The bizarre, hilarious end of the 1971 British Open film: A minute-by-minute breakdown

July 13, 2026 · Yahoo Sports

My favorite Lee Trevino story, before I knew about the 1971 Open Championship, came from a Tony Jacklin quote about playing with him at the '72 Open in Muirfield. Trevino was famous for his nonstop chatter, and Jacklin was sick of it, so when they were paired together on the weekend, he decided to nip it in the bud. "Lee, we don't need to talk today," he said. To which Trevino replied, "you don't have to talk, Tony … you just have to listen."

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It's an all-timer, but now I have a new favorite Trevino story. It comes from the 18th hole a year earlier at the Open in Royal Birkdale, and his co-star was a Taiwanese golfer named Lu Liang-Huan who is fairly obscure today, but who at the time was a very successful player. He amassed 29 career wins and, on that day, had a real shot to capture the claret jug. More than that, the crowds loved him, just as they loved Trevino. Lu came into the final round a shot behind Trevino, and by the 17th hole, trailing by three, it seemed over. But then Trevino made a double bogey to Lu's par, and it was back to a one-shot deficit as they stepped up to the 18th tee.

At that point, things became hilarious. And dark. And probably a little offensive, by modern standards. But if you can't laugh at this stuff 55 years later, you might be dead inside.

It's our tremendous fortune that it's all documented in the official Open Championship film, which you should watch below for reference. We'll tackle this moment-by-moment, starting at the 44:16 mark and time-stamped accordingly.

44:16: First off, I want to point out how incredible the '70s style is throughout, from the grainy video and staticky audio to the narrator's newscaster accent that doesn't seem to exist in the U.K. anymore to the clothing and hairstyle of the fans. Plus, the whole thing feels so informal—see if you can spot any gallery ropes (hint: you cannot). What I love most is the down-to-earth, almost quirky quality of the event that is totally unrecognizable today, when the Open and the three American majors take themselves as seriously as war. This is something more slapdash, and it's brilliant in its own way. Look at this shot, for instance, of Lu teeing off on 18 … how beautiful is this?

44:34: I want one of these armbands that says "steward." I would give almost anything for it. (But I would also give anything not to wear the tight pants I'm seeing on all the men. Feels like wedgie central.)

44:38: Well folks, I warned you: We have our first "This was certainly a different time!" moment. Walking up the fairway, Trevino and Lu are laughing about something, at which point Trevino says, "I guarantee if he wins, we're going to have a lot of fried rice next week." And yes, he seems to be doing some … extra accent work. How does Lu respond? With a huge smile and an arm around Trevino's shoulder. (It's probably important to note here that the two had been friends for years by this point.)

This is the first of maybe a thousand times I'm going to say these words in this post, but: Can you imagine if this happened on the last hole of a closer major Sunday today??? Anyway, check out the bobby straight out of central casting … he's absolutely loving it.

44:45: Please check out both the bunker rake and the giant white coat the man in charge of the bunker rake is wearing. The shot tells us that they used to have bunker attendants at the Open, that they wore giant scientist lab coats and, man, what a loss for the world that they're not around anymore! Also, are those binoculars?

45:08: We should take a moment to acknowledge Lu's blue felt porkpie hat with the blue-and-white striped grosgrain ribbon, which is absolutely the snazziest thing on the course and is probably 90 percent of why the crowd loved him. His lie near the bunker, unfortunately, is not so snazzy, and is going to force him to stand in the actual bunker and swing almost horizontally, which is very bad news for a woman to be named later. Also, shout-out to Birkdale's cruise ship clubhouse and all the people on the roof. Best clubhouse in the rota, if you ask me.

45:24: As you see from Lu's stance, the shot did not go great. "That must be a tremendous hook," says the narrator. It is indeed, sir! Quite so!

This seems like a good time to point out that the narrator is legendary British golf writer and commentator Henry Longhurst, and as much as I love Lu and Trevino, he might be the real star of the show.

