With 22 Englishmen in the field, five of whom are currently inside the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking, there has perhaps never been a better opportunity to end the wait for an English winner of The Open Championship, which now stretches back 18 years.
Sir Nick Faldo – a three-time champion, who sandwiched a win at St Andrews in 1990 between his other victories in 1987 and 1992 – was the last Englishman to lift the Claret Jug, when he edged out American John Cook at Muirfield 18 years ago.
Since then, two Englishmen have finished runner-up – Faldo himself in 1993, and Ian Poulter in 2008 – but victory has so far proved elusive.
Poulter is one of four Englishmen in the top ten of the World Ranking in action at St Andrews, where he will be joined by Lee Westwood (third), Luke Donald (seventh) and Paul Casey (tenth).
Of those three it is Westwood who has come closest to tasting Open Championship success, coming within a shot of joining eventual winner Stewart Cink and gallant runner-up Tom Watson in the play-off at Turnberry last year.
Donald finished in a tie for fifth place 12 months ago, whilst Casey’s best performance came at Royal Birkdale the previous year, when he finished joint seventh.
But it is perhaps the exploits of another Englishman, World Number 16 Justin Rose, which encapsulate the unique charm and appeal of The Open Championship.
At Royal Birkdale in 1998, Rose – who comes into this week’s tournament in the form of his life after two victories on the US PGA Tour – finished in a tie for fourth place to win the Silver Medal awarded to the leading amateur.
Memories of that performance were evoked in 2008, when Chris Wood took the Silver Medal after finishing joint fifth, before reinforcing his credentials as a potential star of the future with a tied third finish alongside Westwood on his professional debut last year.
But neither Wood nor Rose can claim to be the youngest player in history to tee up in The Open Championship – that honour belongs instead to another Englishman, Zane Scotland.
Eleven years after making his Open Championship debut as a fresh-faced 16 year old, Scotland will this week make his maiden professional appearance, having successfully negotiated his way through Local Final Qualifying last month.
His compatriot Steven Tiley will also be making his professional debut, having competed as an amateur at Royal Troon in 2004, whilst other Englishmen who will be sampling the special atmosphere of an Open Championship for the first time include his fellow qualifiers Jamie Abbott, Laurie Canter, Tyrell Hatton and Paul Streeter, plus Madrid Masters champion Ross McGowan.
McGowan and his fellow European Tour champions Simon Dyson, Ross Fisher and Simon Khan will be hoping to continue the recent renaissance of English golf, which has seen five Englishmen – Donald, David Horsey, Khan, James Morrison and Poulter – triumph on The 2010 European Tour International Schedule.
In addition, there have been victories on the European Senior Tour this season for Carl Mason, David J Russell, George Ryall and Kevin Spurgeon, whilst on the Challenge Tour their compatriots Charlie Ford, Rankings leader Robert Dinwiddie, Lee Slattery and Sam Walker have all also tasted success.
