Nicklaus on his way to winning in 1966

It was designed by golf legend Old Tom Morris and 16 holes were built by May 1891 with the other two holes added in December - making it one of the oldest Championship venues.

Muirfield is not your average sprawling seaside links course, either.

Built within the confines of a three-sided wall, a golfer is unlikely to find a wayward shot land in any barren countryside.

The winds from the North Sea are also a test for the best of the world's golfers - which is probably why only players at the top of their game have won on Muirfield's links.

The first Championship was played in 1892 when Harold Hilton - in the days when 72 holes were played over two days - recorded a total 305.

Since then a further 13 Opens have been played at the venue with this year's chapter being the 15th in total.

Muirfield is very close to the hearts of a lot of players especially the Major winners.

Jack Nicklaus, who won the first of his Opens in 1966, loved the venue so much that he created a number of courses on farmland in Ohio and named it Muirfield Village.

This year, Tiger Woods, like Nicklaus did in 1972, is going for the Grand Slam.

He has held all for Major titles at once, but not in one year.

Should go one step better than Nicklaus at Muirfield en route to a Grand Slam he may well follow the Golden Bear's example and dedicate what would be a memorable year to the classic course.