dale hayes column
OPEN
memories
This month's Open Championship is being held at a course which has a special place in the heart of our columnist
When we arrived at Royal Birkdale in July 1971, it was six months into my first year as a professional golfer. I had just turned 19 and, even though I had won the Spanish Open a few months before, I still had to pre-qualify for The Open.
I played my two qualifying rounds at Hesketh Golf Club and shot a 64 in one round so I qualified easily.
Lee Trevino (main image) arrived at The Open as the hottest golfer in the world, beating Jack Nicklaus in a playoff for the US Open, then winning the Canadian Open so, at Royal Birkdale, he had the opportunity to claim the Triple Crown.
He shot an opening 69, tied for the lead. I was very pleased with a 71. On the second day Trevino was matched by Tony Jacklin on 139 and after a 72 I was four shots behind on 143. Gary Player shot 141 so also in the hunt.
In the third round Trevino had another 67 to be one ahead of Jacklin and Lu Liang-Huan. Player shot a 71 to be in fourth and a 70 for me lifted me into fifth place alongside Roberto de Vicenzo and Peter Oosterhuis – and we were ahead of Jack Nicklaus.
In the final round, I teed off with a great friend, Peter Oosterhuis. This was going to be an interesting final day. Could Nicklaus come from behind to beat Trevino and make up for his loss in the US Open a month previously?
That year, the US PGA Championship was held in February and Nicklaus won. In The Masters he lost by two shots and was runner-up as he was in the next Major, the US Open.
Many of us expected Nicklaus to put up a low round at Royal Birkdale but it wasn't to be. He ended up with a 69 to finish in fifth.
Lu Liang-Huan had wowed the golfers at Birkdale with his golf, great manners and smile. The crowds were mixed, with many pulling for the first Asian to win a Major .
Obviously Englishman Tony Jacklin was the crowd favourite and he had come off two great Opens – a win in 1969 at Royal Lytham and then at St Andrews in 1970, when he shot a 76 in the final round to finish fifth, only three shots shy of the play-off between Nicklaus and Doug Sanders.
1971 was also the 100th Open Championship and was being played for the third time in 12 years at one of England's great links courses.
Trevino would go on to win by one shot over Mr Lu, as he became known to European fans. Mr Lu matched Trevino's score for the last 54 holes, so it was Trevino's opening 69 that made all the difference.
Trevino would join Bobby Jones, who did it twice, Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan, to have won the US Open and The Open in the same year. Since then, Tiger Woods and Tom Watson have also done it and, amazingly, it was something Jack Nicklaus was never able to do.
It's interesting to remember some of the South African players who qualified to play in that Open Championship. Other than Gary and I, Tienie Britz and Bobby Locke, who tied for 49th, Roger Manning was 60th, whilst Simon Fogarty, the long-time professional at Royal Cape, missed the cut after three rounds. Players who missed the halfway cut were Tertius Claassens and Gary Baleson.
From the time I met Simon Hobday, he always maintained that he would win The Open Championship. Unfortunately, he didn't pre-qualify in his first few times. But in 1971 he arrived at Royal Birkdale as the South African Open Champion and was exempt from qualifying, giving him time for a few extra practice rounds
On his way to the first tee for the opening round, he stepped into a rabbit hole and badly twisted his ankle so had to withdraw. He spent the rest of the week in the front of the clubhouse overlooking the 18th green, blaming everybody and everything for the mishap that cost him winning the 1971 Open Championship.
My driving in the final round was abysmal. I think I missed 50 percent of the fairways on the left. The great South African golf benefactor, George Blumberg, was watching Peter Oosterhuis and I that afternoon and eventually, on the 13th, he walked across the fairway and said to me: 'Dale, you know you can aim further to the right'. Good advice but too little too late. I ended up with shooting a 74 and slipped from fifth to 17th. Oosterhuis shot a 75 to finish one shot behind me.
Tienie Britz won the SA PGA twice at Huddle Park and, at the Open, he was first off in the final round with Brian Barnes. They decided that would be a special race. They finished the round in 1hr 56min and scored 74 and 79 respectively. For Barnes, that was barely enough time for him to light up his pipe.
About
the Author
Dale Hayes is a former professional golfer with an illustrious record in the sport.
About the Author
Dale Hayes is a former professional golfer with an illustrious record in the sport. His 21 professional wins include the 1971 Spanish Open, the 1974 World Cup of Golf in partnership with Bobby Cole, and 13 titles on the Sunshine Tour. He also won the European Tour Order of Merit in 1975. Since retiring from the pro golf circuit he has remained active in the sport as the principal of an event management company and a popular and respected commentator.
South Africa’s Dale Hayes is a former professional golfer with an illustrious record in the sport. His 21 professional wins include the 1971 Spanish Open, the 1974 World Cup
Golf in partnership with Bobby Cole, and 13 titles on the Sunshine Tour. He also won the European Tour Order of Merit in 1975. Since retiring from the pro golf circuit he has remained active in the sport as the principal of an event management company and a popular and respected commentator.
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