1971 U.S. Open

1971 U.S. Open

Tournament information
Dates	June 17–21, 1971
Location	Ardmore, Pennsylvania
Course(s)	Merion Golf Club
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	70
Field	150, 64 after cut
Cut	148 (+8)
Winner's share	$30,000
Champion
Lee Trevino
280 (E)

The 1971 U.S. Open was the 71st U.S. Open. The golf tournament was held June 17–21, 1971, at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Lee Trevino won his second U.S. Open title by defeating Jack Nicklaus in an 18-hole playoff.

Twenty-one-year-old amateur Jim Simons shot a 65 in the third round, one off the tournament record, to take the 54-hole lead. He still lead at the turn of the final round before finally falling back to 5th place. That left Lee Trevino and Jack Nicklaus battling for the championship. Trevino took the lead with a birdie at 14, but then missed an 8-footer for par at the last. Nicklaus went to the 18th needing a birdie to win, but his 15-foot putt narrowly missed and he settled for par to force a playoff. Simons could have joined the playoff with a birdie at 18, but he recorded a double-bogey instead. Bob Rosburg also had a chance to join the playoff with a birdie at the last, but he three-putted for bogey and finished two shots back.

Before the playoff even began, Trevino and Nicklaus were involved in a famous incident involving a rubber snake. Trevino's daughter had put the snake in his bag, and he took it out to play with the crowd. Nicklaus then asked him to toss it over, which Trevino did. Nicklaus picked it up, laughed with the crowd, then threw it back to Trevino. It would later be written that Trevino had tossed the snake at Nicklaus in an attempt to unnerve his rival; in reality, Nicklaus was the one who asked him to throw the snake. When the playoff began, Nicklaus birdied the first hole but then hit two poor bunker shots on the next two holes, allowing Trevino to open a two-stroke lead. Although Nicklaus cut into the lead several times, Trevino never fully relinquished it, and he carded a 68 to Nicklaus' 71 to win by three.

The U.S. Open was just part of an outstanding year for Trevino. He would later win the Canadian Open and the British Open that year, becoming the first golfer to win those three national opens in the same year; only Tiger Woods has done it since. He won six times on tour with two majors, was PGA Tour Player of the Year, and he was named athlete of the year by the Associated Press, Sporting News, and Sports Illustrated. For Simons, his 5th-place finish is the most recent time an amateur placed in the Top 10 at the U.S. Open.

Final leaderboard

#	Player	Country	Score	To par	Winnings ($)
1	Lee Trevino	United States	70-72-69-69=280	E	30,000
2	Jack Nicklaus	United States	69-72-68-71=280		15,000
T3	Jim Colbert	United States	69-69-73-71=282	+2	9,000
	Bob Rosburg	United States	71-72-70-69=282
T5	George Archer	United States	71-70-70-72=283	+3	6,500
	Johnny Miller	United States	70-73-70-70=283
	Jim Simons (a)	United States	71-71-65-76=283		0
8	Raymond Floyd	United States	71-75-67-71=284	+4	5,000
T9	Gay Brewer	United States	70-70-73-72=285	+5	3,325
	Larry Hinson	United States	71-71-70-73=285
	Bobby Nichols	United States	69-72-69-75=285
	Bert Yancey	United States	75-69-69-72=285

(a) denotes amateur

Trevino (68) defeated Nicklaus (71) in an 18-hole playoff.

External links

• 1971 U.S. Open
• USGA Championship Database