PGA Championship in 1977. This was also the first time the U.S. Open was played at a public golf course.

Scoring conditions during the final round were extremely difficult;[7] the average was 78.8, the highest in post-war U.S. Open history. Nicklaus' 290 (+2) was the second-highest winning score during that span. It was Nicklaus' eleventh career major championship as a professional, tying the record of Walter Hagen. When combined with his two U.S. Amateur wins, it was his thirteenth major, equaling Bobby Jones for most all-time.[5][8]

Defending champion Lee Trevino had been hospitalized in Texas for several days for bronchitis and pneumonia; he was released on Tuesday, two days before the first round,[9][10][11][12] and tied for fourth.[3][5]

It was the second consecutive major title for Nicklaus, who won the Masters in April. Previous winners of the first two majors of the year were Craig Wood (1941), Ben Hogan (1951, 1953), and Arnold Palmer (1960); later champions of both were Tiger Woods (2002) and Jordan Spieth (2015). In addition, Nicklaus held the PGA Championship title from February 1971; four weeks later, he was the runner-up by a single stroke at the Open Championship at Muirfield, Scotland.

Nicklaus won seven additional majors, the last at the Masters fourteen years later in 1986 at age 46.

Course layout

Main article: Pebble Beach Golf Links
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Yards 385 504 368 325 180 515 120 425 450 3,272 436 380 205 400 555 406 400 218 540 3,540 6,812
Par 4 5 4 4 3 5 3 4 4 36 4 4 3 4 5 4 4 3 5 36 72

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 15, 1972

Place Player Score To par
T1 United States Jack Nicklaus 71 −1
United States Orville Moody
United States Chi-Chi Rodríguez
United States Mason Rudolph
United States Tom Shaw
United States Kermit Zarley
T7 South Africa Bobby Cole 72 E
United States Don Massengale
South Africa Gary Player
Mexico Cesar Sanudo

Source:[13]

Second round

Friday, June 16, 1972

Place Player Score To par
T1 United States Jack Nicklaus 71-73=144 E
Australia Bruce Crampton 74-70=144
United States Kermit Zarley 71-73=144
United States Lanny Wadkins 76-68=144
United States Homero Blancas 74-70=144
Mexico Cesar Sanudo 72-72=144
7 United States Arnold Palmer 77-68=145 +1
T8 United States Lee Trevino 74-72=146 +2
United States Lee Elder 75-71=146
United States Ralph Johnston 74-72=146
United States Rod Funseth 73-73=146
South Africa Gary Player 72-74=146
United States Chi-Chi Rodríguez 71-75=146

Source:[14]

Third round

Saturday, June 17, 1972

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Jack Nicklaus 71-73-72=216 E
T2 Australia Bruce Crampton 74-70-73=217 +1
United States Kermit Zarley 71-73-73=217
United States Lee Trevino 74-72-71=217
T5 United States Arnold Palmer 77-68-73=218 +2
United States Johnny Miller 74-73-71=218
T7 United States Homero Blancas 74-70-76=220 +4
United States Tom Weiskopf 73-74-73=220
T9 United States Don January 76-71-74=221 +5
South Africa Gary Player 72-74-75=221

Source:[15]

Final round

Sunday, June 18, 1972

In high winds, Nicklaus was even par on the front nine; after a double-bogey at the tenth, Arnold Palmer and Bruce Crampton trailed by just two shots. Palmer had a chance to tie Nicklaus at the 14th, but he missed a 10-footer (3 m) for birdie. Down by one stroke, Palmer bogeyed the next two holes and finished with a final-round 76, four shots behind.

