When Sir Nick Faldo won his third and final Open Championship in 1992, he probably didn’t expect that 33 years later he would remain the most recent Englishman to lift the Claret Jug.
And yet, as Faldo, an analyst with Sky Sports, ducks into the media centre to escape the first storm of the week at Royal Portrush, that remains the case.
Sure, there have been close calls – most notably Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose in the last two years – but no Englishman has managed to seal the deal since Faldo bested John Cook by one shot at Muirfield all those years ago.
British players should have an advantage having grown up playing many of the Open rota courses, but with many now plying their trade full-time in the United States, a return to links golf requires a total shift in mindset.
‘Obviously, the grass is different. The bunkers are different. My goodness, the hay around the green is different. The speed of the greens are different. I mean, you have to practice everything, everything differently,’ Faldo explained.
So who, then, has the best chance of ending England’s long wait for an Open winner?
Three players – Fleetwood, Rose and Tyrrell Hatton – currently lie in the world’s top 25, and Faldo reckons that it’s the veteran Rose – a runner-up last year at Troon and at the Masters in April – who is best placed to finally get the job done.
‘Probably Rosey is the most obvious after what he did at Augusta,’ the six-time major champion said. ‘He was in with a shout and around last year at the Open as well.
‘It’s a great golf course – we’re probably going to talk about the wind a lot this week, but it needs a lot of good thinking and decision-making with club selection, and I think Rosey has a pretty good formula with that. He’s the most obvious choice at the moment.’
‘I have my doubts over Fleetwood this week’
Fleetwood is always fancied heading into major weeks given his supreme ball-striking and accuracy off the tee, but a final-hole collapse at last month’s Travellers Championship sees the 34-year-old arrive at Portrush with yet more scar tissue to overcome.
‘It comes down to mental strength to finish it off,’ Faldo said. ‘Maybe he learns from it but you have to put yourselves in situations like that to learn from the experience.
‘Whether he discovers something technically he did, or mentally, whatever it was that caused that bad shot, maybe it makes you a better golfer, and you can deal with it.’
Faldo has other doubts, though. ‘The only thing Tommy struggles with is that he hits a draw all the time, and if it goes off a little bit, overdraws it, and he doesn’t really have a great fade shot,’ the 67-year-old said.
‘I think this is such a great golf course, and we change direction on so many holes here, you swap around a lot, so I don’t think a one-dimensional player will win this week.
‘I think you need to have the ability to work the golf ball, especially high and low. You could get a lot of crosswinds here, and I think that is where he is lacking. He doesn’t have a fade that he can really trust.’
‘McIlroy will be itching to get going’
But while English players may harbour dreams of ending the 33-year drought, many on site in Northern Ireland this week have their hopes pinned firmly on just one man.
Having ended his major drought to complete the Grand Slam at the Masters, Rory McIlroy returns home looking to exorcise yet more demons after he missed the cut when the Open was last held here at Portrush in 2019.
The Open: Everything you need to know
When: Thursday 17 July – Sunday 20 July
Where: Royal Portrush Golf Club in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
How to watch: All four rounds from the Open will be shown on Sky Sports Golf or Sky Sports Main Event.
What time: Rounds One and Two from 6.30am till 9.30pm, Round Three from from 11am till 8.30pm, Round Four from 10am till 7.30pm.
The World No2 has not been his brilliant self since winning at Augusta National, but a second-place finish at last week’s Scottish Open will be cause for optimism. The battle this week for McIlroy, though, will be as much between the ears as it is between tee and green.
‘I think he has settled down and played nicely last week, Faldo added. ‘He is here with unbelievable support. They’ve got record crowds who love him but whether he can channel that or whether it’s: ‘Can I have a bit of peace?’ I don’t know.
‘I think he’s going to be very conscious that there is so much going on around him. Obviously he’s going to have unbelievable support, but just because you have support, it doesn’t mean you are going to hit a great golf shot.
‘I bet he can’t wait to just get started. The time between Monday and getting to the Thursday first tee can be the worst. I think he would rather just say: ‘I’m playing fine, I know the golf course. Let me go out there’.
‘The key for him is to just save his mental strength for Thursday morning – let’s just hope he hits a better tee shot than last time.’
Watch live coverage of The 153rd Open from Royal Portrush exclusively on Sky Sports and NOW from Thursday 17 July.
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