2002 Open Championship
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.
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 in cold, gusty rain. 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, last done by Jack Nicklaus in 1972. 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.
Course
| 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:
Lengths of the course for previous Opens :
Field
;1. Top 15 and ties from the 2001 Open ChampionshipBilly Andrade, Alex Čejka, Darren Clarke, David Duval, Ernie Els, Niclas Fasth, Sergio García, Retief Goosen, Mikko Ilonen, Raphaël Jacquelin, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Bernhard Langer, Billy Mayfair, Colin Montgomerie, Jesper Parnevik, Loren Roberts, Vijay Singh, Des Smyth, Kevin Sutherland, Ian Woosnam
;2. Open Champions, 1992–2001
John Daly, Nick Faldo, Paul Lawrie, Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard, Greg Norman, Mark O'Meara, Nick Price, Tiger Woods
;3. Past Open Champions aged 65 or under on 21 July 2002
Mark Calcavecchia, Sandy Lyle, Tom Watson
- Seve Ballesteros withdrew.
- Ian Baker-Finch, Tony Jacklin, Johnny Miller, Jack Nicklaus, Bill Rogers, Lee Trevino, and Tom Weiskopf did not enter.
Robert Allenby, Thomas Bjørn, Ángel Cabrera, Michael Campbell, Stewart Cink, José Cóceres, John Cook, Chris DiMarco, Bob Estes, Brad Faxon, Jim Furyk, Pádraig Harrington, Dudley Hart, Scott Hoch, Toshimitsu Izawa, Shingo Katayama, Jerry Kelly, Matt Kuchar, Davis Love III, Shigeki Maruyama, Len Mattiace, Scott McCarron, Paul McGinley, Rocco Mediate, Phil Mickelson, José María Olazábal, Adam Scott, David Toms, Scott Verplank, Mike Weir
- Paul Azinger and Kenny Perry did not play.
Mathias Grönberg, David Howell, Robert Karlsson, Thomas Levet, Peter O'Malley
;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 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
;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 above, in the 2002 Western Open
Stuart Appleby, Neal Lancaster, John Riegger, Chris Riley, Steve Stricker, Bob Tway, Duffy Waldorf
- Brandt Jobe did not play.
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 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
;29. The 2001 U.S. Amateur Champion
- Bubba Dickerson forfeited his exemption by turning professional.
- Stephen Browne forfeited his exemption by turning professional.
Round summaries
First round
Thursday, 18 July 2002| Place | Player | Score | To par | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T1 |  Second roundFriday, 19 July 2002
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