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1966_Open_Championship Latitude and Longitude:
56°02′35″N 2°49′23″W / 56.043°N 2.823°W / 56.043; -2.823
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1966 Open Championship
Tournament information
Dates6–9 July 1966
Location Gullane, Scotland
Course(s) Muirfield Golf Links
Statistics
Par71 [1]
Length6,887 yards (6,297 m) [1]
Field130 players, 64 after cut [1]
Cut150 (+8) [1]
Prize fund £15,000
$42,000
Winner's share£2,100
$5,880
Champion
United States Jack Nicklaus
282 (−2)
←  1965
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Muirfield is located in Scotland
Muirfield
Muirfield
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Location in Scotland
Muirfield is located in East Lothian
Muirfield
Muirfield
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Location in East Lothian, Scotland

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. [2] [3] It was the sixth of eighteen major titles for Nicklaus and marked the completion of the first of his three career grand slams. [4] [5]

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. [6]

Nicklaus has described Muirfield as "the best golf course in Britain." [7] 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

Main article: Muirfield
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Yards 429 363 385 187 516 473 187 451 495 3,486 475 363 385 154 462 407 198 528 429 3,401 6,887
Par 4 4 4 3 5 4 3 4 5 36 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 5 4 35 71

Source: [8]
Lengths of the course for previous Opens (since 1950):

  • 1959: 6,806 yards (6,223 m), par 72

Round summaries

First round

Wednesday, 6 July 1966

Place Player Score To par
T1 England Jimmy Hitchcock 70 −1
United States Jack Nicklaus
T3 South Africa Harold Henning 71 E
United States Tony Lema
United States Doug Sanders
Scotland Ronnie Shade (a)
T7 England Fred Boobyer 72 +1
England John Carter
England Alex Caygill
Republic of Ireland Christy Greene
Australia Kel Nagle
South Africa Gary Player
Wales Dave Thomas

Second round

Thursday, 7 July 1966

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Jack Nicklaus 70-67=137 −5
2 England Peter Butler 73-65=138 −4
T3 South Africa Harold Henning 71-69=140 −2
Australia Kel Nagle 72-68=140
United States Phil Rodgers 74-66=140
T6 United States Doug Sanders 71-70=141 −1
Scotland Ronnie Shade (a) 71-70=141
8 Australia Bruce Devlin 73-69=142 E
9 England Alex Caygill 72-71=143 +1
10 United States Julius Boros 73-71=144 +2

Amateurs: Shade (-1), Cole (+4), Townsend (+6), Bonallack (+7),
Millensted (+12), Smith (+13), Falkenburg (+22)

Third round

Friday, 8 July 1966

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Phil Rodgers 74-66-70=210 −3
2 United States Jack Nicklaus 70-67-75=212 −1
3 United States Doug Sanders 71-70-72=213 E
T4 United States Arnold Palmer 73-72-69=214 +1
Wales Dave Thomas 72-73-69=214
6 South Africa Harold Henning 71-69-75=215 +2
T7 England Alex Caygill 72-71-73=216 +3
Australia Bruce Devlin 73-69-74=216
Spain Sebastián Miguel 74-72-70=216
Australia Kel Nagle 72-68-76=216
Scotland Ronnie Shade (a) 71-70-75=216

Final round

Saturday, 9 July 1966

Place Player Score To par Money ( £)
1 United States Jack Nicklaus 70-67-75-70=282 −2 2,100
T2 United States Doug Sanders 71-70-72-70=283 −1 1,350
Wales Dave Thomas 72-73-69-69=283
T4 Australia Bruce Devlin 73-69-74-70=286 +2 696
Australia Kel Nagle 72-68-76-70=286
South Africa Gary Player 72-74-71-69=286
United States Phil Rodgers 74-66-70-76=286
T8 United States Dave Marr 73-76-69-70=288 +4 330
Spain Sebastián Miguel 74-72-70-72=288
United States Arnold Palmer 73-72-69-74=288
Australia Peter Thomson 73-75-69-71=288

Source: [2] [3] [4]
Amateurs: Shade (+9), Townsend (+11), Bonallack (+13), Cole (+14)

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 70, 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Nicklaus wins British Open by stroke". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. 10 July 1966. p. 1, sec. 2.
  3. ^ a b Jacobs, Raymond (11 July 1966). "Nicklaus's Open at fifth attempt". Glasgow Herald. p. 4.
  4. ^ a b "Happy Nicklaus plans return trip". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. 10 July 1966. p. 1B.
  5. ^ Wright, Alfred (18 July 1966). "Smiling Jack wins a rough one". Sports Illustrated. p. 20.
  6. ^ "Lema plane crash probed". Milwaukee Sentinel. United Press International. 26 July 1966. p. 1-sports.
  7. ^ "Muirfield club steeped in tradition". Star-Phoenix. ( Saskatoon). Reuters. 14 July 1980. p. B1.
  8. ^ "Card of course". Glasgow Herald. 9 July 1966. p. 13.

External links

56°02′35″N 2°49′23″W / 56.043°N 2.823°W / 56.043; -2.823

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