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 (1926, 1930), 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 month. 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

Source: Lengths of the course for previous Opens:

Round summaries

First round

Wednesday, 7 July 1971 Source:

Second round

Thursday, 8 July 1971 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 Source: Amateurs: Bonallack (−2), Melnyk (+4).

Final round

Saturday, 10 July 1971 Source: Amateurs: Bonallack (−1), Melnyk (+6)