2012 Open Championship


The 2012 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 141st Open Championship, held from 19−22 July at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England. Ernie Els won his second Claret Jug, one stroke ahead of runner-up Adam Scott. Tiger Woods and Brandt Snedeker finished tied for third, four strokes behind Els, who gained his fourth major title.
Scott was the leader after 54 holes at 199, with Els six strokes back, tied for fifth. After a birdie at the 14th hole, Scott was four strokes ahead with four holes to play. Els, two groups ahead of Scott on the course, birdied the 18th hole for a score of 68 and the clubhouse lead at 273. When Scott agonizingly bogeyed each of the final four holes, he dropped to second and Els won the Championship by a single stroke.
Entering the final round, Graeme McDowell and Snedeker were tied for second at 203, four strokes behind Scott. McDowell shot a 75 and Snedeker a 74 to knock them out of contention; Woods had a triple bogey at the sixth hole and carded a 73 to tie for third with Snedeker.

Venue

The 2012 event was the eleventh Open Championship to be played at Royal Lytham & St Annes. The previous one was in 2001, when David Duval won his only major championship, three strokes clear of runner-up Niclas Fasth. Tom Lehman won the previous Open at the venue, in 1996.

Course layout

^ Hole #6 was a par 5 in previous Opens.
Lengths of the course for The Open Championship :
Each player is classified according to the first category in which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses.
1. Past Open Champions aged 60 or under on 22 July 2012

Mark Calcavecchia, Stewart Cink, Darren Clarke, Ben Curtis, John Daly, David Duval, Ernie Els, Todd Hamilton, Pádraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie, Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard, Sandy Lyle, Louis Oosthuizen, Tiger Woods
2. The Open Champions for 2002–2011
3. Past Open Champions born between 22 July 1946 and 19 July 1948

4. Past Open Champions finishing in the top 10 and tying for 10th place in The Open Championship 2007–2011

Tom Watson
5. First 10 and anyone tying for 10th place in the 2011 Open Championship

Thomas Bjørn, Chad Campbell, Simon Dyson, Rickie Fowler, Sergio García, Raphaël Jacquelin, Dustin Johnson, Davis Love III, Phil Mickelson
6. The first 50 players on the Official World Golf Ranking for Week 20, 2012

Aaron Baddeley, Bae Sang-moon, Keegan Bradley, K. J. Choi, Nicolas Colsaerts, Luke Donald, Jason Dufner, Jim Furyk, Bill Haas, Anders Hansen, Peter Hanson, Fredrik Jacobson, Zach Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Matt Kuchar, Martin Laird, Hunter Mahan, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy, Francesco Molinari, Kevin Na, Geoff Ogilvy, Carl Pettersson, Ian Poulter, Álvaro Quirós, Justin Rose, Charl Schwartzel, Adam Scott, John Senden, Brandt Snedeker, Steve Stricker, Bo Van Pelt, Nick Watney, Bubba Watson, Lee Westwood, Mark Wilson
7. First 30 in the European Tour Race to Dubai for 2011

Thomas Aiken, Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Paul Casey, George Coetzee, Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, Grégory Havret, Michael Hoey, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Pablo Larrazábal, Joost Luiten, Alexander Norén, Richie Ramsay
8. The BMW PGA Championship winners for 2010–2012

Simon Khan
9. First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt having applied above, in the top 20 of the 2012 PGA European Tour Race to Dubai on completion of the 2012 BMW PGA Championship

Branden Grace, Jbe' Kruger, Robert Rock
10. First 2 European Tour members and any European Tour members tying for 2nd place, not exempt, in a cumulative money list taken from the seven official European Tour events leading up to and including the 2012 Irish Open

Thongchai Jaidee, Richard Sterne
11. The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2012 Alstom Open de France and the 2012 Barclays Scottish Open

Marcel Siem, Jeev Milkha Singh
12. The U.S. Open Champions for 2008–2012

Lucas Glover
13. The U.S. Masters Champions for 2008–2012

Ángel Cabrera, Trevor Immelman
14. The U.S. PGA Champions for 2007–2011

Yang Yong-eun
15. The U.S. PGA Tour Players Champions for 2010–2012

Tim Clark
16. The leading 30 qualifiers for the 2011 PGA Tour's Tour Championship

Jonathan Byrd, Charles Howell III, Chez Reavie, Vijay Singh, Gary Woodland
17. First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt having applied from #6, in the top 20 of the FedEx Cup points list of the 2012 PGA Tour on completion of the HP Byron Nelson Championship

