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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