 Front cover of the 2006 Open Annual | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 20–23 July 2006 |
| Location | Merseyside, England |
| Course | Royal Liverpool Golf Club |
| Organized by | The R&A |
| Tour(s) | European Tour PGA Tour Japan Golf Tour |
| Statistics | |
| Par | 72[1] |
| Length | 7,258 yards (6,637 m)[1] |
| Field | 156 players, 71 after cut[1] |
| Cut | 143 (−1)[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) | |
The2006 Open Championship was amen's major golf championship and the 135thOpen Championship, played from 20 to 23 July atRoyal Liverpool Golf Club.Tiger Woods held offChris DiMarco,Ernie Els,Jim Furyk, andSergio 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 theEuropean Tour's Order of Merit rankings and$7,300,000 for thePGA Tour's money list.
Royal Liverpool first hostedThe 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 since1967, a thirty-nine-year absence. Royal Liverpool's list of champions includesHarold Hilton (1897),Sandy Herd (1902),Arnaud Massy (1907),John Henry Taylor (1913), 11-time major winnerWalter Hagen (1924), seven-time major winner and amateurBobby Jones,Alf Padgham (1936),Fred Daly (1947),Peter Thomson (1956), andRoberto De Vicenzo (1967).
| Hole | Name | Yards | Par | Hole | Name | Yards | Par | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 - Royal | 454 | 4 | 10 | 8 - Far | 534 | 5 | |
| 2 | 18 - Stand | 436 | 4 | 11 | 9 - Punch Bowl | 393 | 4 | |
| 3 | 1 - Course | 429 | 4 | 12 | 10 - Dee | 448 | 4 | |
| 4 | 2 - Road | 372 | 4 | 13 | 11 - Alps | 198 | 3 | |
| 5 | 3 - Long | 528 | 5 | 14 | 12 - Hilbre | 456 | 4 | |
| 6 | 4 - New | 202 | 3 | 15 | 13 - Rushes | 161 | 3 | |
| 7 | 5 - Telegraph | 453 | 4 | 16 | 14 - Field | 554 | 5 | |
| 8 | 6 - Briars | 423 | 4 | 17 | 15 - Lake | 459 | 4 | |
| 9 | 7 - Dowie | 198 | 3 | 18 | 16 - Dun | 560 | 5 | |
| Out | 3,495 | 35 | In | 3,763 | 37 | |||
| Total | 7,258 | 72 | ||||||
Lengths of the course for previous Opens (since 1947):[1]
1. First 10 and anyone tying for 10th place in the2005 Open Championship
Michael Campbell (3,4,9,17),Fred Couples (3,17),Sergio García (3,4,13),Retief Goosen (3,4,9,13,17),Bernhard Langer,Colin Montgomerie (3,4),Geoff Ogilvy (3,9),José María Olazábal (3,4),Vijay Singh (3,11,13,17),Tiger Woods (2,3,9,10,13,17)
2. Past Open Champions aged 65 or under on 23 July 2006
Seve Ballesteros,Mark Calcavecchia (21),Ben Curtis,John Daly,David Duval,Ernie Els (3,4),Nick Faldo,Todd Hamilton,Paul Lawrie,Tom Lehman (3),Sandy Lyle,Mark O'Meara,Tom Watson (26)
3. The first 50 players on the OWGR for Week 22, 2006
Robert Allenby,Stephen Ames (12),Stuart Appleby (17),Thomas Bjørn (4),Bart Bryant (13),Ángel Cabrera (4,5,17),Chad Campbell (13),Paul Casey (6),K. J. Choi,Stewart Cink (17),Tim Clark (17),Darren Clarke (4),Ben Crane (13),Chris DiMarco (13,17),Luke Donald (4,13),Jim Furyk (9,13,17),Lucas Glover,Pádraig Harrington (13),Tim Herron,David Howell (4,5),Miguel Ángel Jiménez (4),Brandt Jobe,Zach Johnson,Shingo Katayama (22),Davis Love III (13,17),Paul McGinley (4),Phil Mickelson (10,11,13,17),Arron Oberholser (14),Nick O'Hern (17,19),Rod Pampling (14),Kenny Perry (13,17),Carl Pettersson,Rory Sabbatini (14),Adam Scott (12,13,17,19),Henrik Stenson (4),Scott Verplank (13,17),Mike Weir (10,17)
4. First 20 in theEuropean Tour Final Order of Merit for 2005
Stephen Dodd,Nick Dougherty,Bradley Dredge,Niclas Fasth,Kenneth Ferrie,Ian Poulter
5. TheBMW Championship winners for 2004–06
Scott Drummond
6. First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt, in the top 20 of the European Tour Order of Merit for 2006 on completion of the 2006 BMW Championship
