2002 Open Championship

2002 Open Championship
Tournament information
Dates18–21 July 2002
LocationGullane, Scotland
Course(s)Muirfield Golf Links
Tour(s)European Tour
PGA Tour
Japan Golf Tour
Statistics
Par71[1]
Length7,034 yards (6,432 m)[1]
Field156 players, 83 after cut[1]
Cut144 (+2)[1]
Prize fund£3,800,000
€5,947,076
$6,004,760
Winner's share£700,000
€1,095,514
$1,106,140
Champion
South Africa Ernie Els
278 (−6), playoff
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Muirfield is located in Scotland
Muirfield
Muirfield
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Location in Scotland

The 2002 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 131st Open Championship, held from 18 to 21 July at Muirfield Golf Links in Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland. Ernie Els won his first Claret Jug and third major title in a playoff over Stuart Appleby, Steve Elkington, and ultimately in a sudden-death playoff over Thomas Levet.[2][3]

Tiger Woods' bid for the Grand Slam came to a halt on Saturday with the worst round of his career up to that time, an 81 (+10) in cold, gusty rain.[4] It took him and others out of contention, but he rebounded on Sunday with a six-under 65 and finished at even par, six strokes back. Woods was the first in thirty years to win the first two legs (Masters, U.S. Open), last done by Jack Nicklaus in 1972.[5] Nicklaus' grand slam bid also ended at Muirfield, runner-up by one stroke to Lee Trevino in 1972. The only one to win the first three was Ben Hogan in 1953. Entering the championship, Woods had won seven of the previous eleven majors.[6]

Course

Main article: Muirfield
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Yards 448 351 378 213 560 468 185 443 508 3,554 475 389 381 191 448 415 186 546 449 3,480 7,034
Par 4 4 4 3 5 4 3 4 5 36 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 5 4 35 71

Source:[7]

Lengths of the course for previous Opens (since 1950):[1]

  • 1992: 6,970 yards (6,370 m), par 71
  • 1987: 6,963 yards (6,367 m), par 71
  • 1980: 6,926 yards (6,333 m), par 71
  • 1972: 6,892 yards (6,302 m), par 71
  • 1966: 6,887 yards (6,297 m), par 71
  • 1959: 6,806 yards (6,223 m), par 72

Field

1. Top 15 and ties from the 2001 Open Championship

Billy Andrade (4), Alex Čejka, Darren Clarke (4,5,18), David Duval (2,3,4,13,14,18), Ernie Els (4,5,10,14), Niclas Fasth (4,5,18), Sergio García (4,14,18), Retief Goosen (4,5,10), Mikko Ilonen, Raphaël Jacquelin, Miguel Ángel Jiménez (5), Bernhard Langer (4,5,18), Billy Mayfair, Colin Montgomerie (4,5,6,18), Jesper Parnevik (4,18), Loren Roberts, Vijay Singh (4,11,12,14), Des Smyth, Kevin Sutherland (4), Ian Woosnam (5)

2. Open Champions, 1992–2001

John Daly (3,4), Nick Faldo (3), Paul Lawrie (3,5), Tom Lehman (3,4,14), Justin Leonard (3,4), Greg Norman (3), Mark O'Meara (3,11), Nick Price (3,4), Tiger Woods (3,4,10,11,12,13,14,18)

3. Past Open Champions aged 65 or under on 21 July 2002

Mark Calcavecchia (4,14,18), Sandy Lyle, Tom Watson

4. The first 50 players on the OWGR on 30 May 2002

Robert Allenby (14), Thomas Bjørn (5,18), Ángel Cabrera (5), Michael Campbell (5), Stewart Cink (18), José Cóceres, John Cook, Chris DiMarco (14), Bob Estes (14), Brad Faxon (14), Jim Furyk (14,18), Pádraig Harrington (5,18), Dudley Hart, Scott Hoch (14,18), Toshimitsu Izawa (23), Shingo Katayama (23), Jerry Kelly, Matt Kuchar, Davis Love III (12,14,18), Shigeki Maruyama, Len Mattiace, Scott McCarron, Paul McGinley (5,18), Rocco Mediate, Phil Mickelson (14,18), José María Olazábal (11), Adam Scott (5), David Toms (12,14,18), Scott Verplank (14,18,19), Mike Weir (14)

5. Top 20 in the final 2001 European Tour Order of Merit

Mathias Grönberg, David Howell, Robert Karlsson, Thomas Levet, Peter O'Malley (22)

6. The Volvo PGA Championship winners for 1999–2002

Anders Hansen, Andrew Oldcorn

7. First 5 players, not exempt, in the top 20 of the 2002 European Tour Order of Merit as of 30 May

Barry Lane, Malcolm MacKenzie, Greg Owen, Carl Pettersson, Eduardo Romero

8. First 7 European Tour members, not exempt, in the top 25 of a cumulative money list taken from all official European Tour events from the 2002 Volvo PGA Championship up to and including the 2002 Scottish Open

