1966 Masters Tournament
The 1966 Masters Tournament was the 30th Masters Tournament, held April 7–11 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.
Jack Nicklaus, age 26, earned his third Green Jacket in an 18-hole Monday playoff and became the first back-to-back champion at the Masters. He ended regulation at even-par 288, tied with Tommy Jacobs and Gay Brewer. Nicklaus shot a 70 in the extra round on Monday to defeat Jacobs and Brewer. Nicklaus' score the previous year in 1965 was significantly lower at 271, a record which stood for 32 years.
On Sunday, Brewer shot a 33 on the front nine and then had eight pars as he came to the 72nd hole with a one-shot lead. After hitting his approach shot onto the green, he three-putted from, missing a putt for par to win. This was the last Masters that two-time champion Byron Nelson played in; he shot 76 and 78 and missed the cut by one stroke. The 36-hole cut at 153 was the highest to date, exceeded only in 1982.
A close friend of Nicklaus was among four that died in a private plane crash in Tennessee on Wednesday, while en route to Augusta from Columbus, Ohio. Nicklaus learned of the incident late that night and responded with a 68 in the first round, but fell back with a 76 on Friday.
It was the fifth of 18 major titles for Nicklaus, and his only successful defense of a major. Three months later, he completed the first of his three career grand slams at Muirfield in the Open Championship. Later back-to-back winners at Augusta were Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.
Terry Dill won the seventh Par 3 contest on Wednesday with a score of 22.
Brewer rebounded and won the tournament the next year, while Nicklaus' attempt at three consecutive titles ended early with a rare missed cut. Jacobs never won a major; he was also a runner-up in the U.S. Open in 1964 at Congressional.
CBS commentator Jack Whitaker referred to the gallery at the end of the 18-hole Monday playoff as a "mob" and was banned from the next five Masters.
Course
^ Holes 1, 2, 4, and 11 were later renamed.Field
;1. Masters championsJack Burke Jr., Doug Ford, Claude Harmon, Ben Hogan, Herman Keiser, Cary Middlecoff, Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Henry Picard, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Art Wall Jr.
- Jimmy Demaret, Ralph Guldahl, and Craig Wood did not play.
;2. U.S. Open champions
Tommy Bolt, Julius Boros, Billy Casper, Gene Littler, Dick Mayer, Ken Venturi
;3. The Open champions
Tony Lema
;4. PGA champions
Jerry Barber, Dow Finsterwald, Jay Hebert, Lionel Hebert, Dave Marr, Bobby Nichols, Bob Rosburg
;5. U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions
Deane Beman, William C. Campbell, Charles Coe, Richard Davies, Bob Murphy, Harvie Ward
- Other champions forfeited their exemptions by turning professional.
Don Allen, Dave Eichelberger, Downing Gray, John Mark Hopkins, Dale Morey, Billy Joe Patton, Ed Tutwiler, Ed Updegraff
;7. The first eight finishers and ties in the 1965 U.S. Amateur
Tommy Barnes Jr., Ron Cerrudo, Bob Dickson, Jimmy Grant, Bert Greene, Rod Horn, Cesar Sanudo, James Vickers
;8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1965 Masters Tournament
Tommy Aaron, George Bayer, Frank Beard, Terry Dill, Wes Ellis, Al Geiberger, Paul Harney, Tommy Jacobs, Mason Rudolph, Doug Sanders, Dan Sikes
;9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1965 U.S. Open
Gay Brewer, Ray Floyd, Billy Maxwell, Steve Oppermann, Dudley Wysong
;10. Top eight players and ties from 1965 PGA Championship
Jacky Cupit, Gardner Dickinson, Rod Funseth, Bob McCallister, Bo Wininger
;11. Members of the U.S. 1965 Ryder Cup team
Don January, Johnny Pott
;12. Two players selected for meritorious records on the fall part of the 1965 PGA Tour
Charles Coody, Randy Glover
;13. One player, either amateur or professional, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-Masters champions
Mike Souchak
;14. One professional, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-U.S. Open champions
Bob Goalby
;15. One amateur, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-U.S. Amateur champions
Bunky Henry
;16. Two players, not already qualified, from a points list based on finishes in the winter part of the 1966 PGA Tour
Phil Rodgers, R. H. Sikes
;17. Foreign invitations
Peter Alliss, Michael Bonallack, Peter Butler, Bob Charles, Chen Ching-Po, Neil Coles, Bruce Crampton, Roberto De Vicenzo, Bruce Devlin, Rodney Foster, Jean Garaïalde, Harold Henning, Jimmy Hitchcock, Bernard Hunt, Tomoo Ishii, George Knudson, Cobie Legrange, Kel Nagle, Lionel Platts, Luis Silverio, Ramón Sota, Dave Thomas, George Will
- Numbers in brackets indicate categories that the player would have qualified under had they been American.
