The 1972 Open Championship was the 101st

Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

, held 12–15 July at Muirfield Golf Links in

Gullane Gullane ( or ) is a town on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian on the east coast of Scotland. There has been a church in the village since the ninth century. The ruins of the Old Church of St. Andrew built in the twel ...

, East Lothian,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Lee Trevino won his second straight

Claret Jug The Golf Champion Trophy, commonly known as the Claret Jug, is the trophy presented to the winner of The Open Championship (also called the "British Open"), one of the four major championships in golf. The awarding of the Claret Jug dates fr ...

, the first to successfully defend his title since

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous ev ...

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

. Trevino finished one stroke ahead of runner-up Jack Nicklaus, ending his bid for the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

. Nicklaus had won the first two majors in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

and was the odds-on favorite at Muirfield, where he won his first Open in 1966. He also held the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

title from February 1971; a win at Muirfield and he would become the first to hold all four major titles at once. Six strokes back at even-par after 54 holes, Nicklaus shot a final round 66 (−5) on Saturday to tie the course record, but played the final three holes at one-over par. Trevino had posted his own 66 in the third round and held on in the fourth round with an even-par 71, which included a chip-in for par at 17, to gain the fourth of his six major titles. It was the third of four times that Nicklaus was a runner-up to Trevino in a major championship. Trevino's win concluded a stretch where American-born golfers won eight consecutive major championships. This is the fourth-longest stretch in history for American-born golfers after stretches that ended at the

1930 Open Championship The 1930 Open Championship was the 65th Open Championship, held 18–20 June at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England. Bobby Jones won his third Open Championship title, two strokes ahead of runners-up Leo Diegel and Macdonald Smith ...

, 1947 U.S. Open, and the 1977 PGA Championship. Thirty years later,

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

became the first since Nicklaus to win the first two major tournaments of the year. His bid for a Grand Slam in 2002 also ended at Muirfield.

Past champions in the field

Made both cuts

Missed the first cut

Round summaries

First round

''Wednesday, 12 July 1972''

Second round

''Thursday, 13 July 1972'' Amateurs: ''Foster (+7), Mosey (+8), Revell (+9), Stephen (+9)'', Campbell (+11), Homer (+11), Gradwell (+13), Elson (+14), Bonallack (+15),

Clark Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...

(+15), Berry (+19), Gray (+20).

Third round

''Friday, 14 July 1972'' Amateurs: Foster (+14), Mosey (+14), Stephen (+14), Revell (+15).

Final round

''Saturday, 15 July 1972'' Source:

References

External links

Muirfield 1972 (Official site)
{{coord, 56.043, -2.823, type:event, display=title The Open Championship Golf tournaments in Scotland