Why it's time for The Open to crown an English winner

Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Tommy Fleetwood grew up round the corner from Royal Birkdale and has admitted to sneaking on to play a couple of times when he was a child By Iain Carter Golf correspondent at Royal Birkdale Published 9 minutes ago No-one needs reminding how long it is since England won football's World Cup, but it is notable that a similarly long period has passed since an English golfer triumphed at an Open staged in his home country. Tony Jacklin lifted the Claret Jug at Royal Lytham in 1969, just three years after Bobby Moore hoisted the Jules Rimet Trophy at Wembley. Since then Sir Nick Faldo has been the only English winner of The Open, with all three of his victories (1987, 90 and 92) coming in Scotland. There have been the Scottish successes of Sandy Lyle (1985) and Paul Lawrie (1999) as well as Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy claiming the crown at Hoylake in 2014. But an English winner in England is long overdue. And this week's championship on the parched fairways of Royal Birkdale offers surely one of the best prospects for this form of drought to finally end. No-one has won more tournaments on the PGA Tour this year than Sheffield's Matt Fitzpatrick. Tommy Fleetwood is a world class local hero. Veteran Justin Rose returns to where it all began and Wolverhampton's Aaron Rai has already shown major winning form this year. The Open Championship tee-times: Rounds one and two Published 17 hours ago Last Chance Qualifier Dean seals final Open spot Published 18 hours ago Gambling contributing to abuse of golfers - Fitzpatrick Published 13 hours ago Winning an Open at Birkdale 'the ultimate' Fleetwood agrees that the lack of English success on home soil is an extraordinary sporting anomaly. "I think so because we've a had a lot of good golfers over the years," the world number nine told BBC Sport. "We've had plenty of guys who've been close, but all runs have to come to an end some time," he added with a smile. Fleetwood's form this year has been solid rather than spectacular, but The Open coming back to the Southport area for the 11th time has long been circled in his diary. Indeed, the notion that he could land his first major title around the corner from where he grew up is irresistible. "Playing an Open at Birkdale is something that is always going to be very, very special and sit on a pedestal for anybody from Southport," Fleetwood said. "I'd probably take that and not hit another golf shot. "I'd take that very happily. That's the ultimate, right? That's like Mount Everest, you know, winning an Open at Birkdale. "I'm fully aware of just being here, at an Open at Birkdale when I was an eight-year-old kid. And there are going to be thousands of kids here this week with that dream of just having the opportunity to play in an Open. "I can't forget that and I can't forget to enjoy that." In 2017, the last time the event was played on this magnificent links on the Merseyside coast, Fleetwood battled superbly after a ne