1966 Open Championship

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]

1966 Open Championship

Tournament information
Dates	6–9 July 1966
Location	Gullane, Scotland
Course(s)	Muirfield Golf Links
Statistics
Par	71[1]
Length	6,887 yards (6,297 m)[1]
Field	130 players, 64 after cut[1]
Cut	150 (+8)[1]
Prize fund	£15,000 $42,000
Winner's share	£2,100 $5,880
Champion
Jack Nicklaus
282 (−2)
← 1965 1967 →

Muirfield

Location in Scotland

Muirfield

Location in East Lothian, Scotland

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	Jimmy Hitchcock	70	−1
	Jack Nicklaus
T3	Harold Henning	71	E
	Tony Lema
	Doug Sanders
	Ronnie Shade (a)
T7	Fred Boobyer	72	+1
	John Carter
	Alex Caygill
	Christy Greene
	Kel Nagle
	Gary Player
	Dave Thomas

Second round

Thursday, 7 July 1966

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Jack Nicklaus	70-67=137	−5
2	Peter Butler	73-65=138	−4
T3	Harold Henning	71-69=140	−2
	Kel Nagle	72-68=140
	Phil Rodgers	74-66=140
T6	Doug Sanders	71-70=141	−1
	Ronnie Shade (a)	71-70=141
8	Bruce Devlin	73-69=142	E
9	Alex Caygill	72-71=143	+1
10	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	Phil Rodgers	74-66-70=210	−3
2	Jack Nicklaus	70-67-75=212	−1
3	Doug Sanders	71-70-72=213	E
T4	Arnold Palmer	73-72-69=214	+1
	Dave Thomas	72-73-69=214
6	Harold Henning	71-69-75=215	+2
T7	Alex Caygill	72-71-73=216	+3
	Bruce Devlin	73-69-74=216
	Sebastián Miguel	74-72-70=216
	Kel Nagle	72-68-76=216
	Ronnie Shade (a)	71-70-75=216

Final round

Saturday, 9 July 1966

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

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