Six-time major winner Sir Nick Faldo remains the last Englishman to taste victory at The Open.
But as the 153rd edition begins at Royal Portrush on Thursday, it is a Northern Irishman who will carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.
7
Hometown hero Rory McIlroy is chasing another fairytale after finally completing the career grand slam at the Masters.
The world no.2 finished second at the Scottish Open on Sunday and broke the course record around this track when he was just 16.
But his 2019 homecoming turned into a nightmare with a quad-bogey eight on the first hole, ending his hopes of success before they had even begun.
McIlroy will try to channel memories of his electrifying second-round 65 and learn from his experiences in pursuit of a fairytale win.
Motivation has been an issue in recent months – but that will not be lacking this week – and he is still trying to go down as the greatest European golfer in history.
Most would argue that Faldo and Seve Ballesteros stand in his way – and we asked Faldo whether McIlroy can surpass him with a victory this week.
“That could always be debated on the numbers,” Faldo told talkSPORT.com. “But I think what he’s done and the number of tournaments he wins. The rareness, the uniqueness, being the sixth man to win the Grand Slam. I would put him past me. Whether you want to battle against Seve…
“I think what he’s done is phenomenal. You know, with the majors, the Grand Slam and the number of tournaments he’s won on the European Tour and in America is amazing.
“I think Seve paved the way in so many different things. So I’d put him smidgen behind Seve right now.”
Competition for McIlroy will be fierce – with world no.1 Scottie Scheffler the overwhelming favourite – and England’s Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrell Hatton among those trying to break the curse dating back to Faldo’s triumph in 1992.
7
Faldo, who will be working as an analyst for Sky Sports throughout the championship, helped us dissect each big name and their chances of winning….
Rory McIlroy
“It would be absolutely incredible [if he won this week]. He has the opportunity to go into a different category.
“We’ve been a little unfair. Rory wins the Grand Slam. So that’s uncharted. So how are you meant to react? Nobody knows how you’re meant to react. And now I think he’s settled down. He played nicely last week.
“He’s here with unbelievable support. He’s got record crowds who love him, whether that’s he can channel it or whether it’s, ‘Can I have a bit of peace?’ I don’t know. He shot out this morning at six o’clock on Monday to get out and do some work, play his practice round.
“So I think he’s going to be very conscious that there’s so much going on around him. If he can get inside the ropes and starts off nicely, obviously he’s going to have unbelievable support.
7
“But just because you’ve got support doesn’t mean… You’ve got to do all the work as a golfer and you and your caddie are going to have to work hard.
“I don’t know whether the support is going to be a help or hindrance, to be really honest.
“I think he’d rather just say, I’m playing fine. I know the golf course. Let me go. Let me get out there.
“Hopefully he hits a better tee shot than last time.”
Justin Rose
“Rosey is the most obvious choice for an English winner, isn’t he? After what he did at Augusta and he was in with the shout, he was around last year.
“It’s a great golf course, the wind, we’re probably going to talk a lot about the wind all week and there’s a lot of good thinking and good decision-making on club selection and assessing the wind and that sort of thing. And I think Rosey has a pretty good formula on that.
7
Tommy Fleetwood
“It’s just a mental strength, isn’t it? Finishing it off, you know, when you haven’t and you doubt it a little bit because he’s been close a few times in America. That’s one of his goals to win in America. He had a great opportunity, but he hit a poor shot, that wedge shot.
“So that will irk him. If he learns from it… that’s the thing, you’ve got to remember. You’ve got to put yourself in situations like that to learn from the experience.
“If he discovers something technically he did or mentally, whatever it was, that caused that bad shot, maybe it makes you a better golfer. You can deal with it.
“The only thing Tommy struggles with – he hits a draw all the time. And if he goes off a little bit, he overdraws it and he doesn’t really have a great fade shot, which I think… this is such a great golf course. We change direction on so many holes here.
“So I think you need to have that ability [to fade it]. I don’t think a one-dimensional player will win this week. I think you’re going to have the ability to work the golf ball, especially high and low. You could get a lot of crosswinds here.
“I think that’s where he’s probably lacking, that he doesn’t have the fade that he can really trust.”
7
Tyrrell Hatton
“He has a different approach, doesn’t he? If you look at all the major champions, very few of them have beaten themselves up mid-round over shots.
“Whether he finds that helpful, whether it’s part of his act in a way… because we always say the best ability is, look at Scheffler’s ability to just delete and move on.
“Whether he does do that, I don’t know. Whether he has a little rant for 10 seconds, which is fine, entertaining, and if you’re completely clear ready for the next shot, great, but you kind of doubt it.”
Robert MacIntyre
“I think what happened in the US Open was big for him. Suddenly he had a chance where he thought, oh, I could win this. I was watching from afar and, after day two, I thought, oh, two over could win this. You’ve got guys at five under, but we all know the US Open, everybody comes back in the weekend.
“I bet he thought that for a moment. So that probably was good for him. I bet he had a good couple of hours when he thought, ‘I could do this’. So that’s a different feeling in your body and your mind, isn’t it?
“It’s going to be nice temperature, but we’re going to get plenty of bad weather, aren’t we? We’re going to get wind and rain and all sorts of things. So, it’s got to suit the Scottish and Irish boys this week. We’re used to playing in that.
“It’s a different wind. It’s such a heavy wind here being on the coast. You’ve got to know what you’re doing and how to do it.”
7
Scottie Scheffler
“Scottie is a very natural fader of the golf ball, isn’t he? And then he struggles.
“His draws have to be seriously manufactured. This is a serious wind – it will knock the hell out of the golf ball. You have to have a different ball flight.
“He came over last week, he got over jet lag, everything got acclimatised. He’s such a great thinker on the golf course, but whether he will struggle with it, if the weather was rough, we shall see.
“But if the weather was nice, yeah, he’s got to be a serious contender.”
Bryson DeChambeau
“I remember when he said he was going to attack the links and I don’t believe you can attack the links. You’ve got to really respect pot bunkers and the rough, just because you can hit it out there… If there’s pot bunkers and you popped it in one of them, what a waste.
“So you’ve got to play strategy golf. You’ve got to go, I know I can hit it there for safety. Just because you think, oh, I can bomb it down there at 350, you touch this rough, it doesn’t matter.
“If you’ve got 100 yards of a wedge in your hand, that thing might go 20 yards left. So you’ve got to really respect your landing areas, play to all the safe landing areas.
7
“You’ve got to be safe off the tee and then you can move it forward. He got away with it at Pinehurst because it was so much sand and he played brilliantly from it, but you can’t get away with it here, can you?
“Pot bunkers, you’re coming out backwards or sideways. And then the rough is, you know, it’s brutal. You’ve got to play smart golf, not mega aggressive golf, I believe.”
Listen to live coverage of The 153rd Open from Royal Portrush, starting at 7am on Thursday!
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
