The playoff rule in the British Open at this time was this: four holes in length, cumulative scoring. And in 2002, that four-hole playoff was contested by four golfers.

Ernie Els, Thomas Levet, Steve Elkington and Stuart Appleby comprised the quartet of playoff participants. Els birdied the 17th hole of the final round to get himself into the playoff. And in that playoff, Ernie was steady-as-he-goes, recording par at all four holes.

Elkington and Appleby were both 1-over in the extra holes, while Levet birdied early and could have won the Claret Jug with a par on the fourth extra hole. But he bogied, so Levet and Els had to keep playing. When, on the fifth extra hole, Els got up and down from a greenside bunker, he was the 2002 British Open winner.

The third round of this championship was played in truly miserable conditions, cold and wet. How bad was it? Tiger Woods carded an 81 that day, the worst score of his career to that point.

2002 British Open Scores

Results and prize money (USD) from the 2002 British Open, played at Muirfield (par 71) in Gullane, Scotland (p-won playoff; a-amateur):

p-Ernie Els, South Africa, $1,106,140	70-66-72-70--278
Thomas Levet, France, $452,991	72-66-74-66--278
Stuart Appleby, Australia, $452,991	73-70-70-65--278
Steve Elkington, Australia, $452,991	71-73-68-66--278
Gary Evans, England, $221,228	72-68-74-65--279
Padraig Harrington, Ireland, $221,228	69-67-76-67--279
Shigeki Maruyama, Japan, $221,228	68-68-75-68--279
Peter O'Malley, Australia, $122,466	72-68-75-65--280
Scott Hoch, United States, $122,466	74-69-71-66--280
Retief Goosen, South Africa, $122,466	71-68-74-67--280
Thomas Bjorn, Denmark, $122,466	68-70-73-69--280
Sergio Garcia, Spain, $122,466	71-69-71-69--280
Soren Hansen, Denmark, $122,466	68-69-73-70--280
Davis Love III, United States, $78,615	71-72-71-67--281
Nick Price, Zimbabwe, $78,615	68-70-75-68--281
Peter Lonard, Australia, $78,615	72-72-68-69--281
Justin Leonard, United States, $78,615	71-72-68-70--281
Bob Estes, United States, $64,788	71-70-73-68--282
Greg Norman, Australia, $64,788	71-72-71-68--282
Duffy Waldorf, United States, $64,788	67-69-77-69--282
Scott McCarron, United States, $64,788	71-68-72-71--282
Chris Riley, United States, $50,566	70-71-76-66--283
Toshimitsu Izawa, Japan, $50,566	76-68-72-67--283
Mark O'Meara, United States, $50,566	69-69-77-68--283
Corey Pavin, United States, $50,566	69-70-75-69--283
David Duval, United States, $50,566	72-71-70-70--283
Justin Rose, England, $50,566	68-75-68-72--283
Tiger Woods, United States, $37,925	70-68-81-65--284
Pierre Fulke, Sweden, $37,925	72-69-78-65--284
Bradley Dredge, Wales, $37,925	70-72-74-68--284
Bernhard Langer, Germany, $37,925	72-72-71-69--284
Niclas Fasth, Sweden, $37,925	70-73-71-70--284
Jerry Kelly, United States, $37,925	73-71-70-70--284
Jesper Parnevik, Sweden, $37,925	72-72-70-70--284
Loren Roberts, United States, $37,925	74-69-70-71--284
Des Smyth, Ireland, $37,925	68-69-74-73--284
Neal Lancaster, United States, $26,732	71-71-76-67--285
Ian Woosnam, Wales, $26,732	72-72-73-68--285
Darren Clarke, Northern Ireland, $26,732	72-67-77-69--285
Stephen Leaney, Australia, $26,732	71-70-75-69--285
Andrew Coltart, Scotland, $26,732	71-69-74-71--285
Scott Verplank, United States, $26,732	72-68-74-71--285
Esteban Toledo, Mexico, $21,728	73-70-75-68--286
Steve Jones, United States, $21,728	68-75-73-70--286
Trevor Immelman, South Africa, $21,728	72-72-71-71--286
Carl Pettersson, Sweden, $21,728	67-70-76-73--286
Paul Eales, England, $18,962	73-71-76-67--287
Jeff Maggert, United States, $18,962	71-68-80-68--287
Rocco Mediate, United States, $18,962	71-72-74-70--287
Warren Bennett, England, $16,223	71-68-82-67--288
Mikko Ilonen, Finland, $16,223	71-70-77-70--288
Fredrik Andersson, Sweden, $16,223	74-70-74-70--288
Ian Poulter, England, $16,223	69-69-78-72--288
Bob Tway, United States, $16,223	70-66-78-74--288
Shingo Katayama, Japan, $16,223	72-68-74-74--288
Barry Lane, England, $16,223	74-68-72-74--288
Ian Garbutt, England, $16,223	69-70-74-75--288
Craig Perks, New Zealand, $16,223	72-70-71-75--288
Stewart Cink, United States, $14,696	71-69-80-69--289
Steve Stricker, United States, $14,696	69-70-81-69--289
Richard Green, Australia, $14,696	72-72-75-70--289
Paul Lawrie, Scotland, $14,696	70-70-78-71--289
Nick Faldo, England, $14,696	73-69-76-71--289
Kenichi Kuboya, Japan, $14,696	70-73-73-73--289
Joe Durant, United States, $14,696	72-71-73-73--289
Phil Mickelson, United States, $13,906	68-76-76-70--290
Jarrod Moseley, Australia, $13,906	70-73-75-72--290
Chris DiMarco, United States, $13,906	72-69-75-74--290
Matthew Cort, England, $13,458	73-71-78-69--291
Toru Taniguchi, Japan, $13,458	71-73-76-71--291
Stephen Ames, Trinidad & Tobago, $13,458	68-70-81-72--291
Len Mattiace, United States, $13,458	68-73-77-73--291
Jim Carter, United States, $13,458	74-70-73-74--291
Mike Weir, Canada, $13,458	73-69-74-75--291
Sandy Lyle, Scotland, $13,432	68-76-73-75--292
Chris Smith, United States, $13,432	74-69-71-78--292
Anders Hansen, Denmark, $13,432	71-72-79-71--293
Roger Wessels, South Africa, $13,432	72-71-73-77--293
David Park, Wales, $13,432	73-67-74-80--294
Lee Janzen, United States, $13,432	70-69-84-72--295
Mark Calcavecchia, United States, $13,432	74-66-81-74--295
Colin Montgomerie, Scotland, $13,432	74-64-84-75--297
David Toms, United States, $13,432	67-75-81-75--298

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