It’s Open all OURS!
ENGLISH TRIO LEAD THE HOME CHARGE AS 25-YEAR WAIT TO EMULATE LEGENDARY FALDO GOES ON
WHEN Nick Faldo won The Open at Muirfield in 1992 no one would have believed that would be the start of a 25-year drought for England.
Champions from America, Sweden, South Africa, Scotland and Northern Ireland have got their hands on the Claret Jug in the time that has passed since – but never an Englishman.
The great Faldo was second himself a year after his triumph in Scotland, while Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood have both finished as runners-up in recent years.
Could that horrible streak end on the Lancashire coast this week?
There are certainly enough good players in the field to give us hope.
And they are led by Westwood, Poulter and Justin Rose.
Poulter heads back to Royal Birkdale hoping to go one better than his runner-up finish nine years ago.
He came through final qualifying at Woburn last month and said: “Going back to Birkdale after what happened in 2008 is special.
“I thought that I had a 15-foot putt to maybe win or get into the play-off and then my Irish friend – Padraig Harrington – decided to go bananas on the last five holes.
“It was a great week, my best in a Major, and I would say Birkdale is my favourite Open venue.”
It holds very fond memories for Rose as well.
Aged just 17, he famously holed a wedge shot on the 18th to finish in a tie for fourth place as an amateur.
Now, 19 years later, he is celebrated everywhere he goes as the “Gold Medal Man” who triumphed at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
Rose loves it – but resists digging the prized medal out of his pocket to use as a ball marker.
He said: “Once every four years it comes around so I have enjoyed it. But I made a purposeful decision to keep the medal at home.”
The Englishman proved at the US Open four years ago that he has the game to win a Major but the Claret Jug has so far escaped his grasp.
Rose said: “In 2017 I’m looking to reidentify myself by winning Major championships. I still enjoy the Olympics tag but I can’t let these years slip by.
“The young players are hard to beat but they are beatable.
“The Open at Birkdale will be pretty special.
“In 2008 the talk was all about 1998. Now we can focus on this Open.”
The Southport course has been less of a happy hunting ground for Westwood though.
He tied for 64th in 1998 and could only manage a share of 67th in 2008.
And coming into this year’s event he has split with his manager of 24 years, Chubby Chandler.
This is his 23rd crack at winning The Open Championship and he knows time is running out if he wants to shake off the ‘best player never to win a Major’ tag.
A second-place finish at St Andrews in 2010, where he finished behind South African Louis Oosthuizen, is the best Westwood has managed.
He has also registered 11 top-five finishes but never sealed the deal.
The world No.57 said: “I’ve come close, obviously. I three-putted the last when Cink won at Turnberry.
“That’s probably the closest I’ve got but I had a second-place finish at St Andrews and was third when Phil Mickelson won at Muirfield – I was leading going into the last round.
“My links game is pretty good and, if everything clicks, hopefully I’ll have a chance. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s always nice to play Open Championships in England.
“If I don’t win a Major I can still say I’ve had a great career.”
Poulter, Rose and Westwood are not the only men capable of ending the English drought this week.
Paul Casey, Tommy Fleetwood, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tyrell Hatton, Ross Fisher and Andy Sullivan will all fancy their chances of following in Faldo’s footsteps.