45:31: The marshal (the guy waving the white baton) is frantically waving for help, and the bobby has just run in from the left side of the screen. Longhurst sets the stage: "There are cries of, 'is there a doctor in the house?'" Folks, we are entering peak chaos.

45:35: Look … I don't know how to set this up without seeming like a bad person. All I can tell you is that nobody was seriously hurt on this hole, so maybe it's OK that when the camera cut to this shot, I started laughing. But I swear it was a shocked laugh, a guffaw at the absolute absurdity of it, and not just pure malice. (Though I'm not sure how to rationalize the fact that I've also laughed with every re-watch.)

Part of what got me, I think, is that this is a compilation video from the R&A, not a live broadcast, which means they actively chose to include this poor woman. It was within their power to keep it on the cutting room floor, but they said, "nope, show the dead body."

45:40: When we pan up, who do we see? An anguished Lu. "Lu, in fact, has hit an unfortunate lady spectator right in the temple and knocked her completely out," Longhurst helpfully points out.

45:55: Look, he really cares! We need to get that ArtButSports guy to put this side by side with Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam.

46:00: How will a man of such empathy ever recover??

46:06: We have some good news! Narrator: "Good will still prevails, and she wishes him luck!" Phew. But right on the heels of that, we have our second unfortunate "This was certainly a different time!" moment. Here, Longhurst reveals an unfotunate stereotype, if only to shatter it: "Never mind about the inscrutable orient … Lu is visibly moved at this."

The nice British people console him, including the steward, whose coat, hat and armband I would give at least one of my fingers to have.

46:16: Longhurst is ready with another banger: "He was in fact fortunate in the lady spectator's misfortune," he says. "The ball caromed off her head fully 15 yards into the middle of the fairway."

Every time this man says "lady spectator," a lady angel gets her wings. … Anyway, Trevino hits his second shot to the back of the green, and I have to say, I like these flags with the hole number on them. Bring 'em back.

46:37: I don't think it's possible to take a screenshot of Trevino, no matter how blurry, without him looking insanely cool.

46:43: Look how he's instantly and completely engulfed by people after his shot. When this happened to Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka at the Kiawah PGA in 2021, we had a two-week freak-out. Here, it's the most normal thing that could happen, even though the man on the left clearly has a sniper rifle in that case.

46:47: One of the great mysteries that will probably never be solved is why Lu wasn't wearing his hat for his third shot.

46:50: Look at this tableau, man. Wes Anderson on steroids couldn't do it better. Put whatever this aesthetic is directly into my veins. And I wish golf carts still came with massive beach umbrellas.

47:07: Here's Lu, still without his hat, about to be mauled by an army of British zombies after he hits a terrific approach to give himself a short birdie putt and a prayer at tying this thing up.

47:20: I mean, just look at this. How do I time travel to this exact place at this exact moment?

47:24: Shout out to Trevino's stylish wife, Claudia. Fun trivia: She's the first of two women he married named Claudia. And no, that's not a joke.

47:30: Check out the "Super Mex" logo on Trevino's hat. He copyrighted in 1967, and you can see a version of the hat in the National Museum of American History. A true hat-on-a-hat situation.

47:39: Massive sigh of relief as Lu now has the hat back. In the background, you can see more lab coat people trying to hold back the crowd.

47:52: I wish more caddies would actively gesture at the ball like Trevino's guy here. Caddies today are too sensible, and we badly need some weirdos back in the game.

48:01: Even though the caddie looks like Trevino found him at a bullfighting arena in Madrid, he's actually a Scot, Willie Aitchison, who thought Trevino was a "nutcase" when he first met him. Which, of course, was correct. Meanwhile, he becomes the 10,000th man in this video whose hat I would kill a stranger to own.

