1966 Open Championship: Jack Nicklaus wins at Muirfield
Jack Nicklaus won the 1966 Open Championship at Muirfield, Gullane, Scotland with 282, by 1 stroke over Doug Sanders and Dave Thomas.
Updated October 23, 2026
See 1966 in The Open room, or every year on The Open winners list.
- Dates
- 6 July 1966 to 9 July 1966
- Course
- Muirfield, Gullane, Scotland
- Edition
- 95th Open Championship
- Format
- 72 holes of stroke play
- Purse
- £15,000
- Trophy
- Claret Jug (replica to winner)
- Champion
- Jack Nicklaus · age 26 · USA · born Columbus, USA
- Champion's title
- 1st Open title
- Winning score
- 70-67-75-70 = 282 · won by 1 stroke
- Runners-up
- Doug Sanders (283), Dave Thomas (283)
- 54-hole leader
- Phil Rodgers (210) · Jack Nicklaus was 2 strokes back
- Deciding hole
- No. 17, round 4
- Final-day weather
- breezy, sun-baked: Saturday: "the wind off the Firth of Forth had Muirfield's hay waving"; wind and sun had dried the greens until they were "hard as terra-cotta".
- Low amateur
- Ronnie Shade
Top 11 as recorded
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jack Nicklaus | 70 | 67 | 75 | 70 | 282 |
| T2 | Dave Thomas | 72 | 73 | 69 | 69 | 283 |
| T2 | Doug Sanders | 71 | 70 | 72 | 70 | 283 |
| T4 | Phil Rodgers | 74 | 66 | 70 | 76 | 286 |
| T4 | Kel Nagle | 72 | 68 | 76 | 70 | 286 |
| T4 | Bruce Devlin | 73 | 69 | 74 | 70 | 286 |
| T4 | Gary Player | 72 | 74 | 71 | 69 | 286 |
| T8 | Dave Marr | 73 | 76 | 69 | 70 | 288 |
| T8 | Peter Thomson | 73 | 75 | 69 | 71 | 288 |
| T8 | Arnold Palmer | 73 | 72 | 69 | 74 | 288 |
| T8 | Sebastian Miguel | 74 | 72 | 70 | 72 | 288 |
What happened at the 1966 Open Championship
Level with Sanders and Thomas with two to play, Nicklaus birdied the par-5 17th and parred the 18th to win by one and complete the career Grand Slam.
In the first Open played over four days, Doug Sanders holed a 60-yard chip for eagle at the 9th and Arnold Palmer took a 7 at the 10th.
With Nicklaus, Sanders and Thomas all tied going to the 17th, Nicklaus birdied the par-5 17th and parred the last to win by one.
How this was built
Every value is shown as recorded in GNN's The Open data. A value no source confirmed is left out; nothing is estimated. Where sources disagree, the organizer's own record is used.
Data: the-open.json (The Open room's data), with GNN's Open Championship addendum tables L (top ten by round), H (deciding hole), W (final-day weather).