What a finish on the PGA TOUR where Nick Taylor diverted our attention from the PGA TOUR and LIV Golf deal headlines. Taylor won with a 72-foot eagle putt on the fourth extra hole to defeat Tommy Fleetwood and become the first Canadian to win their national championship since Pat Fletcher in 1954.
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It’s U.S. Open week! Los Angeles Country Club looks fantastic and it should be a special week. We’re turning back to the 1971 when Lee Trevino won his second U.S. Open in a playoff against Jack Nicklaus. Scroll down to read.
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Lee Trevino Defeats Jack Nicklaus In Playoff at Merion
The Build Up
It’s Thursday, June 17th, 1971, in Ardmore, PA, home of the Merion Golf Club, the host for the 71st U.S. Open, and it is the first round. Prior to the tournament getting underway, the nation’s golf writers previewed the event. What one thing did they agree on? That Jack Nicklaus was the favorite going into the tournament. And why not? He did hold both the tournament record of 275, set in 1967 at Baltusrol Golf Club, and the Merion course record of 269.
“Will the big hitters rip apart this museum of memories?”
The previews of Merion not only featured the rich history of the course and the U.S. Open, but also the fact of how short, and cozy, the course was. Built on 127 acres and measuring 6,550 yards, many questioned whether the course would provide a test, or whether pros would feast on the course with low scores.
In his Open preview article for the June 14th issue of Sports Illustrated, Dan Jenkins asked, “Will the big hitters rip apart this museum of memories?”
Those memories included Bobby Jones completing his Grand Slam at Merion in 1939, Gene Sarazen putting two shots in the water at the 11th hole on his way to losing the 1934 Open to Olin Dutra, and Ben Hogan in 1950, coming back from a near-fatal car accident, hitting a one-iron from 200-yards to the 18th green to secure a spot in a three-way 18 hole playoff that he won the next day. Then there was Lloyd Mangrum, in that same 1950 Open, blowing his chance at the title when he picked up his ball on the 16th hole of the playoff, without marking it, to remove an insect incurring a two-stroke penalty. Earlier in the round, he hit a six-iron approach shot, thinking he was hitting a nine-iron, over a green and out of bounds.
Merion featured long, thick, rough and 140 white sand bunkers, a rarity at the time and known as the “White Faces of Merion,” to help protect par from the best players in the world. The finishing holes, known as “The Quarry Holes” are a brutal stretch that feature two long par-fours that require long drives over an abandoned quarry. A player must hit his drive at the final hole 225-yards to carry the quarry.
UPI sportswriter, Milton Richman, lamented in his preview article, that there was no need for the annual writer’s betting pool for this Open. He wrote:
What for? Everybody freely concedes one man sticks out among all the others in the field of 150. He’s off by himself somewhere. The other golfers say he’s much more than merely the U.S. Open favorite; they say he could just be the greatest shotmaker to have played in any Open. The individual they talk about this way is Jack Nicklaus.
“He’s so good he’s a freak,” Richman quoted Lee Trevino, winner of the 1968 U.S. Open. “With a golf club in his hands, Nicklaus can do just about anything he wants to do.”
Nicklaus would tee off in the first round playing with Dave Stockton and Ray Floyd.
The First Round
The first round was played under warm and sunny conditions. Labron Harris, a former U.S. Amateur champion from 1962 but winless in seven years on the tour, went off early and shot a 67. He sat back and watched as player after player made a run at him, yet each challenger fell back as they played the back nine.
“Yeah, I’m strong. Especially after midnight. I get a lot stronger then.”
Bob Goalby, a former Masters champion, and amateur Lanny Watkins, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, both shot 68, as did Doug Sanders. Nobody was more surprised than Sanders who had been taking cortisone shots for tendonitis in his wrists.
“Yeah, I’m strong,” Sanders, who had a reputation for living it up, told reporters after his round. “Especially after midnight. I get a lot stronger then.”
The pre-tournament favorite, Nicklaus, shot a 69 and was tied with Jim Colbert, a former football player at Kansas State, and Bobby Nichols, a former PGA champion.
“I felt like I played a heck of a lot better than 69,” Nicklaus said after his round. “From where I hit it, it could have been a lot better—66 or 67. But 69 is not a bad score for the first round of the U.S. Open.
Lee Trevino, a two-time winner on tour coming into the Open, knocked in a 30-foot putt at the final hole to post an even par 70. He was tied at that number with Charles Coody, Tom Weiskopf, and Ralph Johnson, the first player to tee off that morning.
Amateur Jim Simons, fighting off a cold that he caught while playing in the British Amateur, shot a 71.
The Second Round
The weather turned hot and humid for the second round that saw Lee Trevino charge out from his early tee time with three birdies in the first four holes. He was tied for the lead before he stumbled with a bogey and double bogey making the turn in even par 36. He then bogeyed the 10th and 11th hole. He managed to play even par from there and got to the clubhouse with a two-over 72.
Lebron Harris wilted in the muggy conditions skying to a 77, but two other dark horses made their move. Jim Colbert shot his second straight 69 and was tied for the lead at 138 with Bob Erickson, a 45-year-old looking to make some money to put his son through college. Erickson, a former watchmaker from Michigan, played out of a club in Sanford, FL, and found out during the Open that the club had been sold “so I’m probably unattached.” Erickson had four birdies and one bogey on his way to a 67.
“The way things are here, the winner could be the luckiest man on the course instead of the best golfer. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be.”
Nicklaus shot a two-over 72 for a total of 141 and vented to the press after his round about the pin positions.
“Why trick the course up?” Nicklaus asked reporters rhetorically. “It’s a good course and it doesn’t need that treatment. The way things are here, the winner could be the luckiest man on the course instead of the best golfer. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be.”
Arnold Palmer, who shot a second round 68, putting him at 141, was having none of what Nicklaus was complaining about.
“If there is a complaint, I’d like to mention slow play. It took us five hours to play our round. Groups were piled up on every tee. I understand that Jack’s group was 23 to 25 minutes behind the group in front of them.”
“There were some pretty severe pin placements, but no worse than any others we play on tour,” Palmer asserted. “I don’t think they were so unfair.”
Then, Palmer went on saying, “If there is a complaint, I’d like to mention slow play. It took us five hours to play our round. Groups were piled up on every tee. I understand that Jack’s group was 23 to 25 minutes behind the group in front of them.”
Nicklaus, Floyd, and Stockton were told twice by USGA officials to speed up their play.
Amateur Jim Simons shot a second straight 71 and was just four strokes off the lead and he led Watkins by a stroke in the low amateur competition.
Defending champion Tony Jacklin missed the cut, marking the third time in a row that the defending champion failed to make the cut. Other players to miss the cut included Frank Beard (149), Billy Casper (151), Dave Hill (150), Dave Stockton (150), and Tom Weiskopf (153).
The Third Round
The sunny and hot weather continued Saturday for the third round. Nicklaus and Palmer could be seen eye-to-eye on the putting green discussing the controversy from the day before.
“If you say that about me again . . . ”
“We’re good friends,” Palmer assured the press before walking the 15 yards to the first tee. “We were just kicking around what happened yesterday.”
The two talked for about 15 minutes before Nicklaus made his way to a different part of the practice green. After being goaded by spectators, Nicklaus smiled and yelled back over to Palmer.
“If you say that about me again . . . ”
Both men laughed.
The young amateur, Jim Simons, attacked Merion in the third round showing steel nerves on the greens that now resembled glass. The number two man on the Wake Forest golf team fired seven birdies, offset by two bogeys, to record a 65, just one-stroke off the U.S. Open single round record. His 207 led Nicklaus, his idol, by two-strokes. Bobby Nichols was another stroke back at 210.
“He’s the greatest player in the world,” Simons said of Nicklaus. “I’d sure like to play with him.”
“It’s hard to imagine myself leading the U.S. Open at this stage.”
He would get his chance the next day in the final round.
“It’s hard to imagine myself leading the U.S. Open at this stage,” said the soft-spoken Simons who would sleep on the lead before trying to become the first amateur to win the Open since Johnny Goodman in 1933.
Lee Trevino shot a third round 69 and sat at 211, tied with Bob Erickson, Jim Colbert, and George Archer. Palmer shot a 73 without any birdies and sat at 214.
The Fourth Round
The legendary Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times wrote in the lede to his column on Monday, June 21st, that the U.S. Open final round featured “one guy who plays for fun, a guy who plays for history, and a guy who plays for the rent.” He was describing amateur Jim Simons, Jack Nicklaus, and Lee Trevino, who along with Jim Colbert and Bobby Nichols, battled for the title on a hot and sweltering Sunday.
Simons admitted the next morning that he had spent a restless night—he felt the pressure. He was a crowd favorite on the first tee as he received the longest ovation when he was announced.
“I thought that I could hit a wood out of the rough,” he later said. “I topped it.”
He was enjoying an extremely accurate driving week finding most of the fairways, but on Sunday at the second hole his drive found the deep rough on the left. He tried to extricate the ball from the thick grass with a fairway wood.
“I thought that I could hit a wood out of the rough,” he later said. “I topped it.”
The ball traveled all of 20 yards and remained in the rough. He eventually made a bogey on the hole and then held his own for the rest of the round—almost.
He played in the final group with Jack Nicklaus who caught the young amateur on the 4th hole when he sank a downhill curling 30-footer for a birdie. But, on the very next hole, Nicklaus wildly hooked a shot into a creek resulting in a double bogey. This mistake made it anybody’s tournament.
Trevino told reporters on Sunday morning, “I’m playing fantastic. I’ve been playing super ever since Nicklaus told me in February that he hoped I never found out how good I really was. For the best player in the world to tell me that, just filled me up with confidence, and I’ve almost won every tournament I’ve been in the last six week. I know I can win this thing.”
Trevino’s ball-striking was unparalleled on that Sunday. He laced drives down the middle of the fairways and rocketed irons straight at the wicker basket topped pins. His iron approach shot to the 12th hole flew beyond the pin, but it had so much backspin that it trickled down the sloping green nestling right up close to the hole for a tap-in birdie. He was now tied for the lead.
After narrowly missing a birdie at the 13th hole, he birdied the 14th to take the lead by himself. Both Nicklaus and Simons held tough nipping at Trevino’s heels. Trevino kept his lead by sinking a pressure-packed eight-footer for par on the 15th hole.
Trevino, playing in the penultimate group with Bobby Nichols, had been watching the leader board all day and as he arrived at the 18th hole, he figured he needed a par to win. He faded his drive off the final hole and then used a three-wood for his approach shot. The shot carried too far into the green and he was now faced with a tricky chip which he left seven feet from the pin.
He now lined up a putt for the par he was certain would win the Open. Suddenly a commotion near the television camera tower made him back off his putt. A small boy fell from his perch on a ladder on the tower which he climbed to get a better view of the action. After a moment, Trevino stepped back into his putt and missed it. He refused to blame the young boy, though.
Nicklaus and Simons both needed birdies at the final hole, for a tie in Simons’ case, and for the win in Nicklaus’ case. A tired Simons gambled, a gamble that did not pay off as he double bogeyed the hole. He finished as low amateur and finished in a tie for fifth with George Archer, and Johnny Miller.
Nicklaus had made pressure-packed putts on the slick-as-glass greens at the 15th, 16th, and 17th holes to save par and then hit a perfect drive off the 18th hole. He then hit his approach shot to 14-feet for the winning birdie. But the putt slid left and the Open was tied, at even-par, with a playoff scheduled for the next day.
