Daily Junction.mobi portalSports · July 16, 2026 · Tom Bennett · 1 min
English players hoping Royal Birkdale will end nation's long Open drought. A sports report — sourced from Guardian Sport.
England's long wait for a home winner of The Open Championship could end at Royal Birkdale this week, with a cohort of English players occupying the top of the world rankings and the course set up in conditions that favour the home contingent.
No English golfer has won The Open on English soil since Tony Jacklin at Royal Lytham in 1969, a drought of 57 years that has become one of the more peculiar statistics in British sport. Nick Faldo won three Opens, but all of them in Scotland. Justin Rose, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, the English stars of the past generation, all came close but never lifted the Claret Jug.
The current generation has a better chance than any since Faldo's prime. Tommy Fleetwood, who grew up playing the Lancashire links, is the world number three and the bookmakers' favourite. Matt Fitzpatrick, the 2025 US Open champion, has the game to contend in any conditions. And Tyrrell Hatton, the combustible but brilliant Ryder Cup star, has been in the best form of his career.
Royal Birkdale, one of the most demanding links courses in the world, is in immaculate condition. The fairways are firm and fast, the rough is thick and penal, and the forecast for the week is for the kind of blustery, changeable weather that defines Open Championship golf. The course will demand patience, precision and the ability to adapt to conditions that can change from hole to hole.
The Open has not produced an English winner since Faldo in 1992. The drought is a curiosity rather than a crisis, but it has begun to weigh on the national golfing psyche. This week, more than any in recent memory, offers the chance to end it.