Paul Broadhurst,Johan Edfors
7. First 2 European Tour members and any European Tour members tying for 2nd place, not exempt, in a cumulative money list taken from all official European Tour events from theBritish Masters up to and including theOpen de France and including TheU.S. Open
John Bickerton,Robert Karlsson
8. The leading player, not exempt, in the first 10 and ties of each of the 2006Open de France, 2006European Open and the 2006Scottish Open
Marcus Fraser,Andrés Romero,Anthony Wall
9. TheU.S. Open Champions for 2002–06
10. TheMasters Champions for 2002–06
11. ThePGA Champions for 2001–05
Rich Beem,Shaun Micheel
12. ThePlayers Champions for 2004–06
Fred Funk (13,17)
13. First 20 on the Official Money List of thePGA Tour for 2005
Sean O'Hair
14. First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt, in the top 20 of the Official Money List of the PGA Tour for 2006 on completion of theFedEx St. Jude Classic
15. First 2 PGA Tour members and any PGA Tour members tying for 2nd place, not exempt, in a cumulative money list taken from the Players Championship and the five PGA Tour events leading up to and including the 2006Western Open
Billy Andrade,J. J. Henry
16. The leading player, not exempt having applied (15) above, in the first 10 and ties of each of the 2006Buick Championship, the 2006Western Open and the 2006John Deere Classic
Mathew Goggin,Hunter Mahan,John Senden
17. Playing members of the2005 Presidents Cup teams
Mark Hensby,Peter Lonard
18. First and anyone tying for 1st place on the Order of Merit of theAsian Tour for 2005
Thaworn Wiratchant
19. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place on the Order of Merit of thePGA Tour of Australasia for 2005
20. First and anyone tying for 1st place on the Order of Merit of theSunshine Tour for 2005/2006
Charl Schwartzel
21. TheCanadian Open Champion for 2005
22. TheJapan Open Champion for 2005
23. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, not exempt, on the Official Money List of theJapan Golf Tour for 2005
Keiichiro Fukabori,Yasuharu Imano
24. The leading 4 players, not exempt, in the 2006Mizuno Open
Hur Suk-ho,Tatsuhiko Ichihara,Wayne Perske,David Smail
25. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, not exempt having applied (24) above, in a cumulative money list taken from all official Japan Golf Tour events from the 2006Japan PGA Championship up to and including the 2006Mizuno Open
Toshinori Muto,Hideto Tanihara
26. TheSenior Open Champion for 2005
27.The Amateur Champion for 2006
Julien Guerrier (a)
28. TheU.S. Amateur Champion for 2005
Edoardo Molinari (a)
29. TheEuropean Amateur Champion for 2005
Marius Thorp (a)
International Final Qualifying
Local Final Qualifying (Monday 10 July and Tuesday 11 July)
Alternates
The OWGR from 9 July was used to determine alternates. Four alternates gained places in the field:
Thursday, 20 July 2006
Graeme McDowell ofNorthern Ireland was the opening round leader at 66, which broke the course record set byRoberto De Vicenzo in1967. Defending championTiger Woods led a group of five others at 67. There were 67 rounds under par, with 32 rounds in the 60s, which broke the record of 59 sub-par rounds in the first round of the Open Championship atSt Andrews in1995 (thePGA Tour began keeping records in relation to par in 1956).
Friday, 21 July 2006
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 a major after 36 holes.Chris DiMarco, whose mother died suddenly of a heart attack 4 July, emerged from his slump with a 65 and was three shots behind at 135 (−9). Seventy one players made the 36-hole cut at 143 (−1) or better.
