1971 Open Championship

The 1971 Open Championship was the 100th Open Championship, played 7–10 July at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. Lee Trevino won the first of his consecutive Open Championships, one stroke ahead of Lu Liang-Huan. It was the third of his six major titles and his second consecutive; he won the U.S. Open less than a month earlier in a playoff over Jack Nicklaus.

Trevino became the fourth player to win both the U.S. Open and the Open Championship in the same year, joining Bobby Jones (1926, 1930), Gene Sarazen (1932), and Ben Hogan (1953). Subsequent winners of both were Tom Watson (1982) and Tiger Woods (2000); all six are Americans.

Trevino also won the Canadian Open the previous week near Montreal for three national titles in 1971, all won in less than a month.

This was the last major championship of 1971 because the PGA Championship was played in February instead of its traditional date in August. (In 2019 the PGA moved to May.) Trevino's win, therefore, assured that Americans won all four major championships in 1971 (Charles Coody won the Masters Tournament and Nicklaus captured the PGA). This was the fifth time this had happened in golf history. (It has happened six more times since 1971, most recently in 2024.)

Course

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Yards	493	427	416	212	358	473	158	459	410	3,406	393	412	190	517	202	536	401	510	513	3,674	7,080
Par	5	4	4	3	4	4	3	4	4	35	4	4	3	5	3	5	4	5	5	38	73

Source: Lengths of the course for previous Opens:

1965: 7,037 yards (6,435 m), par 73
1961: 6,844 yards (6,258 m)
1954: 6,867 yards (6,279 m)

Round summaries

First round

Wednesday, 7 July 1971

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Argentina Vicente Fernández	69	−4
England Tony Jacklin
United States Howie Johnson
United States Lee Trevino
T5	United States Billy Casper	70	−3
England Tommy Horton
Taiwan Lu Liang-Huan
Australia Kel Nagle
Republic of Ireland John O'Leary
Australia Peter Thomson
England Brian Waites

Source:

Second round

Thursday, 8 July 1971

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	England Tony Jacklin	69-70=139	−7
United States Lee Trevino	69-70=139
3	Taiwan Lu Liang-Huan	70-70=140	−6
T4	Argentina Roberto De Vicenzo	71-70=141	−5
South Africa Gary Player	71-70=141
T6	United States Billy Casper	70-72=142	−4
England Malcolm Gregson	71-71=142
England Tommy Horton	70-72=142
Republic of Ireland Jimmy Kinsella	74-68=142
United States Jack Nicklaus	71-71=142

Source: Amateurs: Bonallack (−3), Melnyk (+4), Humphreys (+6), Berry (+7), Carr (+8), M. Foster (+9), Birtwell (+11), Bird (+12), Rolley (+14).

Third round

Friday, 9 July 1971

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	United States Lee Trevino	69-70-69=208	−11
T2	England Tony Jacklin	69-70-70=209	−10
Taiwan Lu Liang-Huan	70-70-69=209
T4	Wales Craig Defoy	72-72-68=212	−7
South Africa Gary Player	71-70-71=212
T6	Argentina Roberto De Vicenzo	71-70-72=213	−6
South Africa Dale Hayes	71-72-70=213
England Peter Oosterhuis	76-71-66=213
T9	United States Jack Nicklaus	71-71-72=214	−5
Spain Ramón Sota	72-72-70=214

Source: Amateurs: Bonallack (−2), Melnyk (+4).

Final round

Saturday, 10 July 1971

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money (£)
1	United States Lee Trevino	69-70-69-70=278	−14	5,500
2	Taiwan Lu Liang-Huan	70-70-69-70=279	−13	4,000
3	England Tony Jacklin	69-70-70-71=280	−12	3,250
4	Wales Craig Defoy	72-72-68-69=281	−11	2,750
T5	United States Charles Coody	74-71-70-68=283	−9	2,300
United States Jack Nicklaus	71-71-72-69=283
T7	United States Billy Casper	70-72-75-67=284	−8	1,775
South Africa Gary Player	71-70-71-72=284
T9	United States Doug Sanders	73-71-74-67=285	−7	1,550
Australia Peter Thomson	70-73-73-69=285

Source: Amateurs: Bonallack (−1), Melnyk (+6)

The exchange rate at the time was approximately 2.41 dollars (US) per pound sterling.

External links

53°37′19″N 3°01′59″W/53.622°N 3.033°W/ 53.622; -3.033