2006 British Open: Woods Leaves Wood in the Bag

Tiger Woods of USA walks off the 18th green in tears with his caddy Steve Williams after his 2006 British Open win
Tiger Woods (with caddie Steve Williams) cries after winning the 2006 British Open, his first major victory following the death of his father. Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images
By
Brent Kelley
Brent Kelley
Brent Kelley is an award-winning sports journalist and golf expert with over 30 years in print and online journalism.
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Updated on 11/04/19

Tiger Woods left his driver in the bag throughout the tournament, instead taking advantage of course conditions to focus on accuracy off the tee. And it worked: He won the 2006 Open Championship by two.

Quick Bits

  • Winner: Tiger Woods, 270
  • Dates: July 20-23, 2006
  • Location: Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, England
  • Open Championship number: This was the 135th time the British Open was played.

Tiger's Iron Will at the 2006 Open

Royal Liverpool was a very dry place in July of 2006. And the golf course's fairways were brown and crispy - and producing lots of roll. A great player might get the idea that hitting driver off the tee wasn't even necessary.

One great player did get that idea at the 2006 British Open: Tiger Woods. Woods hit irons off the tee on nearly every hole, using his driver just once over the four days. That controlled approach kept his ball away from trouble, yet the amount of roll on the hard-baked fairways gave him plenty of distance.

It wasn't an easy win for Woods - his margin of victory was two strokes over a valiant Chris DiMarco, who was playing shortly after the death of his mother - but it was one in which he always seemed in control.

DiMarco was in grieving during the tournament, and so was Woods: Wood's father, Earl Woods, passed away a couple months earlier. This was the first win for Woods without his father around, and Woods showed the emotion of the moment by breaking down in tears after the final putt.

Woods played in the final pairing on the final day with Sergio Garcia, who started the day one stroke behind Woods and set up hope of a Woods-Garcia battle throughout the day. But it wasn't to be, as Garcia struggled early and wound up seven strokes back of Tiger.

The victory was Woods' third in the British Open. It was Woods' 11th win overall in a major and his 49th PGA Tour victory.

2006 British Open Scores

Scores and earnings from the 2006 British Open, played at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England (a-amateur):

Tiger Woods 67-65-71-67--270 $1,338,480
Chris DiMarco 70-65-69-68--272 $799,370
Ernie Els 68-65-71-71--275 $511,225
Jim Furyk 68-71-66-71--276 $390,390
Sergio Garcia 68-71-65-73--277 $296,510
Hideto Tanihara 72-68-66-71--277 $296,510
Angel Cabrera 71-68-66-73--278 $237,952
Adam Scott 68-69-70-72--279 $177,224
Andres Romero 70-70-68-71--279 $177,224
Carl Pettersson 68-72-70-69--279 $177,224
S.K. Ho 68-73-69-70--280 $128,890
Anthony Wall 67-73-71-69--280 $128,890
Ben Crane 68-71-71-70--280 $128,890
Sean O'Hair 69-73-72-67--281 $105,033
Retief Goosen 70-66-72-73--281 $105,033
Brett Rumford 68-71-72-71--282 $83,655
Geoff Ogilvy 71-69-70-72--282 $83,655
Mikko Ilonen 68-69-73-72--282 $83,655
Robert Rock 69-69-73-71--282 $83,655
Robert Allenby 69-70-69-74--282 $83,655
Peter Lonard 71-69-68-74--282 $83,655
Phil Mickelson 69-71-73-70--283 $65,762
Charl Schwartzel 74-66-72-71--283 $65,762
Mark Hensby 68-72-74-69--283 $65,762
Greg Owen 67-73-68-75--283 $65,762
Rory Sabbatini 69-70-73-72--284 $54,096
Jerry Kelly 72-67-69-76--284 $54,096
Lee Slattery 69-72-71-72--284 $54,096
Hunter Mahan 73-70-68-73--284 $54,096
Paul Broadhurst 71-71-73-69--284 $54,096
Lee Westwood 69-72-75-69--285 $45,545
Scott Verplank 70-73-67-75--285 $45,545
Simon Khan 70-72-68-75--285 $45,545
Thaworn Wiratchant 71-68-74-72--285 $45,545
Rod Pampling 69-71-74-72--286 $36,482
Marcus Fraser 68-71-72-75--286 $36,482
Robert Karlsson 70-71-71-74--286 $36,482
John Senden 70-73-73-70--286 $36,482
Michael Campbell 70-71-75-70--286 $36,482
Luke Donald 74-68-73-71--286 $36,482
Mark Calcavecchia 71-68-68-80--287 $27,619
Thomas Bjorn 72-71-73-71--287 $27,619
Stephen Ames 70-71-72-74--287 $27,619
Jeff Sluman 71-72-68-76--287 $27,619
Miguel Jimenez 67-70-76-74--287 $27,619
Brandt Jobe 69-71-75-72--287 $27,619
Soren Kjeldsen 71-71-71-74--287 $27,619
Gonzalo Fernandez 70-69-73-76--288 $21,577
Simon Dyson 74-69-70-75--288 $21,577
Simon Wakefield 72-71-70-75--288 $21,577
a-Marius Thorp 71-71-75-71--288
Henrik Stenson 72-71-74-71--288 $21,577
Tom Watson 72-70-75-71--288 $21,577
Andrew Marshall 72-71-68-77--288 $21,577
John Bickerton 72-70-70-76--288 $21,577
David Duval 70-70-78-71--289 $19,147
Tim Clark 72-69-69-79--289 $19,147
Mike Weir 68-72-73-76--289 $19,147
Keiichiro Fukabori 67-73-70-79--289 $19,147
Jose Maria Olazabal 73-68-76-72--289 $19,147
Graeme McDowell 66-73-72-79--290 $18,497
Andrew Buckle 72-69-72-77--290 $18,497
Mark O'Meara 71-70-77-73--291 $18,125
Marco Ruiz 71-70-80-70--291 $18,125
Chad Campbell 70-73-74-75--292 $17,846
Vaughn Taylor 72-71-77-74--294 $17,567
Fred Funk 69-74-75-76--294 $17,567
Todd Hamilton 72-71-74-78--295 $17,288
a-Edoardo Molinari 73-70-77-75--295
Bart Bryant 69-74-77-76--296 $17,102
Paul Casey 72-70-79-77--298 $16,916

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