48:18: As Lu watches his birdie putt fall—what a heroic birdie, after almost killing a woman!—note that he's wearing the hat. If you're keeping track at home, that's a yes for the hat on the drive, the second and the putt, but no for the approach. I want to believe he studied the stats and concluded that a hat just doesn't work for his iron game.

48:33: Trevino took a comically short time to attempt his Open-winning putt, which is in stark contrast to the man Longhurst can't stop mentioning, Doug Sanders, who blundered one of the all-time shorties the year before with the tournament on the line. The camera barely had time to come back to Trevino on the actual broadcast, so quickly did he play. And unlike Sanders, he buried it to win, setting up an epic hat toss—an under-used move in today's world, in my humble opinion.

48:40: Look how wholesome these two guys are! Has there ever been a happier second-place finisher than Lu? The vibes are completely off the charts.

48:54: As Trevino hugs Claudia the First, I spot the latest coveted piece of attire: that sick red glove. Also, get a load of fancy two-cameras man in the background.

49:06: No picture with this one, but I just want to point out that someone, I think Trevino, screams out from off camera, "hey, give me some of that Jimmy Dean sausage!" I hope he got some.

49:11: Great caddie-player walking hug here with Trevino and Aitchison. Along with the hat toss, the walking hug is truly a lost art.

49:35: It's phenomenal how much the fans love Lu, who they're now hoisting on their shoulders, to the delight of the fans. Again, this is the absolute best way to finish second ever. As for the larger scene, it's unfathomable to imagine something this friendly and fun now, when every final round is a tense holy war, and you have to beg the loser for to do a two-minute interview.

49:46: There's good reason to smile now for Lu—the narrator informs us that after a brief trip to the hospital, the woman who got hit in the head actually came back to the club. That's true British pluck! Keep calm and carry on! As a token of apology, Lu gave her a box of balls and said, "now you hit them at me." What a man! How does this whole thing just keep getting better???

49:54: First, this is an incredible scoreboard. The iconic yellow one they use today is also great, but there's something very vintage about this one. Second, it looks very much like it's about to collapse and kill all these people.

50:00: Here's fifth-place Jack Nicklaus, looking grumpy. "These people are FOOLS, Barbara! They're not serious!"

50:05: A random Bond villain, masquerading as the fourth-place golfer.

50:11: Third-place Tony Jacklin, looking slightly emo, already dreaming of how he's going to start the process of destroying the U.S. Ryder Cup team for the next 50 years.

50:29: Lu is looking absolutely delighted here, probably because he's about to be paid the second-place share of … £4,000. Did that even get him back to Taiwan? Today, that would buy you or me about eight rounds at Royal Birkdale.

50:50: Lu, making amends: "I'm very sorry on No. 18 to hitting one of the girl, was very sorry about that." Class act. On behalf of her, 55 years later, I absolve you, Mr. Lu.

51:33: First off, in the picture below, I could use a 5,000-word Wikipedia page about the Dr. Strangelove-looking guy with the chain on the left. More importantly, it's been about two minutes with no ethnic humor from Trevino, so after he collects his £5,500 and the claret jug, he lets it rip: "We had a tremendous day out there today, I was playing with Lu. He can't a-speak-a no English, and I don't a-speak-a no Chinese, so we're having a lot of fun."

Lee, you are simply one of a kind. I'm not sure what kind, but it's definitely a kind.

51:42: Once again, if anyone's upset at this, it's not Lu.

51:47: Lee's got one more banger for us: "He made the statement that he wanted to apologize to the lady that he hit on the 18th. I said, 'you don't need to apologize to her, her lawyer'll be contacting you in the next two days.'"

52:35: As we come to the end, the narrator reminds us that Trevino has now won the Canadian, U.S., and British Open in the same year—still the only man to ever do that—and we get one last fetching image of Lee and Claudia.

52:42: My final thought: Thank you, Jay Michaels, from the bottom of my modern heart. Whether in 1971 or 2026, you were the hero we never knew we needed.

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