2006 Open Championship

2006 Open Championship

Tournament information
Dates	20 - 23 July 2006
Location	Merseyside, England
Course(s)	Royal Liverpool Golf Club
Tour(s)	PGA Tour PGA European Tour Japan Golf Tour
Statistics
Par	72
Length	7,258 yards (6,637 m)
Field	156 players, 71 after cut
Cut	143 (-1)
Prize fund	£4,000,000 €5,797,724 $7,300,000
Winner's share	£720,000 €1,045,966 $1,338,480
Champion
Tiger Woods
270 (-18)

The 2006 Open Championship was the 135th Open Championship, played from 20-23 July at Royal Liverpool Golf Club. Tiger Woods held off Chris DiMarco, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, and Sergio García for a two-shot victory. The win was his second consecutive Open Championship title and third overall. It was also Woods' first major tournament win since the death of his father, Earl Woods, in May. The purse was £4,000,000, and the winner received £720,000. Using conversion rates at the time of the tournament, the purse was €5,797,724 for the European Tour's Order of Merit rankings and $7,300,000 for the PGA Tour's money list.

History of The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool

Royal Liverpool first hosted The Open Championship in 1897 and the 2006 Open was the 11th to be held at Royal Liverpool. This was the first Open at Royal Liverpool since 1967, a thirty nine year absence. Royal Liverpool's list of champions includes Harold Hilton (1897), Sandy Herd (1902), Arnaud Massy (1907), John Henry Taylor (1913), 11 time major winner Walter Hagen (1924), seven time major winner and amateur Bobby Jones, Alf Padgham (1936), Fred Daly (1947), Peter Thomson (1956), and Roberto DeVicenzo (1967).

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	To par	Finish
Tiger Woods	United States	2000, 2005	67	65	71	67	270	-18	1st
Ernie Els	South Africa	2002	68	65	71	71	275	-13	3rd
Mark Calcavecchia	United States	1989	71	68	68	80	289	-1	T41
Tom Watson	United States	1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983	72	70	75	71	288	E	T48
David Duval	United States	2001	70	70	78	71	289	+1	T56
Mark O'Meara	United States	1986, 1993	71	70	77	73	291	+3	T63
Todd Hamilton	United States	2004	72	71	74	78	295	+7	T68
Tom Lehman	United States	1996	74	73	73	75	295	+15	T32

Missed the cut

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	Total	To par
John Daly	United States	1995	72	73	145	+1
Tom Lehman	United States	1996	68	77	145	+1
Ben Curtis	United States	2003	73	73	146	+2
Sandy Lyle	Scotland	1985	73	73	146	+2
Nick Faldo	England	1987, 1990, 1992	77	71	148	+4
Paul Lawrie	Scotland	1999	76	74	150	+6
Seve Ballesteros	Spain	1979, 1984, 1988	74	77	151	+7

Course

Round-by-round summary

First round (Thursday)

Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland is alone in the lead after an opening round 66. McDowell's 66 broke the course record set by Roberto De Vicenzo in 1967. Defending champ Tiger Woods leads a group of five other golfers at 67. There were the 67 rounds under par including 32 of them in the 60s. This broke the record of 59 sub-par rounds in the first round of the Open Championship at St Andrews in 1995 (the PGA Tour began keeping records in relation to par in 1956).

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Graeme McDowell	Northern Ireland	66	-6
T2	Tiger Woods	United States	67	-5
	Anthony Wall	England
	Greg Owen	England
	Miguel Ángel Jiménez	Spain
	Keiichiro Fukabori	Japan
T7	Ben Crane	United States	68	-4
	Ernie Els	South Africa
	Marcus Fraser	Australia
	Jim Furyk	United States
	Sergio García	Spain
	Mark Hensby	Australia
	S.K. Ho	South Korea
	Mikko Ilonen	Finland
	Tom Lehman	United States
	Carl Pettersson	Sweden
	Brett Rumford	Australia
	Adam Scott	Australia
	Mike Weir	Canada

Second round (Friday)

Tiger Woods stormed into the lead at twelve-under with a 65 (-7), which included an eagle from 209 yards (191 m) on the 14th hole, one of the toughest holes at Royal Liverpool. Ernie Els also shot 65 and was one shot behind Woods, who was 6-0 when leading after 36 holes. Chris DiMarco, whose mother died suddenly of a heart attack July 4^th, emerged from his slump with a 65 and was three shots behind at 135 (-9). Seventy one players made 36-hole cut at 143 (-1) or better.