Nationalities in the field
Past champions in the field
Made the cut
Missed the cut
SourceRound summaries
First round
Thursday, April 7, 1966| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
| 1 | Jack Nicklaus | 68 | −4 | |
| T2 | Billy Casper | 71 | −1 | |
| T2 | Charles Coe | 71 | −1 | |
| T2 | Don January | 71 | −1 | |
| T2 | Mike Souchak | 71 | −1 | |
| T6 | Peter Butler | 72 | E | |
| T6 | Raymond Floyd | 72 | E | |
| T6 | Randy Glover | 72 | E | |
| T6 | Jay Hebert | 72 | E | |
| T10 | Dow Finsterwald | 73 | +1 | |
| T10 | Lionel Hebert | 73 | +1 | |
| T10 | Rod Horn | 73 | +1 | |
| T10 | George Knudson | 73 | +1 | |
| T10 | Bob Rosburg | 73 | +1 | |
| T10 | R. H. Sikes | 73 | +1 |
Source
Second round
Friday, April 8, 1966| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
| T1 | Peter Butler | 72-71=143 | −1 | |
| T1 | Paul Harney | 75-68=143 | −1 | |
| T3 | Don January | 71-73=144 | E | |
| T3 | Jack Nicklaus | 68-76=144 | E | |
| T3 | Arnold Palmer | 74-70=144 | E | |
| T3 | Bob Rosburg | 73-71=144 | E | |
| T3 | Doug Sanders | 74-70=144 | E | |
| T8 | Raymond Floyd | 72-73=145 | +1 | |
| T8 | Ben Hogan | 74-71=145 | +1 | |
| T8 | Mike Souchak | 71-74=145 | +1 |
Source
Third round
Saturday, April 9, 1966| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
| T1 | Tommy Jacobs | 75-71-70=216 | E | |
| T1 | Jack Nicklaus | 68-76-72=216 | E | |
| 3 | Don January | 71-73-73=217 | +1 | |
| T4 | Gay Brewer | 74-72-72=218 | +2 | |
| T4 | Ben Hogan | 74-71-73=218 | +2 | |
| T4 | Arnold Palmer | 74-70-74=218 | +2 | |
| T7 | Raymond Floyd | 72-73-74=219 | +3 | |
| T7 | Paul Harney | 75-68-76=219 | +3 | |
| T7 | Jay Hebert | 72-74-73=219 | +3 | |
| T7 | Doug Sanders | 74-70-75=219 | +3 |
Source
Final round
Sunday, April 10, 1966| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par | Money |
| T1 | Jack Nicklaus | 68-76-72-72=288 | E | Playoff | |
| T1 | Tommy Jacobs | 75-71-70-72=288 | E | Playoff | |
| T1 | Gay Brewer | 74-72-72-70=288 | E | Playoff | |
| T4 | Arnold Palmer | 74-70-74-72=290 | +2 | 5,700 | |
| T4 | Doug Sanders | 74-70-75-71=290 | +2 | 5,700 | |
| T6 | Don January | 71-73-73-75=292 | +4 | 3,900 | |
| T6 | George Knudson | 73-76-72-71=292 | +4 | 3,900 | |
| T8 | Raymond Floyd | 72-73-74-74=293 | +5 | 2,500 | |
| T8 | Paul Harney | 75-68-76-74=293 | +5 | 2,500 | |
| T10 | Billy Casper | 71-75-76-72=294 | +6 | 1,770 | |
| T10 | Jay Hebert | 72-74-73-75=294 | +6 | 1,770 | |
| T10 | Bob Rosburg | 73-71-76-74=294 | +6 | 1,770 |
Source
Scorecard
Final round| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
 Nicklaus | +1 | E | E | +1 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +1 | E | E | E | E |
| Jacobs | E | E | E | E | E | E | E | +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +1 | +1 | E | E | E | E |
| Brewer | +2 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | E | E | E | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | E |
| Palmer | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +1 | E | E | E | E | +1 | E | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +2 |
| Sanders | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +2 | +2 |
| January | +2 | +1 | E | +1 | +2 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +5 | +5 | +5 | +5 | +4 | +3 | +3 | +4 | +4 |
 Knudson | +5 | +5 | +4 | +5 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +5 | +4 | +4 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 |
| Hogan | +3 | +3 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +5 | +5 | +6 | +5 | +5 | +7 | +7 |
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
| Birdie | Bogey | Double bogey |
Playoff
Monday, April 11, 1966| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par | Money |
| 1 | Jack Nicklaus | 35-35=70 | −2 | 20,000 | |
| 2 | Tommy Jacobs | 35-37=72 | E | 12,300 | |
| 3 | Gay Brewer | 38-40=78 | +6 | 8,300 |
Scorecard
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par| Birdie | Bogey | Double bogey |
Source: