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 As the toughest test in golf returns to Royal Birkdale for the eighth time, check out Sports Illustrated's coverage of the last five British Opens played on the windswept course in Southport, England, by the Irish Sea. Now for the Mexican Open Lee Trevino caps an unprecedented month by defeating 'Our Tony' and 'Mister Lu' to add the British Open to the U.S. and Canadian titles he had won earlier. What's left for Lee to conquer?
by Dan Jenkins Issue date: July 19, 1971
Even so, Trevino kissed off Lu, too. "I'm going to send Lu to the laundry," he joked, "and the German army's gonna get Jacklin." With that, Trevino went out for his last round and the way he began to play made it look as though something far fiercer than the Wehrmacht, with the Luftwaffe thrown in, was after every other golfer on the course. The situation was this: Jacklin was playing up ahead, just in front of Trevino and Lu, who constituted the last twosome. Trevino, 11 under par for the first three rounds, was one stroke ahead of both the Englishman and the little, hat-tipping Chinese, who was rivaling Trevino as the most incongruous sight the century-old Open had ever seen. Trevino's first few holes that last day won the tournament for him, since they saved him when he got into serious trouble later at 17. In those early holes he breezed away from Jacklin and pulled so far ahead of the field that the Open Championship was over—unless some unforeseen horror like, say, a sandhill, crept into the script. What Trevino did was birdie the first hole with a nifty iron out of the rough and an eight-foot putt—and this right after Jacklin had birdied it to tie momentarily for the lead. He saved his par on 2 with a 15-footer after hearing that Jacklin had double-bogeyed. He jammed an iron into the third and dropped an 8-footer for another birdie. He chipped out from under a bush at the 4th and got his par. He wedged into the 5th and dropped that one from eight feet for a third birdie, and then he absolutely destroyed the 6th, the toughest hole on the course, a cutthroat of a par 4 that had been cursed all week, even by the circumspect Lu, who had said, "Green makes putts three." The 6th was a bad hole, a converted par 5 that called for an iron layup off the tee to avoid some crossing bunkers, and then a wood shot over a hill to a blind green. Trevino had been using a one-iron regularly and he loved the club. "I got me a one-iron I can hit 260 and right through the doorway," he bragged. That last day he one-ironed his tee shot on the 6th just right, and he addressed his second as his wife Claudia stood nearby with two of Lee's rooters, Jimmy Dean,. the entertainer, who had come down from London, and an old hustling companion from Dallas named Arnold Salinas, a bookkeeper for a chain of Mexican restaurants. Throughout the round Lee, knowing his wife and friends were close by, made his comments on various shots loud enough for all of them to hear. (He jabbered all week as he played his shots, something that astonished the British crowds, the British press and most of the competition. Once on Friday as he looked over a chip shot, knowing the BBC had a sound man near him, he broke up everyone with, "I wonder what old Henry Longhurst is saying about me right now. He probably thinks I got the wrong club.") Now he took a crack at the wood shot and it flew high and straight, soaring over the hill. Only Lee could know whether it was sailing in the right direction. "Oh my God," he shouted. Claudia and Arnold and Jimmy gasped. Then laughing, he added, "It's perfect!" It was, too, unless you feel that two feet from the cup is two feet shy of perfection. It was another birdie, his sixth one-putt green in six holes, the terrible par 4 beaten into submission, Jacklin erased and the championship won if he didn't drop dead—or run into Mister Lu and the sand at 17. And sure enough, there on the 17th tee, while holding a three-stroke lead, Trevino almost got too cute. Lu had driven first, and nicely, and now Lee was in the process of aiming his drive between two giant sandhills down the fairway. "Man, you're stronger than laundry," Lee said to Lu, as he waggled his club. "I just want to string this little beauty right down there near that left hill and cut it in there..." Only it did not cut in and it buried in the sand. His first slash at the ball—with a wedge—left him still on the sandhill. He finally blasted out but now he lay three in the rough, a long way to the green, on his way to a double-bogey 7 that could have been totally disastrous. If Lu birdied the hole they would suddenly and stunningly be all even with one hole to play. But Lu didn't. He had made nothing but putts all week, but this one, from about 12 feet, did not fall, and Trevino held to a one-stroke lead going into the 72nd hole of the tournament. The last hole at Birkdale was a phony par 5, a drive and a mid-iron for most hitters. Trevino had to get his birdie 4 and hope that Lu did not dream up and eagle for a tie. Trevino hit his best drive of the day and had only a six-iron left. Lu drove well but a bit too far to the left, very close to a bunker. In fact, he was almost standing in the bunker as he swung. He half-topped, half-hooked the shot, but the ball hit a spectator on the head and bounded back in the fairway, a stroke of luck for the scrutable Chinese and X rays for the unlucky lady. Trevino did not worry about the luck or the lady. He quickly hit his six-iron to the back of the green and watched as Lu hit a fine approach to within six feet. Even if Lu sank it for a birdie (which he did), Trevino knew that after all that had happened all he had to do was get down in two for the championship. He putted up beautifully and made the last shove-in, one-foot birdie for a 14-under 278, slung his cap and raced across the green to Claudia. In that moment, of course, he was embraced not only by his wife but by history as well.
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After three sparkling rounds of the tournament the British
call simply the
Open Championship,
Lee Trevino had a date with destiny. On this day he could
become the fourth player—Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen and
Ben Hogan were the others—to win both U.S. and
British titles in the same year. All he had to do was hold
his one-stroke lead over Tony Jacklin, the English hero,
and a graceful little man named Lu Lianghuan from Taiwan.
The 35-year old Lu, who came to be called Mister Lu by just
about everyone at
the Open, had five times played in World Cup competition but
was almost totally unknown at Birkdale. Except to Trevino,
of
course.
A broad grin lights up Lee Trevino's face as a 30-foot putt drops during the
final round of play.
(Gerry Cranham)
