The 1966 Open Championship was the 95th Open Championship, held 6–9 July at Muirfield Golf Links in Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland. Jack Nicklaus won the first of his three Claret Jugs, one stroke ahead of runners-up Doug Sanders and Dave Thomas. It was the sixth of eighteen major titles for Nicklaus and marked the completion of the first of his three career grand slams.
This was the first Open to be scheduled over four days, with one round each day, finishing on Saturday. Previous editions had played the third and fourth rounds on Friday. The U.S. Open changed to a four-day schedule the previous year in 1965, moving its final round from Saturday afternoon to Sunday. The Open Championship operated on a Wednesday through Saturday schedule through 1979.
It was the final Open for 1964 champion Tony Lema, who died in a plane crash two weeks later, hours after the PGA Championship.
Nicklaus has described Muirfield as "the best golf course in Britain." He later developed a championship golf course and community in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb north of his hometown of Columbus. Opened in 1974, Nicklaus named it Muirfield Village and it hosts his Memorial Tournament, a top invitational event on the PGA Tour since 1976.
Course
Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal Yards4293633851875164731874514953,4864753633851544624071985284293,4016,887 Par444354345364443443543571 Source: Lengths of the course for previous Opens (since 1950): 1959: , par 72
Round summaries First round Wednesday, 6 July 1966 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Jimmy Hitchcock70−1 Jack NicklausT3 Harold Henning71E Tony Lema Doug Sanders Ronnie Shade (a)T7 Fred Boobyer72+1 John Carter Alex Caygill Christy Greene Kel Nagle Gary Player Dave Thomas
Second round Thursday, 7 July 1966 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Jack Nicklaus70-67=137−52 Peter Butler73-65=138−4T3 Harold Henning71-69=140−2 Kel Nagle72-68=140 Phil Rodgers74-66=140T6 Doug Sanders71-70=141−1 Ronnie Shade (a)71-70=1418 Bruce Devlin73-69=142E9 Alex Caygill72-71=143+110 Julius Boros73-71=144+2
Amateurs: Shade (-1), Cole (+4), Townsend (+6), Bonallack (+7),Millensted (+12), Smith (+13), Falkenburg (+22)
Third round Friday, 8 July 1966 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Phil Rodgers74-66-70=210−32 Jack Nicklaus70-67-75=212−13 Doug Sanders71-70-72=213ET4 Arnold Palmer73-72-69=214+1 Dave Thomas72-73-69=2146 Harold Henning71-69-75=215+2T7 Alex Caygill72-71-73=216+3 Bruce Devlin73-69-74=216 Sebastián Miguel74-72-70=216 Kel Nagle72-68-76=216 Ronnie Shade (a)71-70-75=216
Final round Saturday, 9 July 1966 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (£)1 Jack Nicklaus 70-67-75-70=282 −22,100T2 Doug Sanders 71-70-72-70=283 −11,350 Dave Thomas 72-73-69-69=283T4 Bruce Devlin 73-69-74-70=286 +2696 Kel Nagle 72-68-76-70=286 Gary Player 72-74-71-69=286 Phil Rodgers 74-66-70-76=286T8 Dave Marr 73-76-69-70=288 +4330 Sebastián Miguel 74-72-70-72=288 Arnold Palmer 73-72-69-74=288 Peter Thomson 73-75-69-71=288 Source: Amateurs: Shade (+9), Townsend (+11), Bonallack (+13), Cole (+14)
References
External links Muirfield 1966 (Official site)