John Huh, Kyle Stanley, Johnson Wagner
18. First 2 PGA Tour members and any PGA Tour members tying for 2nd place, not exempt, in a cumulative money list taken from The Players Championship and the five PGA Tour events leading up to and including the 2012 Greenbrier Classic

Marc Leishman, Ted Potter, Jr.
19. The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2012 Greenbrier Classic and the 2012 John Deere Classic

Troy Kelly, Troy Matteson
20. Playing members of the 2011 Presidents Cup teams

Robert Allenby, Retief Goosen, Ryo Ishikawa, Kim Kyung-tae
21. First place on the 2011 Asian Tour Order of Merit

Juvic Pagunsan
22. First place on the 2011 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit

Greg Chalmers
23. First place on the 2011 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit

Garth Mulroy
24. The 2011 Japan Open Champion
25. First 2, not exempt, on the Official Money List of the Japan Golf Tour for 2011

Tadahiro Takayama, Toru Taniguchi
26. The leading 4 players, not exempt, in the 2012 Mizuno Open

Hiroyuki Fujita, Brad Kennedy, Toshinori Muto, Koumei Oda
27. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, not exempt having applied above, in a cumulative money list taken from all official 2012 Japan Golf Tour events up to and including the 2012 Mizuno Open

Yoshinori Fujimoto, Brendan Jones
28. The Senior British Open Champion for 2011
29. The 2012 Amateur Champion

Alan Dunbar
30. The 2011 U.S. Amateur Champion
  • Kelly Kraft forfeited his invitation by turning pro in April 2012.
31. The 2011 European Individual Amateur Champion

Manuel Trappel
32. The Mark H. McCormack Medal winner for 2011.
  • Patrick Cantlay forfeited his exemption by turning professional in June 2012.
International Final Qualifying
Local Final Qualifying
  • denotes amateur
Twenty players were appearing in their first major championship: Nick Cullen, Alan Dunbar, Harris English, Yoshinori Fujimoto, Andrew Georgiou, Ashley Hall, John Huh, Kodai Ichihara, Ian Keenan, Jbe' Kruger, Anirban Lahiri, Morten Ørum Madsen, Garth Mulroy, Steven O'Hara, Juvic Pagunsan, Ted Potter, Jr., Aaron Townsend, Manuel Trappel, Grant Veenstra, and Dale Whitnell.
A further 12 players were appearing in their first Open Championship: Matthew Baldwin, Keegan Bradley, Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Justin Hicks, Troy Kelly, Troy Matteson, James Morrison, Scott Pinckney, Chez Reavie, Michael Thompson, Johnson Wagner, and Sam Walker.
Notable absences included Mark O'Meara and Henrik Stenson.
Alternates'''

Where places are available to make up the full entry of 156, these additional places are allocated in ranking order from the Official World Golf Ranking. The alternates are allocated when it becomes clear that additional places are available, except that places allocated after the issue of Week 27 rankings use those rankings.
After the final qualifying events on 15 July there were 157 qualified players. The withdrawal of Robert Karlsson reduced the field size to the usual 156. Russ Cochran then withdrew and was replaced by Michael Thompson, as Ben Crane chose not to travel.

Nationalities in the field

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Source:

Missed the cut

Source:

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 19 July 2012
The weather conditions during the first day of the tournament turned out to be less harsh than expected, with very little wind and cloudy skies. Adam Scott made eight birdies and only two bogeys en route to a 6-under-par 64, tying the course record. Tiger Woods shot a 3-under 67, hitting all but one fairway in regulation.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Adam Scott64−6
T2Nicolas Colsaerts65−5
T2Zach Johnson65−5
T2Paul Lawrie65−5
5Brandt Snedeker66−4
T6Ernie Els67−3
T6Peter Hanson67−3
T6Graeme McDowell67−3
T6Rory McIlroy67−3
T6Toshinori Muto67−3
T6Steve Stricker67−3
T6Bubba Watson67−3
T6Tiger Woods67−3

