The East Lothian course is regarded by many of the game's top players as being the "fairest" on the rota of courses used by the R&A for the Open Championship. Muirfield certainly has a history of producing 'great' champions, the latest being Ernie Els, who lifted the Claret Jug there last year. Jack Nicklaus was also an Open winner here and he was so impressed that he decided to name his own course in Ohio as 'Muirfield Village'. One of the unusual charms about the Scottish version is that it is laid out in two separate loops, the front nine running clockwise on the outer and the back nine going in the opposite direction on the inner.