Roger Chapman, Bradley Dredge, Gary Evans, Darren Fichardt, Søren Hansen, Freddie Jacobson, Ian Poulter

9. The leading 8 players, not exempt having applied (8) above, in the 2002 Scottish Open

Warren Bennett, John Bickerton, Paul Casey, Marc Farry, Ricardo González, Stephen Leaney, Jean-François Remésy, Jamie Spence

10. The U.S. Open Champions for 1993–2002

Lee Janzen, Steve Jones, Corey Pavin

11. The Masters Champions for 1998–2002
12. The PGA Champions for 1997–2001
13. The Players Champions for 1999–2002

Craig Perks, Hal Sutton (18)

14. Top 20 in the final 2001 PGA Tour Official Money List

Joe Durant, Frank Lickliter

15. First 5 players, not exempt, in the top 20 of the 2002 PGA Tour Official Money List as of 30 May

K. J. Choi

16. First 7 PGA Tour members, not exempt, in the top 25 of a cumulative money list taken from the 2002 Players Championship and the five PGA Tour events leading up to and including the 2002 Western Open

Stephen Ames, Jim Carter, Jonathan Kaye, Peter Lonard, Jeff Maggert, Tim Petrovic, Chris Smith

17. The leading 8 players, not exempt having applied (16) above, in the 2002 Western Open

Stuart Appleby, Neal Lancaster, John Riegger, Chris Riley, Steve Stricker, Bob Tway, Duffy Waldorf

18. Players selected to the 2001 Ryder Cup teams

Pierre Fulke, Phillip Price, Lee Westwood

19. The 2001 Canadian Open Champion
20. The 2001 Japan Open Champion

Taichi Teshima

21. Winner of the 2001 Asian PGA Tour Order of Merit

Thongchai Jaidee

22. Top 3 from the 2001–02 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit as of 30 May

Scott Laycock, Craig Parry

23. Top 3 from the 2001 Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit

Dean Wilson

24. Top 2 from the 2001–02 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit

Tim Clark, Justin Rose

25. The leading player, not exempt, in the 2002 Mizuno Open

Kiyoshi Miyazato

26. First 4, not exempt having applied (25) above, in the top 20 of a cumulative money list taken from all official Japan Golf Tour events from the 2002 Japan PGA Championship up to and including the 2002 Mizuno Open

Kenichi Kuboya, Tsuneyuki Nakajima, Toru Suzuki, Toru Taniguchi

27. The 2001 Senior British Open Champion

Ian Stanley

28. The 2002 Amateur Champion

Alejandro Larrazábal (a)

29. The 2001 U.S. Amateur Champion
30. The 2001 European Amateur Champion
Final Qualifying (Sunday 14 July and Monday 15 July)
Dunbar – Luke Donald, Mattias Eliasson, Steve Elkington, Ian Garbutt, Patrik Sjöland, Esteban Toledo, Simon Young (a)
Gullane No. 1 – Fredrik Andersson, Gary Emerson, Richard Green, James Kingston, Adam Mednick, Raymond Russell, John Senden
Luffness New – Peter Baker, Benn Barham, Andrew Coltart, Paul Eales, John Kemp (a), Jarrod Moseley, Magnus Persson Atlevi
North Berwick – Matthew Cort, Scott Henderson, Trevor Immelman, Paul Mayoh, David Park, Roger Wessels, Tom Whitehouse

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 18 July 2002

Place Player Score To par[8]
T1 Sweden Carl Pettersson 67 −4
United States David Toms
United States Duffy Waldorf
T4 Trinidad and Tobago Stephen Ames 68 −3
Denmark Thomas Bjørn
Denmark Søren Hansen
United States Steve Jones
Scotland Sandy Lyle
Japan Shigeki Maruyama
United States Len Mattiace
United States Phil Mickelson
Zimbabwe Nick Price
France Jean-François Remésy
England Justin Rose
Republic of Ireland Des Smyth

Second round

Friday, 19 July 2002

Place Player Score To par[9]
T1 South Africa Ernie Els 70-66=136 −6
Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington 69-67=136
Japan Shigeki Maruyama 68-68=136
United States Bob Tway 70-66=136
United States Duffy Waldorf 67-69=136
T6 Denmark Søren Hansen 68-69=137 −5
Sweden Carl Pettersson 67-70=137
Republic of Ireland Des Smyth 68-69=137
T9 Trinidad and Tobago Stephen Ames 68-70=138 −4
Denmark Thomas Bjørn 68-70=138
France Thomas Levet 72-66=138
Scotland Colin Montgomerie 74-64=138
United States Mark O'Meara 69-69=138
England Ian Poulter 69-69=138
Zimbabwe Nick Price 68-70=138
United States Tiger Woods 70-68=138

Amateurs: Young (+5), Kemp (+6), Larrazábal (+10).