Second round

Friday, 20 July 2012
Some rain showers wet the course overnight and in the early morning hours, but the calm conditions continued into day two of the tournament. Brandt Snedeker fired a bogey-free round of 64 to vault to the top of the leaderboard, one shot ahead of Adam Scott, who shot 67. Tiger Woods, for the second straight round, only missed one fairway in regulation and shot another 3-under 67, including a holed green-side bunker shot for birdie on the 18th hole, to enter the weekend trailing the lead by four shots.
Tom Watson, at 62 years of age, set a new record as the oldest player to make the cut in the history of the Open Championship, beating his own record set in 2011.
For the first time since 2003, no amateurs made the halfway cut.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Brandt Snedeker66-64=130−10
2Adam Scott64-67=131−9
3Tiger Woods67-67=134−6
4Thorbjørn Olesen69-66=135−5
T5Thomas Aiken68-68=136−4
T5Jason Dufner70-66=136−4
T5Matt Kuchar69-67=136−4
T5Paul Lawrie65-71=136−4
T5Graeme McDowell67-69=136−4
10Ernie Els67-70=137−3

Amateurs: Dunbar, Trappel.

Third round

Saturday, 21 July 2012
In the third round, leader Brandt Snedeker faltered by shooting a 73 to move him down to a tie for second with Graeme McDowell, who rose up to second place with a score of 67. Adam Scott, who entered the round one stroke behind Snedeker, shot a 68 to move to eleven strokes under par, retaking the lead from Snedeker. Tiger Woods shot an even par of 70 to stay at six strokes under par, moving him to fourth place behind Scott, McDowell, and Snedeker.
Anirban Lahiri scored the first hole in one of the Championship at the 9th hole.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Adam Scott64-67-68=199−11
T2Graeme McDowell67-69-67=203−7
T2Brandt Snedeker66-64-73=203−7
4Tiger Woods67-67-70=204−6
T5Ernie Els67-70-68=205−5
T5Zach Johnson65-74-66=205−5
7Thorbjørn Olesen69-66-71=206−4
T8Thomas Aiken68-68-71=207−3
T8Bill Haas71-68-68=207−3
T10Mark Calcavecchia71-68-69=208−2
T10Matt Kuchar69-67-72=208−2
T10Louis Oosthuizen72-68-68=208−2
T10Bubba Watson67-73-68=208−2

Final round

Sunday, 22 July 2012
In the fourth and final round, leader Adam Scott got off to a poor start on the front nine holes by scoring a 36, bringing his score to nine-under par. Graeme McDowell, Brandt Snedeker, and Tiger Woods entered the round within striking distance of Scott, but each faltered and sank out of contention. McDowell shot a 75, and fell to a tie for fifth with Luke Donald. Snedeker double-bogeyed the seventh and eighth holes, leading to a final round score of 74, in a tie for third with Woods. Woods had trouble with a greenside bunker on the sixth hole, and triple-bogeyed the hole which he had birdied in each of the three previous rounds. Woods scored a 73 to put him into a tie for third with Snedeker.
Despite two bogeys on the front nine, Ernie Els got back to even par for the round with a birdie at the 12th hole and then birdied the 14th. Scott also birdied the 14th but bogeyed the next three to leave him at 7-under, tied with Els, who had birdied the final hole. On the tournament's 72nd hole, Scott put his tee shot into a bunker and had to exit sideways to the fairway. His third shot left him an par-saving putt to force a playoff, but it missed to the left. Els was bogey-free on the back nine with four birdies to card a 32 and win by one stroke.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Ernie Els67-70-68-68=273−7900,000
2Adam Scott64-67-68-75=274−6520,000
T3Brandt Snedeker66-64-73-74=277−3297,500
T3Tiger Woods67-67-70-73=277−3297,500
T5Luke Donald70-68-71-69=278−2195,000
T5Graeme McDowell67-69-67-75=278−2195,000
T7Thomas Aiken68-68-71-72=279−1142,500
T7Nicolas Colsaerts65-77-72-65=279−1142,500
T9Mark Calcavecchia71-68-69-72=280E79,600
T9Miguel Ángel Jiménez71-69-73-67=280E79,600
T9Dustin Johnson73-68-68-71=280E79,600
T9Zach Johnson65-74-66-75=280E79,600
T9Matt Kuchar69-67-72-72=280E79,600
T9Alexander Norén71-71-69-69=280E79,600
T9Geoff Ogilvy72-68-73-67=280E79,600
T9Thorbjørn Olesen69-66-71-74=280E79,600
T9Ian Poulter71-69-73-67=280E79,600
T9Vijay Singh70-72-68-70=280E79,600

Scorecard

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
EagleBirdieBogeyDouble bogeyTriple bogey+

Source: