The Open: Why it’s time to crown an English champion at Royal Birkdale

According to Data Golf, which measures performance across all tours, only three players are ranked higher than Fleetwood – defending champion Scotty Scheffler, McIlroy and world number three Fitzpatrick.

The 31-year-old has won three times on the PGA Tour this year and shared third place on the links turf at the Renaissance Club at last week’s Scottish Open.

“It’s another confidence booster to bring this week,” Fitzpatrick told BBC Sport.

“It’s the final major of the year, so you’re going to give it a good push.”

The South Yorkshireman has used Birkdale on numerous occasions to build links to preparations for past Opens. But he admitted to being unsure which aspect of his game will be most important this week.

“I’ve played a lot of golf courses, but I can’t put my finger on what it takes,” said the 2022 US Open winner.

“I think the fairways this year look a little bit tighter than most links golf courses. And I think, for me, that’s probably going to play the biggest role.

“I think if you can give yourself a chance to hit the greens, that’s going to be the most important thing.”

English world number one Lee Westwood and Luke Donald have come and gone from the Open without lifting golf’s most historic trophy. Rose is another who climbed to the top of the rankings but didn’t add a home major to his 2013 US Open win.

The 45-year-old came full circle this week to the scene of his fourth-place finish as a 17-year-old amateur in 1998, capped by a thrilling hole-in-one for birdie at the final.

Notably, it stood as his best Open performance for two decades before finishing runner-up to Francesco Molinari at Carnoustie in 2018.

Rose shared runner-up honors again two years ago and continues to challenge for golf’s biggest title. Could this be the year? What a story if he emerges victorious.

But what does it take to do it?

Faldo puts it bluntly. “Guess the bottom line is…I could muster my focus and nerve for four days to finish this,” he messaged when I asked for the secret sauce.

Those are the qualities Rye showed in abundance only last May when Aronimink became the first Englishman to win the US PGA in more than a century.

In 1919, Rye proved Fleetwood right by imitating Jim Burns, and these long-standing records and anomalies could be broken.

Intriguingly, the biggest obstacles to English success are fellow UK players as strong contenders such as McIlroy and Scotland’s Robert McIntyre.

Englishmen Tyrell Hatton and Alex Fitzpatrick are also capable of strong challenges.

So whisper it, while England’s semi-final footballers are giving World Cup fans plenty to get excited about, here on Merseyside the country’s golfers can do something similar.