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Tiger Woods	United States	67-65=132	-12
2	Ernie Els	South Africa	68-65=133	-11
3	Chris DiMarco	United States	70-65=135	-9
4	Retief Goosen	South Africa	70-66=136	-8
T5	Mikko Ilonen	Finland	68-69=137	-7
	Miguel Ángel Jiménez	Spain	67-70=137
	Adam Scott	Australia	68-69=137
8	Robert Rock	England	69-69=138	-6
T9	Robert Allenby	Australia	69-70=139	-5
	Ángel Cabrera	Argentina	71-68=139
	Mark Calcavecchia	United States	71-68=139
	Ben Crane	United States	68-71=139
	Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño	Spain	70-69=139
	Marcus Fraser	Australia	68-71=139
	Jim Furyk	United States	68-71=139
	Sergio García	Spain	68-71=139
	Jerry Kelly	United States	72-67=139
	Graeme McDowell	Northern Ireland	66-73=139
	Brett Rumford	Australia	68-71=139
	Rory Sabbatini	South Africa	69-70=139
	Thaworn Wiratchant	Thailand	71-68=139

Amateurs: Thorp (-2), Molinari (-1), Guerrier (+3), Denison (+10).

Third round (Saturday)

Moving day ended with Tiger Woods still holding a one-shot lead, but with three golfers right on his heels. Ernie Els, in the final pairing, matched Woods with an identical 71. Chris DiMarco and Sergio García were also within one shot. García holed out a 9-iron from 167 yards (153 m) for eagle on the second hole, and took only 29 shots on the outward nine to finish with a seven-under 65.

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Tiger Woods	United States	67-65-71=203	-13
T2	Chris DiMarco	United States	70-65-69=204	-12
	Ernie Els	South Africa	68-65-71=204
	Sergio García	Spain	68-71-65=204
T5	Ángel Cabrera	Argentina	71-68-66=205	-11
	Jim Furyk	United States	68-71-66=205
7	Hideto Tanihara	Japan	72-68-66=206	-10
T8	Mark Calcavecchia	United States	71-68-68=207	-9
	Adam Scott	Australia	68-69-70=207
T10	Robert Allenby	Australia	69-70-69=208	-8
	Retief Goosen	South Africa	70-66-72=208
	Jerry Kelly	United States	72-67-69=208
	Peter Lonard	Australia	71-69-68=208
	Greg Owen	England	67-73-68=208
	Andrés Romero	Argentina	70-70-68=208

Fourth round (Sunday)

Woods fought off three of the best golfers in the world to win his third Open Championship title. While Els and García faded, DiMarco made a gritty rally to close with a 68 for a solo runner-up finish, two strokes back. After the clinching putt, Woods buried his head in the shoulder of caddie Steve Williams and sobbed uncontrollably, having won his first major since the passing of his father Earl Woods two months earlier. On the way to victory, Woods hit 86 percent of fairways and tied the lowest Open Championship score of 270. Woods became the first player since Tom Watson in 1982 -83 to win golf's oldest championship in consecutive years. Woods improved his perfect record in majors to 11-0 when entering the final round with the lead.

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Winnings (£)
1	Tiger Woods	United States	67-65-71-67=270	-18	720,000
2	Chris DiMarco	United States	70-65-69-68=272	-16	430,000
3	Ernie Els	South Africa	68-65-71-71=275	-13	275,000
4	Jim Furyk	United States	68-71-66-71=276	-12	210,000
T5	Sergio García	Spain	68-71-65-73 = 277	-11	159,500
	Hideto Tanihara	Japan	72-68-66-71 = 277
7	Ángel Cabrera	Argentina	71-68-66-73=278	-10	128,025
T8	Carl Pettersson	Sweden	68-72-70-69=279	-9	95,350
	Andrés Romero	Argentina	70-70-68-71=279
	Adam Scott	Australia	68-69-70-72=279

Amateurs: Thorp (E), Molinari (+7).

External links

• Summary and full results
• The Open Championship official site
• The 2006 Open Championship site