Mr Lu and Mrs Tipping, Mr and Mrs Rai, Birkdale's ideal vantage point and snippets from the international press all feature in Matt Cooper's latest Open diary.
Oh Mr Lu, I’m telling you
I’m a big fan of how things just seem to happen at a Royal Birkdale Open. Some venues and events toddle along quite nicely, but Birkdale seems to be sprinkled with magic dust.
It was the scene of Palmer’s first Open win in 1961, it witnessed two Peter Thomson victories, there was Seve and Johnny Miller, it’s where Tom Watson dropped the Claret Jug (take a careful look at some of the photos from 1983 – it’s clearly crooked in some), Mark O’Meara completed the Masters-Open double here, Padraig Harrington got his wild eyes here, and Jordan Spieth enjoyed that magical finale in 2017.
All marvellous but my favourite remains the tale of Taiwan’s Lu Liang-Huan in 1971.
He was better known to the galleries as Mr Lu while the press preferred ‘Mr Lu from Formosa’. He was an unknown to them when he contested the title with Lee Trevino, but the American remembered him from a match they had played 12 years earlier, in Okinawa, Japan, between the Formosa Air Force and the U.S. Marines. Trevino particularly remembered that Mr Lu had trounced him 8&7.
Through all four days at Royal Birkdale, Mr Lu bewitched the galleries and TV viewers who all adored his pork pie hat and his habit of cheerily doffing it in the direction of any word of support, or bowing extravagantly when offered a courtesy.
After a tremendous final-round duel, Trevino led Lu by one with only the 18th to play. Lu’s drive left him with a poor lie and he hooked his approach, at head height, into the galleries, catching a spectator called Mrs Lillian Tipping full on the head.
His ball rebounded 50 yards into the middle of the fairway and Mrs Tipping was left prone on the ground. The BBC commentator took this moment to describe Mr Lu as ‘inscrutable’ which would have been lazy at the best of times but it was also transparently not the case – the poor man was devastated, wandering around in a daze, tipping back his hat and repeatedly wiping his shocked face with his hands.
Mrs Tipping, it turned out, was a fan. She looked up at her new hero and said: “Go on Mr Lu, make a birdie for me.” He did just that but Trevino matched it to claim the Claret Jug.
I’ve long been fascinated by this tale and was gassing at a lunch yesterday with a man whose interest topped mine because he’d actually been there. His memories were a little hazy, but he recalled the shock of Mr Lu when his ball flew into the crowd. A wonderful detail for me was that Mrs Tipping not only received help from two doctors in the gallery, but also a priest.
The Birkdale love for Mr Lu was so extravagant the fans lifted him on to their shoulders to carry him from the green.
The next day he played a pro-am and lost his hat. Mr Alf Whittle, of Failsworth Hats, provided him with three new hats and was excited about the potential of Mr Lu mania gripping the golf world. His hats would retail at “between £2.25 and £2.50 per hat”.
Charles Lawrie, chairman of the R&A’s championship committee said: “You have endeared yourself to the British golfing public as no other foreign player has done in years. We hope and pray that you will be the forerunner of many other Far East players to compete for the British title.”
The 1951 Open champion Max Faulkner wrote that future success for Asian golfers was a given. “A few years ago there might have been a little resentment at all this in Britain,” he added. “Thank heavens those days of xenophobia have almost gone. With Mr Lu’s help, the Orient has become far less mysterious in the space of a fortnight.”
In a wonderful postscript to the story, Mr Lu went looking for Mrs Tipping at the hospital but she had discharged herself. He travelled to Biarritz for the French Open and fretted about her health before getting word that she was well whereupon he carded a 63.
Mrs Tipping sent a telegram that read: “Keep it up Mr Lu!” He then shot a 62 to claim the title. Two years later the Tippings travelled to Taiwan to stay with Mr Lu at his hotel. They remained friends for life, exchanging Christmas cards every year.
Well done Birkdale 1971 and beat that Birkdale 2026.
Dinner
I had a busy Tuesday because my role as secretary of the Association of Golf Writers means that I organise a dinner held in the R&A pavilion overlooking the course from near the first tee.
The views were sensational as the sun dipped on the horizon, highlighting every nook, crannie, fairway and green in the dunes.
Among our guests were Aaron Rai and his wife Gaurika who charmed the room with their recollections of his PGA Championship victory in May.
A particular highlight was when the host Iain Carter asked Aaron if there had been one moment during the evening after his win when it all dawned on him what he had achieved.
The highlight of the Annual Dinner was a terrific Q&A with the PGA Championship winner Aaron Rai and our host @iaincartergolf. pic.twitter.com/H6wV0KLpea
— Association of Golf Writers (AGW) (@AGWgolfwriters) July 15, 2026
“There was one moment – I’m not sure if I should mention it,” he started, looking across at Gaurika. She nodded her approval. “Well, we were in the courtesy car, on our way back to our accommodation, and I asked the driver if he minded opening all the windows, then I just let out a massive roar.”
“It was very loud,” said Gaurika, with a proud laugh.
It was also notable how much Rai enjoyed a Q&A with Padraig Harrington who talked about giving back to the game by helping others enjoy it, inspired by his policeman father who helped build a golf course in Ireland in the early 1970s when police were unable to join golf clubs.
Rai later said: “It was lovely hearing Padraig and seeing his passion. It’s a real inspiration.”
Behind 10
It really is roasting out there today and if you’re heading to the course this week please bring sun protection and water. Just walking a couple of holes leaves your mouth dry, the consequence of the heat and all the dust flying in the air.
Maybe also consider a hike to the top of the dune to the right of the 10th green. It not only has superb views of the approach, you also need only turn to see the tee shot on 11. Pack a pair of binoculars and you’ll also get a great view down all of 11 and across to 8. Those binos will also help you see the action on the 9th green. I rate it as the best vantage point on the Open rota.
Snippets
The Spanish media say that Angel Ayora, whose manager is Javier Ballesteros, is enjoying the Seve vibes this week. (They also say that Eugenio Chacarra is a bit of a live wire – I think it’s a euphemism.)
The Danes say that Rasmus Neergaard Peterson is feeling chipper this week, the fast running conditions reminding him of Royal Melbourne where he won last year’s Australia Open.
The Japanese say that Hideki Matsuyama likes that the conditions remind him of Muirfield in 2013 when he was T6.
