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1972 U.S. Open
Tournament information
Dates	June 15–18, 1972
Location	Pebble Beach, California; 36°34′05″N 121°57′00″W / 36.568°N 121.950°W
Course(s)	Pebble Beach Golf Links
Organized by	USGA
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	72
Length	6,812 yards (6,229 m)
Field	150 players, 70 after cut
Cut	154 (+10)
Prize fund	$194,600
Winner's share	$30,000
Champion
	Jack Nicklaus
	290 (+2)
Location map
	Pebble Beach Location in the United States 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

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	Jack Nicklaus	71	−1
	Orville Moody
	Chi-Chi Rodríguez
	Mason Rudolph
	Tom Shaw
	Kermit Zarley
T7	Bobby Cole	72	E
	Don Massengale
	Gary Player
	Cesar Sanudo

Source:^[13]

Second round

Friday, June 16, 1972

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

Source:^[14]

Third round

Saturday, June 17, 1972

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

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

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
Nicklaus	E	−1	−1	E	+1	+1	E	E	E	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+2	+2	+1	+2
Crampton	+1	E	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+3	+4	+5	+5	+5	+6	+5	+5	+5	+5
Palmer	+2	+2	+1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+4	+4	+5	+6	+6	+6
Blancas	+4	+3	+3	+3	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+5	+5	+5	+5	+6	+6	+7
Trevino	+1	+2	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+4	+5	+6	+6	+7	+6	+6	+6	+7	+7
Zarley	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+5	+6	+6	+9	+9	+9	+8	+8
Miller	+1	+1	+1	+3	+3	+3	+4	+6	+7	+7	+7	+7	+7	+8	+9	+9	+9	+9
Weiskopf	+5	+4	+4	+6	+5	+5	+5	+6	+6	+8	+8	+8	+8	+9	+8	+7	+8	+10
Rodriguez	+8	+8	+9	+8	+8	+9	+9	+9	+10	+10	+10	+10	+10	+10	+10	+11	+12	+11
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

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