# 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. 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

| 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: 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 |
| T1 | Jack Nicklaus | 70 | −1 |
| T3 | Harold Henning | 71 | E |
| T3 | Tony Lema | 71 | E |
| T3 | Doug Sanders | 71 | E |
| T3 | Ronnie Shade (a) | 71 | E |
| T7 | Fred Boobyer | 72 | +1 |
| T7 | John Carter | 72 | +1 |
| T7 | Alex Caygill | 72 | +1 |
| T7 | Christy Greene | 72 | +1 |
| T7 | Kel Nagle | 72 | +1 |
| T7 | Gary Player | 72 | +1 |
| T7 | Dave Thomas | 72 | +1 |

### 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 |
| T3 | Kel Nagle | 72-68=140 | −2 |
| T3 | Phil Rodgers | 74-66=140 | −2 |
| T6 | Doug Sanders | 71-70=141 | −1 |
| T6 | Ronnie Shade (a) | 71-70=141 | −1 |
| 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 |
| T4 | Dave Thomas | 72-73-69=214 | +1 |
| 6 | Harold Henning | 71-69-75=215 | +2 |
| T7 | Alex Caygill | 72-71-73=216 | +3 |
| T7 | Bruce Devlin | 73-69-74=216 | +3 |
| T7 | Sebastián Miguel | 74-72-70=216 | +3 |
| T7 | Kel Nagle | 72-68-76=216 | +3 |
| T7 | Ronnie Shade (a) | 71-70-75=216 | +3 |

### 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 |
| T2 | Dave Thomas | 72-73-69-69=283 | −1 | 1,350 |
| T4 | Bruce Devlin | 73-69-74-70=286 | +2 | 696 |
| T4 | Kel Nagle | 72-68-76-70=286 | +2 | 696 |
| T4 | Gary Player | 72-74-71-69=286 | +2 | 696 |
| T4 | Phil Rodgers | 74-66-70-76=286 | +2 | 696 |
| T8 | Dave Marr | 73-76-69-70=288 | +4 | 330 |
| T8 | Sebastián Miguel | 74-72-70-72=288 | +4 | 330 |
| T8 | Arnold Palmer | 73-72-69-74=288 | +4 | 330 |
| T8 | Peter Thomson | 73-75-69-71=288 | +4 | 330 |
Source: Amateurs: Shade (+9), Townsend (+11), Bonallack (+13), Cole (+14)