With a three-shot lead over Crampton on the tee of the par-3 17th, Nicklaus hit one of his most famous shots. His 1-iron went directly at the pin, bounced once, struck the flagstick, and settled inches from the hole for a tap-in birdie.[16] With the lead at four strokes on the final tee, he bogeyed for 74 (+2) and the win.[5][17]

Place Player Score To par Money ($)
1 United States Jack Nicklaus 71-73-72-74=290 +2 30,000
2 Australia Bruce Crampton 74-70-73-76=293 +5 15,000
3 United States Arnold Palmer 77-68-73-76=294 +6 10,000
T4 United States Homero Blancas 74-70-76-75=295 +7 7,500
United States Lee Trevino 74-72-71-78=295
6 United States Kermit Zarley 71-73-73-79=296 +8 6,000
7 United States Johnny Miller 74-73-71-79=297 +9 5,000
8 United States Tom Weiskopf 73-74-73-78=298 +10 4,000
T9 United States Chi-Chi Rodríguez 71-75-78-75=299 +11 3,250
Mexico Cesar Sanudo 72-72-78-77=299

Source:[4][18][17]

Scorecard

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par 4 5 4 4 3 5 3 4 4 4 4 3 4 5 4 4 3 5
United States Nicklaus E −1 −1 E +1 +1 E E E +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +2 +2 +1 +2
Australia Crampton +1 E +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +3 +4 +5 +5 +5 +6 +5 +5 +5 +5
United States Palmer +2 +2 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +5 +6 +6 +6
United States Blancas +4 +3 +3 +3 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 +5 +5 +5 +5 +6 +6 +7
United States Trevino +1 +2 +3 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +4 +5 +6 +6 +7 +6 +6 +6 +7 +7
United States Zarley +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +5 +6 +6 +9 +9 +9 +8 +8
United States Miller +1 +1 +1 +3 +3 +3 +4 +6 +7 +7 +7 +7 +7 +8 +9 +9 +9 +9
United States Weiskopf +5 +4 +4 +6 +5 +5 +5 +6 +6 +8 +8 +8 +8 +9 +8 +7 +8 +10
United States Rodriguez +8 +8 +9 +8 +8 +9 +9 +9 +10 +10 +10 +10 +10 +10 +10 +11 +12 +11
Mexico Sanudo +12 +11 +11 +12 +12 +12 +11 +10 +11 +11 +10 +10 +10 +10 +11 +11 +11 +11

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie Bogey Double bogey Triple bogey+

Source:[6][7]

References

  1. ^ "Nicklaus breaks U.S. Open logjam". Toledo Blade. Ohio. Associated Press. June 18, 1972. p. E1.
  2. ^ "U.S. Open history: 1972". USGA. Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  3. ^ a b Tomashek, Tom (June 19, 1972). "Nicklaus scores U.S. Open victory". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 3.
  4. ^ a b "Nicklaus wins US Open by 3". Milwaukee Sentinel. UPI. June 19, 1972. p. 1, part 2.
  5. ^ a b c d Jenkins, Dan (June 26, 1972). "The glorius quest". Sports Illustrated. p. 22.
  6. ^ a b "Jack Opens his way to a Slam". St. Petersburg Times. (Florida). UPI. June 19, 1972. p. 1C.
  7. ^ a b Green, Bob (June 19, 1972). "'Super sweep' half complete as Nicklaus wins U.S. Open". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. p. 10.
  8. ^ "Nicklaus a wizard in US Open wind". Milwaukee Journal. press dispatches. June 19, 1972. p. 8, part 2.
  9. ^ "(photo)". Chicago Tribune. UPI. June 13, 1972. p. 2, sec. 3.
  10. ^ "Lee ready for Open". Pittsburgh Press. UPI. June 14, 1972. p. 38.
  11. ^ "Golf's greats hobble along to U.S. Open". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. June 14, 1972. p. 25.
  12. ^ "Ailing Lee Trevino arrives to defend U.S. Open title". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. (Florida). Associated Press. June 15, 1972. p. 1D.
  13. ^ Tomashek, Tom (June 16, 1972). "Nicklaus shares lead in U.S. Open". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 3.
  14. ^ Tomashek, Tom (June 17, 1972). "Logjam at Open: six share first". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 2.
  15. ^ Tomashek, Tom (June 18, 1972). "Even-par Nicklaus leading Open by 1". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 3.
  16. ^ Green, Bob (June 19, 1972). "'Super Sweep' half complete as Nicklaus wins U.S. Open". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. p. 10.
  17. ^ a b Loomis, Tom (June 19, 1972). "Jack's mettle stands test on crotchety Pebble Beach". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). p. 16.
  18. ^ "1972 U.S. Open". databasegolf.com. Retrieved June 19, 2012.