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiger Woods | 67-65=132 | −12 |
| 2 |  Ernie Els | 68-65=133 | −11 |
| 3 | Chris DiMarco | 70-65=135 | −9 |
| 4 | Retief Goosen | 70-66=136 | −8 |
| T5 |  Mikko Ilonen | 68-69=137 | −7 |
 Miguel Ángel Jiménez | 67-70=137 | ||
 Adam Scott | 68-69=137 | ||
| 8 |  Robert Rock | 69-69=138 | −6 |
| T9 | Robert Allenby | 69-70=139 | −5 |
 Ángel Cabrera | 71-68=139 | ||
| Mark Calcavecchia | 71-68=139 | ||
| Ben Crane | 68-71=139 | ||
| Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño | 70-69=139 | ||
| Marcus Fraser | 68-71=139 | ||
| Jim Furyk | 68-71=139 | ||
| Sergio García | 68-71=139 | ||
| Jerry Kelly | 72-67=139 | ||
 Graeme McDowell | 66-73=139 | ||
| Brett Rumford | 68-71=139 | ||
| Rory Sabbatini | 69-70=139 | ||
 Thaworn Wiratchant | 71-68=139 |
Amateurs:Thorp (−2),Molinari (−1),Guerrier (+3),Denison (+10).
Saturday, 22 July 2006
Moving day ended withTiger 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 andSergio 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 | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiger Woods | 67-65-71=203 | −13 |
| T2 | Chris DiMarco | 70-65-69=204 | −12 |
| Ernie Els | 68-65-71=204 | ||
| Sergio García | 68-71-65=204 | ||
| T5 | Ángel Cabrera | 71-68-66=205 | −11 |
| Jim Furyk | 68-71-66=205 | ||
| 7 |  Hideto Tanihara | 72-68-66=206 | −10 |
| T8 | Mark Calcavecchia | 71-68-68=207 | −9 |
| Adam Scott | 68-69-70=207 | ||
| T10 | Robert Allenby | 69-70-69=208 | −8 |
| Retief Goosen | 70-66-72=208 | ||
| Jerry Kelly | 72-67-69=208 | ||
| Peter Lonard | 71-69-68=208 | ||
| Greg Owen | 67-73-68=208 | ||
| Andrés Romero | 70-70-68=208 |
Sunday, 23 July 2006
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 caddieSteve Williams and sobbed uncontrollably, having won his first major since the passing of his fatherEarl Woods two months earlier. On the way to victory, Woods hit 86 percent of fairways. Woods became the first player sinceTom Watson in1982–83 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 at least a share of the lead.
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiger Woods | 67-65-71-67=270 | −18 | 720,000 |
| 2 | Chris DiMarco | 70-65-69-68=272 | −16 | 430,000 |
| 3 | Ernie Els | 68-65-71-71=275 | −13 | 275,000 |
| 4 | Jim Furyk | 68-71-66-71=276 | −12 | 210,000 |
| T5 | Sergio García | 68-71-65-73=277 | −11 | 159,500 |
| Hideto Tanihara | 72-68-66-71=277 | |||
| 7 | Ángel Cabrera | 71-68-66-73=278 | −10 | 128,025 |
| T8 |  Carl Pettersson | 68-72-70-69=279 | −9 | 95,350 |
| Andrés Romero | 70-70-68-71=279 | |||
| Adam Scott | 68-69-70-72=279 |
Amateurs: Thorp (E), Molinari (+7).
Final round
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Woods | −13 | −13 | −13 | −13 | −15 | −15 | −15 | −15 | −15 | −16 | −16 | −15 | −15 | −16 | −17 | −18 | −18 | −18 |
| DiMarco | −11 | −11 | −11 | −11 | −11 | −12 | −12 | −12 | −12 | −13 | −13 | −13 | −14 | −14 | −14 | −15 | −15 | −16 |
| Els | −12 | −12 | −12 | −12 | −13 | −13 | −13 | −12 | −12 | −12 | −11 | −11 | −11 | −12 | −12 | −13 | −13 | −13 |
| Furyk | −10 | −9 | −9 | −9 | −9 | −9 | −8 | −8 | −8 | −9 | −9 | −9 | −9 | −9 | −10 | −11 | −11 | −12 |
| García | −12 | −11 | −10 | −10 | −10 | −10 | −10 | −9 | −8 | −8 | −8 | −9 | −9 | −8 | −9 | −11 | −11 | −11 |
| Tanihara | −10 | −11 | −11 | −11 | −10 | −8 | −8 | −8 | −9 | −9 | −9 | −10 | −10 | −11 | −11 | −12 | −11 | −11 |
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:[3][4]
