Golf Network News
Sunday 21 July 2002European Tour · PGA TourYear in Review
Els wins the Open
Muirfield, Gullane, Scotland · Thursday 18 to Sunday 21 July 2002 · Ernie Els’s win no. 10 on the European Tour · purse £3,800,000 GBP · 131st Open Championship; four-hole aggregate playoff (holes 1, 16, 17, 18) then sudden death at the 18th, all on Sunday 21 July
The headline is set by GNN from the record. Reports from the papers of the day are below as they are found.
The weather
16 h 29 m
of daylight on the final day, the sun 54° up at noon, and that night a waxing gibbous moon (computed from the date and the place).
- R117°/12°C · wind 10 km/h ESE, gusts 18 · 0 mm rainERA5 reanalysis at the course Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis
- R214°/12°C · wind 11 km/h WSW, gusts 23 · 9.1 mm rainERA5 reanalysis at the course Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis
- R314°/11°C · wind 28 km/h N, gusts 47 · 9.3 mm rainERA5 reanalysis at the course Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis
- R417°/11°C · wind 23 km/h WNW, gusts 37 · 0 mm rainERA5 reanalysis at the course Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis
The name over time
- The Open
1860–2026 in our record, 154 editions.
The ones it got away from
- Thomas Levet FRA · 278Closed with 66, led the aggregate playoff after a 50-foot birdie at the 16th but bogeyed the 18th to tie Els, then drove into a fairway bunker and bogeyed the first sudden-death hole 2002 Open Championship (Wikipedia)
- Stuart Appleby AUS · 278Closed with 65 to join the playoff, bogeyed the last playoff hole and was eliminated by a stroke after the four-hole aggregate 2002 Open Championship (Wikipedia)
- Steve Elkington AUS · 278Closed with 66 to join the playoff, bogeyed the last playoff hole and was eliminated by a stroke after the four-hole aggregate 2002 Open Championship (Wikipedia)
156 started · cut +2, 83 made it
Same week
Men's major
The Open
Muirfield, Gullane
4 of 5 researched
Winner
Runner-up: Thomas Levet, Stuart Appleby, Steve Elkington
From the papers
ASAP Sports (interview transcript)
21 July 2002
Walking off 16, a lot of things went through my mind. I was like is this a way to lose another major; is this the way you want to be remembered by, screwing up in an Open Championship.
ASAP Sports (interview transcript)
21 July 2002
Well, he just basically agreed that I had four more holes to play and those four holes were the most important holes of my career and I was going to give it 100 percent on each and every shot.
ASAP Sports (interview transcript)
21 July 2002
I wanted to play nicely here. I wanted to get an exempt spot here for next year. So my goal was to play just solid and try to make some putts if I could.
Top 10
| Pos | Player | Rounds | Total | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ernie Els | 70 · 66 · 72 · 70 | 278 | −6 |
| T2 | Stuart Appleby | 73 · 70 · 70 · 65 | 278 | −6 |
| T2 | Steve Elkington | 71 · 73 · 68 · 66 | 278 | −6 |
| T2 | Thomas Levet | 72 · 66 · 74 · 66 | 278 | −6 |
| T5 | Padraig Harrington | 69 · 67 · 76 · 67 | 279 | −5 |
| T5 | Shigeki Maruyama | 68 · 68 · 75 · 68 | 279 | −5 |
| T5 | Gary Evans | 72 · 68 · 74 · 65 | 279 | −5 |
| T8 | Sergio Garcia | 71 · 69 · 71 · 69 | 280 | −4 |
| T8 | Retief Goosen | 71 · 68 · 74 · 67 | 280 | −4 |
| T8 | Scott Hoch | 74 · 69 · 71 · 66 | 280 | −4 |
| T8 | Thomas Bjørn | 68 · 70 · 73 · 69 | 280 | −4 |
| T8 | Soren Hansen | 68 · 69 · 73 · 70 | 280 | −4 |
| T8 | Peter O'Malley | 72 · 68 · 75 · 65 | 280 | −4 |
The golfer
born 1969-10-17, Johannesburg, South Africa; RSA; turned pro 1989; age 32 that week; tour wins to date: 10; majors to date: 3; world No. 3 that week (OWGR rankBefore (owgr.com player profile, OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2002)).
What’s in the bag
No bag on file yet