“It was a very easy putt,” Nicklaus said after the round. “I just hit it two inches to the left, that’s all. I stood over the ball and felt very confident that I could make it.”
“Oh, what time are we playing?”
Trevino was his usual jovial self as he entered the press room. Even though Nicklaus finished after him, he beat Trevino to the press room, and he also was in a good mood. Nicklaus got up to leave as Trevino sat down in front of the press.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Nicklaus said to Trevino as he left.
Trevino shot back, “Oh, what time are we playing?”
Asked if there was a reason for selecting a red shirt with black pants for his Sunday outfit he replied, “Well, if I played badly and ended up cutting my throat, the blood would blend in with my shirt.”
The Playoff
Trevino kept up the comedy act the next day at the first tee of the playoff. He arrived at the tee, unzipped a pocket on his large tour bag, and took out a three-foot-long rubber snake and showed the crowd. Nicklaus waved at him to throw it over so he could have a closer look. The two players then shared a laugh.
Sand shots at the second and third holes put Nicklaus in a tough spot early in the playoff. On the second hole he tried to play his sand shot too gingerly, put a bad swing on it resulting in a bogey. On the third hole, he didn’t hit his first attempt out of the bunker, requiring him to take another attempt and had to card a double bogey.
Trevino changed his tactics after these Nicklaus errors and began making par after par. Nicklaus had to press and when he scored a bogey on the 17th hole, it was all over. Lee Trevino had won his second U.S. Open and cozy, little, short Merion had held up well against par for the week.
“I feel especially great beating a man of Jack Nicklaus’ caliber. That accomplishes something more even than winning the Open.”
Lee Trevino knew what he had done by slaying the Golden Bear.
“I feel especially great beating a man of Jack Nicklaus’ caliber,” he said. “That accomplishes something more even than winning the Open.”
Despite the worries, short and cozy Merion held up just fine to the onslaught from the world’s best players. After all, even par was the score needed to secure a spot in the playoff. Merion produced another U.S. Open for the record books.
We are rerunning the video of Gary Player describing his shot on the 16th hole of the 1972 PGA Championship that he provided, exclusively to Tour Backspin. We spoke with him recently from his home in Florida (click on image to play video):
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Bonus Story
The pins at Merion Golf Club feature a unique wicker basket atop them, replacing the more widely used flags. This feature was a tribute to the Scottish origins of the game. It was said that a Scottish shepherd had invented the game on his lunch break and fashioned a makeshift club and ball that he then fired at his staff on which he had placed his lunch basket.
The wicker baskets at Merion continue to be used to this day, although finding a supplier has been a challenge. Workers on the course originally made the baskets but when they found the chore too time consuming, they enlisted the help of a basketmaker in downtown Ardmore to make them. After the basketmaker died, a Philadelphia company supplied the baskets until they went out of business.
A new batch of baskets arrived shortly before the 1971 U.S. Open. “MADE IN HONG KONG” was stamped on the bottom of each basket.
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Lee Trevino’s swing
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Check It Out
Go inside for a look at the restoration at Los Angeles Country Club from The Fried Egg. Watch it HERE.
Uncorked, The Life and Times of Champagne Tony Lema tells the story of one of the tour’s biggest stars in the mid-1960s. A fascinating glimpse into the traveling caravan that was the PGA TOUR during an era where the fields were full of “Mad Men” era personalities. From a hardscrabble youth spent on the “wrong side of the tracks” in the Oakland suburb of San Leandro, to the temptations of Elko, Nevada, to the bright lights of the PGA TOUR, Uncorked tells a story of determination, redemption and, above all else, a love story that documents how Betty, Tony’s new wife, provided the direction and motivation for him to become a top star. Order on Amazon.
Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
Sam Snead made the cut in the 1973 U.S. Open at the age of 61 years old.
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Final Thoughts
How cool was that victory by Nick Taylor? and how about how well those other UW Huskies in the field did? GO DAWGS!
The restoration of LACC was so cool—I can’t wait to see how the pros play it.