  We present a comprehensive study of the luminosity function and spatial
structure of the globular cluster system of NGC 4472, based on deep wide field
Washington CT1 CCD images. The globular cluster luminosity function shows a
peak at T1=23.3 +/- 0.1 mag, about 1.5 mags brighter than our 50% completeness
limit. We estimate the true distance modulus to NGC 4472 to be (m-M)o = 31.2
+/- 0.2. With our large sample (~ 2000) of bright globular clusters over a wide
field, we make a definitive investigation of the spatial structures of the
metal-poor and metal-rich cluster populations and find that they are
systematically different: (1) The metal-rich clusters are more centrally
concentrated than the metal-poor clusters; and (2) The metal-rich clusters are
elongated roughly along the major axis of the parent galaxy, while the
metal-poor clusters are essentially spherically distributed. In general, the
metal-rich clusters closely follow the underlying halo starlight of NGC 4472 in
terms of spatial structure and metallicity, while the metal-poor clusters do
not. The global value of the specific frequency of the globular clusters in NGC
4472 is estimated to be S_N = 4.7 +/- 0.6. The local specific frequency
increases linearly outward from the center of NGC 4472 until ~ 5'.5, beyond
which it levels off at S_N ~ 8.5 until the limit of our data at 7'. The
specific frequency of both the metal-rich and metal-poor populations shows
similar behavior. However, S_N of the metal-poor clusters is about a factor 2
larger than that of the metal-rich clusters in the outer regions. Implications
of these results for the origin of the globular clusters in NGC 4472 are
discussed.
