1971 U.S. Open Winner and Scores

The 1971 U.S. Open was the 71st time the tournament was played. It ended in an 18-hole playoff between Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino.

Winner: Lee Trevino, 280

Where it was played: Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania

Tournament dates: June 17-21, 1971

Leader after first round: Labron Harris, 67

Leader after second round: Jim Colbert and Bob Erickson, 138

Leader after third round: Jim Simons, 207

What Happened in the 1971 U.S. Open

Lee Trevino defeated Jack Nicklaus in an 18-hole playoff for the 1971 U.S. Open title, one day after a series of missed opportunities on the 72nd hole cost several players chances to either win or tie.

Trevino and Nicklaus each had opportunities to win on the 72nd hole, but Trevino missed a 6-foot putt for par, and Nicklaus missed a 15-foot putt for birdie. (Trevino's miss happened after a young fan who climbed a tree to get a better view fell out of that tree with a crash, causing Trevino to back away from the putt.) Amateur Jim Simons could have joined the playoff with a final-hole birdie, but double-bogeyed after driving into the rough.

Bob Rosburg, 1959 PGA Championship winner but later more famous as a golf broadcaster, three-putted the final green for bogey when a birdie would have gotten him into the playoff.

So the playoff came down to Trevino and Nicklaus. Have you heard the story of the rubber snake? The 1971 U.S. Open is where the incident happened. The story goes like this: On the first tee of the playoff, Trevino pulled a rubber snake from his bag and tossed it at Nicklaus, startling the Bear, unnerving him a bit, and perhaps causing Nicklaus to start slow and lose ground to Trevino.

Here's what actually happened: Trevino pulled a rubber snake from his golf bag on the first tee, causing laughter in the gallery. Nicklaus, who was on the other side of the tee box, asked Trevino to toss the "snake" over, which Trevino did. Nicklaus picked it up, chuckled, and tossed it back. That's it. Nobody was unsettled, and certainly not Nicklaus — he birdied the first hole.

But on the second and third holes, Nicklaus left bunker shots in the sand twice, allowing Trevino to open a 2-stroke lead. And Trevino never relinquished his lead — although Nicklaus cut his deficit to one several times — going on to win the playoff 68 to 71.

It was the eighth PGA Tour career win for Trevino, his second U.S. Open victory. Two weeks later Trevino won the Canadian Open, and a week after that he won the British Open. He was the first golfer to win those three national championships in the same year (only Tiger Woods has done it since).

Trevino finished his career with six majors, and Nicklaus was runner-up to Trevino in four of them.

It was a great year for amateurs in the U.S. Open. Ben Crenshaw finished tied for 27th; Lanny Wadkins, making the cut in a major for the first time, finished tied for 13th.

And then there was Simons, a 21-year-old on the Butler University golf team. Simons shot 65 in the third round, one stroke off the tournament record of the time. That round propelled Simons to the lead, and he still led at the midway point of the final round before falling back to fifth. His 283 total was the second-best by an amateur in tournament history. His fifth-place finish is the most recent time an amateur finished in the Top 5 in a U.S. Open, and it's the best finish for an amateur in the U.S. Open since Nicklaus tied for fourth in 1961.

1971 U.S. Open Final Scores

Lee Trevino 70-72-69-69—280 (68)
Jack Nicklaus 69-72-68-71—280 (71)
Bob Rosburg 71-72-70-69—282
Jim Colbert 69-69-73-71—282
George Archer 71-70-70-72—283
Johnny Miller 70-73-70-70—283
a-Jim Simons 71-71-65-76—283
Raymond Floyd 71-75-67-71—284
Gay Brewer 70-70-73-72—285
Larry Hinson 71-71-70-73—285
Bobby Nichols 69-72-69-75—285
Bert Yancey 75-69-69-72—285
Bobby Cole 72-71-72-71—286
Chi Chi Rodriguez 70-71-73-72—286
Jerry Heard 73-71-73-69—286
a-Lanny Wadkins 68-75-75-68—286
Bob Charles 72-75-69-70—286
Jerry McGee 72-67-77-70—286
Dave Eichelberger 72-72-70-73—287
Hale Irwin 72-73-72-70—287
Ken Still 71-72-69-75—287
Homero Blancas 71-71-75-70—287
Bob Goalby 68-76-74-69—287
Dick Lotz 72-72-73-71—288
Bob E. Smith 71-74-71-72—288
Arnold Palmer 73-68-73-74—288
Bob Lunn 71-73-71-74—289
Bobby Mitchell 72-74-72-71—289
Kermit Zarley 74-70-72-73—289
a-Ben Crenshaw 74-74-68-73—289
Ralph Johnston 70-75-73-71—289
John Schroeder 73-72-69-75—289
Don January 75-73-71-70—289
Orville Moody 71-71-76-71—289
Gary Player 76-71-72-70—289
Bruce Devlin 72-69-71-77—289
Gene Littler 74-74-71-71—290
John Lister 73-75-72-70—290
Lou Graham 75-72-70-73—290
Doug Sanders 68-75-71-76—290
Bob Erickson 71-67-73-79—290
Dale Douglass 70-74-74-74—292
Julius Boros 74-71-73-74—292
Mason Rudolph 72-75-71-74—292
John Schlee 70-73-77-72—292
Paul Harney 73-74-72-74—293
Labron Harris Jr. 67-77-76-73—293
Chuck Courtney 74-73-77-69—293
Bobby Greenwood 73-74-73-74—294
Bob Risch 74-74-73-73—294
Arthur Silverstrone 74-70-76-74—294
Don Bies 71-74-72-77—294
Bruce Crampton 73-73-71-77—294
Charles Sifford 75-72-69-78—294
a-Danny Yates 72-75-76-72—295
Bob Dickson 73-74-76-72—295
Al Geiberger 71-71-75-78—295
Deane Beman 72-73-70-80—295
Miller Barber 73-73-72-78—296
Roy Pace 72-76-73-76—297
Gene Borek 75-71-75-76—297
Ronnie Reif 73-72-75-78—298
Charles Coody 70-76-75-79—300
a-Jim Masserio 71-75-77-79—302

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