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. 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; 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

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, and tied for fourth.

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

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotalYards3855043683251805151204254503,2724363802054005554064002185403,5406,812Par454435344364434544353672

Round summaries First round Thursday, June 15, 1972 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 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:

Second round Friday, June 16, 1972 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 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=1447 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:

Third round Saturday, June 17, 1972 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 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=217T5 Arnold Palmer 77-68-73=218 +2 Johnny Miller 74-73-71=218T7 Homero Blancas 74-70-76=220 +4 Tom Weiskopf 73-74-73=220T9 Don January 76-71-74=221 +5 Gary Player 72-74-75=221 Source:

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.

Through six holes of the final round, Kermit Zarley was tied for the lead with Nicklaus at 1-over par. Zarley, however, played holes 7–14 with only two pars to go along with five bogeys and a triple-bogey on the par-5 14th to fall to 9-over for the tournament. This stretch of holes included four consecutive bogeys at 7, 8, 9 and 10 and missing very short par putts.

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

PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Jack Nicklaus 71-73-72-74=290 +2 30,0002 Bruce Crampton 74-70-73-76=293 +5 15,0003 Arnold Palmer 77-68-73-76=294 +6 10,000T4 Homero Blancas 74-70-76-75=295 +7 7,500 Lee Trevino 74-72-71-78=2956 Kermit Zarley 71-73-73-79=296 +8 6,0007 Johnny Miller 74-73-71-79=297 +9 5,0008 Tom Weiskopf 73-74-73-78=298 +10 4,000T9 Chi-Chi Rodríguez 71-75-78-75=299 +11 3,250 Cesar Sanudo 72-72-78-77=299 Source:

Scorecard Hole123456789101112131415161718Par454435344 443454435 Nicklaus E−1−1E+1+1EEE+2+2+3+3+3+2+2+1+2 Crampton +1E+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 {|class="wikitable" span = 50 style="font-size:85%; |- |style="background: Pink;" width=10| |Birdie |style="background: PaleGreen;" width=10| |Bogey |style="background: Green;" width=10| |Double bogey |style="background: Olive;" width=10| |Triple bogey+ |} Source:

References

External links USGA Championship Database