2012 Open Championship


The 2012 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 141st Open Championship, held from 19 to 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 :
  • 2012:, par 70
  • 2001:, par 71
  • 1996:, par 71
  • 1988:, par 71
  • 1979:, par 71
  • 1974:, par 71
  • 1969:, par 71
  • 1963:, par 70
  • 1958:, par 71
  • 1952:, par 72

    Field

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
2. The Open Champions for 2002–2011
3. Past Open Champions born between 22 July 1946 and 19 July 1948
  • This exemption category was introduced in 2008 when the age limit for past Open Champions was reduced from 65 to 60. It enabled those past Champions aged 60 to 65 at that time to continue playing until they were 65. Johnny Miller is now the only player in this category. He has not played in the Open since 1991.
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
  • Anthony Kim did not play due to tendinitis in his left arm.
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
  • Freddie 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
  • Jason Day did not compete for personal reasons.
  • Robert Karlsson did not compete.
  • Webb Simpson did not compete for personal reasons.
  • David Toms did not compete.
7. First 30 in the European Tour Race to Dubai for 2011
  • Thomas Aiken
  • Rafa Cabrera-Bello
  • Paul Casey
  • George Coetzee
  • Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño
  • Grégory Havret
  • Michael Hoey
  • Miguel Ángel Jiménez
  • Pablo Larrazábal
  • Joost Luiten
  • Alex 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.''

    Qualifying

International Final Qualifying

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, Rafa 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.

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.
PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1