2006 Open Championship

Infobox_Individual_Golf_Tournament
tournament_name = 2006 Open Championship


dates = July 20 - 23, 2006
location = flagicon|England Merseyside, England
course = Royal Liverpool Golf Club
tour = PGA Tour
PGA European Tour
Japan Golf Tour
par = 72
yardage=7,258
field = 156 players, 71 after cut
cut = 143 (-1)
purse =£4,000,000
€5,797,724
$7,300,000
winners_share =£720,000
€1,045,966
$1,338,480
Champion = Tiger Woods
Score = 270 (-18)The 2006 Open Championship was the 135th Open Championship, played from July 20 to July 23 2006 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).

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).

Fourth round (Sunday)

Tiger Woods moved to 11-0 when leading going into the final round of a major, winning his third Open Championship title. Woods fought off three of the best golfers in the world and ended up defeating Chris DiMarco by two shots. After making the clinching putt Woods buried his head in the shoulder of caddie Steve Williams, sobbing uncontrollably, having won his first major since the passing of his father Earl Woods. On the way to victory Woods hit 86 percent of fairways on route to tying 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. While Ernie Els and Sergio García faded, DiMarco made gritty rally to close with a 68.

External links

* [http://www.opengolf.com/ChampionshipGolf/TheOpenChampionship/History/PreviousOpens.aspx?venue=Royal+Birkdale&selvenue=Royal+Birkdale&eventid=2006058 Full results]
* [http://www.opengolf.com/ The Open Championship official site]
* [http://www.pga.com/openchampionship/2006/index.html The 2006 Open Championship site]