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 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

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

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal Yards4934274162123584731584594103,4063934121905172025364015105133,6747,080 Par544344344354435354553873 Source: Lengths of the course for previous Opens: 1965: , par 73 1961: 1954:

Round summaries First round Wednesday, 7 July 1971 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Vicente Fernández69−4 Tony Jacklin Howie Johnson Lee TrevinoT5 Billy Casper70−3 Tommy Horton Lu Liang-Huan Kel Nagle John O'Leary Peter Thomson Brian Waites Source:

Second round Thursday, 8 July 1971 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Tony Jacklin69-70=139−7 Lee Trevino69-70=1393 Lu Liang-Huan70-70=140−6T4 Roberto De Vicenzo71-70=141−5 Gary Player71-70=141T6 Billy Casper70-72=142−4 Malcolm Gregson71-71=142 Tommy Horton70-72=142 Jimmy Kinsella74-68=142 Jack Nicklaus71-71=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 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Lee Trevino69-70-69=208−11T2 Tony Jacklin69-70-70=209−10 Lu Liang-Huan70-70-69=209T4 Craig Defoy72-72-68=212−7 Gary Player71-70-71=212T6 Roberto De Vicenzo71-70-72=213 −6 Dale Hayes71-72-70=213 Peter Oosterhuis76-71-66=213T9 Jack Nicklaus71-71-72=214−5 Ramón Sota72-72-70=214 Source: Amateurs: Bonallack (−2), Melnyk (+4).

Final round Saturday, 10 July 1971 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (£)1 Lee Trevino 69-70-69-70=278 −145,5002 Lu Liang-Huan 70-70-69-70=279 −134,0003 Tony Jacklin 69-70-70-71=280 −123,2504 Craig Defoy 72-72-68-69=281 −112,750T5 Charles Coody 74-71-70-68=283 −92,300 Jack Nicklaus 71-71-72-69=283T7 Billy Casper 70-72-75-67=284 −81,775 Gary Player 71-70-71-72=284T9 Doug Sanders 73-71-74-67=285 −71,550 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.

References

External links 1971 - Royal Birkdale (Official site)