1972 U.S. Open (golf)

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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; -121.950Coordinates: 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
← 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.

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

Past champions in the field[]

Player Country Year(s) won R1 R2 R3 R4 Total To par Finish
Jack Nicklaus  United States 1962, 1967 71 73 72 74 290 +2 1
Arnold Palmer  United States 1960 77 68 73 76 294 +6 3
Lee Trevino  United States 1968, 1971 74 72 71 78 295 +7 T4
Billy Casper  United States 1959, 1966 74 73 79 74 300 +12 T11
Orville Moody  United States 1969 71 77 79 74 301 +13 T15
Gary Player  South Africa 1965 72 74 75 80 301 +13 T15
Julius Boros  United States 1952, 1963 77 77 74 77 305 +17 T29
Tony Jacklin  England 1970 75 78 71 83 307 +19 T40
  • Note: all eight former champions in the field made the cut.[13]

Round summaries[]

First round[]

Thursday, June 15, 1972

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

Source:[14]

Second round[]

Friday, June 16, 1972

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

Source:[15]

Third round[]

Saturday, June 17, 1972

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

Source:[16]

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.[17] With the lead at four strokes on the final tee, he bogeyed for 74 (+2) and the win.[5][18]

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

Source:[4][13][18]

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. ^ a b "1972 U.S. Open". databasegolf.com. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  14. ^ Tomashek, Tom (June 16, 1972). "Nicklaus shares lead in U.S. Open". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 3.
  15. ^ Tomashek, Tom (June 17, 1972). "Logjam at Open: six share first". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 2.
  16. ^ Tomashek, Tom (June 18, 1972). "Even-par Nicklaus leading Open by 1". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 3.
  17. ^ Green, Bob (June 19, 1972). "'Super Sweep' half complete as Nicklaus wins U.S. Open". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. p. 10.
  18. ^ a b Loomis, Tom (June 19, 1972). "Jack's mettle stands test on crotchety Pebble Beach". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). p. 16.

External links[]

Preceded by
1972 Masters
 Major Championships Succeeded by
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