Third round

Saturday, 20 July 2002

Place Player Score To par[10]
1 South Africa Ernie Els 70-66-72=208 −5
2 Denmark Søren Hansen 68-69-73=210 −3
T3 Denmark Thomas Bjørn 68-70-73=211 −2
Spain Sergio García 71-69-71=211
United States Justin Leonard 71-72-68=211
Japan Shigeki Maruyama 68-68-75=211
United States Scott McCarron 71-68-72=211
England Justin Rose 68-75-68=211
Republic of Ireland Des Smyth 68-69-74=211
T10 Australia Steve Elkington 71-73-68=212 −1
Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington 69-67-76=212
France Thomas Levet 72-66-74=212
Australia Peter Lonard 72-72-68=212

Final round

Sunday, 21 July 2002

Place Player Score To par Money (£)
T1 South Africa Ernie Els 70-66-72-70=278 −6 Playoff
France Thomas Levet 72-66-74-66=278
Australia Stuart Appleby 73-70-70-65=278
Australia Steve Elkington 71-73-68-66=278
T5 England Gary Evans 72-68-74-65=279 −5 140,000
Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington 69-67-76-67=279
Japan Shigeki Maruyama 68-68-75-68=279
T8 Denmark Thomas Bjørn 68-70-73-69=280 −4 77,500
Spain Sergio García 71-69-71-69=280
South Africa Retief Goosen 71-68-74-67=280
Denmark Søren Hansen 68-69-73-70=280
United States Scott Hoch 74-69-71-66=280
Australia Peter O'Malley 72-68-75-65=280

Source:[11]

Scorecard

Final round

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par 4 4 4 3 5 4 3 4 5 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 5 4
South Africa Els −4 −4 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −6 −7 −7 −8 −8 −7 −7 −5 −6 −6
France Levet −1 −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −6 −6
Australia Appleby E E E +1 E E E E −1 −2 −2 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −5 −6
Australia Elkington −1 −1 −1 −2 −2 −2 −2 −3 −4 −4 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −6 −6
England Evans +2 +1 E E −1 −2 −3 −4 −4 −5 −6 −6 −6 −6 −6 −6 −6 −5
Republic of Ireland Harrington −1 −1 −1 −1 −2 −2 −3 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −5 −5 −6 −5
Japan Maruyama −1 −2 −3 −3 −4 −5 −5 −5 −6 −5 −5 −4 −3 −3 −3 −4 −5 −5

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:[12]

Playoff

The four-hole aggregate playoff was contested over holes 1, 16, 17, & 18; Levet and Elkington went off in the first pair and Els and Appleby in the last. After a 50-foot (15 m) birdie putt on the second hole (#16, par 3), Levet led by a stroke, but bogeyed the last to tie Els at even-par. Appleby and Elkington also bogeyed the last hole and were eliminated by a stroke.[13] At the first hole (#18) of sudden death, Levet put his tee shot in a fairway bunker and bogeyed. Els saved par from a greenside bunker with a five-foot (1.6 m) putt to win the title.[3] Through 2023, this is the only four-man playoff in Open Championship history, and no other current major championship has had a four-way playoff.

Place Player Four-hole Sudden-death Money (£)
Score To par Score To par
1 South Africa Ernie Els 4-3-5-4=16 E 4 E 700,000
T2 France Thomas Levet 4-2-5-5=16 5 +1 286,667
Australia Stuart Appleby 4-4-4-5=17 +1  
Australia Steve Elkington 5-3-4-5=17

Scorecard

Hole   1    16   17   18 
Par 4 3 5 4
South Africa Els E E E E
France Levet E −1 −1 E
Australia Appleby E +1 E +1
Australia Elkington +1 +1 E +1
Sudden-death
South Africa Els E
France Levet +1

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 28, 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  2. ^ Rushin, Steve (29 July 2002). "Brutish Open". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013.
  3. ^ a b Ferguson, Doug (22 July 2002). "Someone Els wins Open title". Associated Press. p. C-1.
  4. ^ Dahlberg, Tim (21 July 2002). "British field gets blown away". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. p. 1D.
  5. ^ Ferguson, Doug (16 July 2002). "British Open next test for Tiger". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. p. E1.
  6. ^ Whicker, Mark (18 July 2002). "Incomparable, really". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. (Orange County Register). p. D1.
  7. ^ "British Open: hole-by-hole analysis". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 18 July 2002. p. 3C.
  8. ^ "PGA European Tour - Tournaments". Archived from the original on 4 September 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  9. ^ "PGA European Tour - Tournaments". Archived from the original on 4 September 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  10. ^ "PGA European Tour - Tournaments". Archived from the original on 4 September 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  11. ^ "2002 Open Championship results". databasegolf.com. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  12. ^ "British Open Championship". ESPN. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  13. ^ "Big, but not easy". Toledo Blade. Associated Press. 22 July 2002. p. C1.

56°02′35″N 2°49′23″W / 56.043°N 2.823°W / 56.043; -2.823