1971 British Open Tournament Winner and Scores

The 1971 British Open was the 100th time the tournament was played and Lee Trevino was the centennial champion.

Winner: Lee Trevino, 278

Where it was played: Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England

Tournament dates: July 7-10, 1971

Leader after first round: Howie Johnson, Tony Jacklin, Lee Trevino and Vicente Fernandez, 69

Leader after second round: Lee Trevino and Tony Jacklin, 139

Leader after third round: Lee Trevino, 208

What Happened in the 1971 Open Championship

Mr. Lu made a splash. Mr. Trevino grabbed the cash. Lee Trevino held off Liang-Huan Lu to win the 1971 British Open, the first of Trevino's back-to-back wins in the Open Championship.

Lu, known as Mr. Lu to his competitors and among many fans, had won tournaments in Asia (he was from Taiwan). But his first international exposure to a large golf audience was here at the 1971 Open. He certainly made Trevino take notice.

On a leaderboard stacked with big names — Tony Jacklin, Gary Player, Roberto De Vicenzo and Jack Nicklaus were all in the top 10 after three rounds — Lu presented the biggest challenge to Trevino, who about a month earlier had beaten Nicklaus in an 18-hole playoff to win the 1971 U.S. Open.

After three rounds, Trevino held the lead by one over Lu. They had matched 69s in the third, after matching 70s in the second. Trevino's 69 to Lu's 70 in the first round was the difference.

And that single stroke remained the difference in the tournament as Trevino and Lu again matched scores in the final round, both shooting 70. Trevino went out in 31, taking a 4-stroke lead over Lu. But Trevino nearly gave it away with a double-bogey on the 71st hole, which cut the margin to just one. Both players birdied the last hole.

His victory here marked Trevino's third major championship win. In addition to earlier winning the 1971 U.S. Open, Trevino had also won the Canadian Open that year. So when he won this Open, Trevino became the first golfer to win the Canadian, U.S. and British opens in the same year.

Lu went on the very next week to win the French Open.

Also of note at the 1971 British Open: Four-time champion Bobby Locke made the cut for the last time in an Open, finishing 49th. Five-time winner Peter Thomson finished tied for ninth, his last Top 10 finish in the tournament.

1971 British Open Final Scores

Lee Trevino 69-70-69-70—278
Liang-Huan Lu 70-70-69-70—279
Tony Jacklin 69-70-70-71—280
Craig Defoy 72-72-68-69—281
Jack Nicklaus 71-71-72-69—283
Charles Coody 74-71-70-68—283
Gary Player 71-70-71-72—284
Billy Casper 70-72-75-67—284
Peter Thomson 70-73-73-69—285
Doug Sanders 73-71-74-67—285
Ramon Sota 72-72-70-73—287
Harry Bannerman 73-71-72-71—287
Roberto De Vicenzo 71-70-72-74—287
Dave Stockton 74-74-68-71—287
Kel Nagle 70-75-73-69—287
Bert Yancey 75-70-71-71—287
Dale Hayes 71-72-70-75—288
Peter Oosterhuis 76-71-66-76—289
Bob Charles 77-71-71-70—289
Bernard Hunt 74-73-73-70—290
Howie Johnson 69-76-72-73—290
Hugh Jackson 71-73-72-75—291
a-Michael Bonallack 71-72-75-73—291
Neil Coles 76-72-72-71—291
Peter Butler 73-73-73-73—292
Brian Huggett 73-73-74-72—292
Doug Sewell 73-74-74-71—292
John Lister 74-71-74-73—292
Bill Large 73-75-73-71—292
Randall Vines 75-71-73-73—292
Malcolm Gregson 71-71-73-77—292
Vicente Fernandez 69-79-73-71—292
Guy Wolstenholme 75-72-73-73—293
Min Nan Hsieh 77-70-74-72—293
Christy O'Connor Sr. 74-72-76-72—294
John Garner 76-74-71-73—294
Bruce Devlin 74-71-75-75—295
Bernard Gallacher 72-76-75-72—295
Tommy Horton 70-72-79-74—295
Peter Townsend 73-75-75-73—296
Tom Weiskopf 75-73-75-73—296
John O'Leary 70-75-75-76—296
Eric Brown 75-72-72-77—296
Lionel Platts 78-72-73-73—296
Walter Godfrey 72-79-71-74—296
Jimmy Kinsella 74-68-80-74—296
Peter Alliss 74-76-72-75—297
Johnny Miller 72-76-70-79—297
Jack Wilkshire 75-71-76-76—298
Bobby Locke 75-73-74-76—298
a-Steve Melnyk 76-74-74-74—298
Valentin Barrios 72-74-77-75—298
Jack Newton 73-72-76-77—298
John Sharkey 73-75-72-78—298
Tienie Britz 73-78-73-74—298
a-Donald Swaelens 75-73-72-78—298
Graham Marsh 75-73-72-79—299
David Snell 75-75-74-76—300
Brian Waites 70-79-72-79—300
Maurice Bembridge 75-73-76-77—301
Miller Barber 71-74-77-79—301
Roger Manning 73-72-76-80—301
David Talbot 77-72-75-78—302
Brian Barnes 76-75-73-79—303

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