Sign up for our daily newsletter

Latest news, reviews, analysis and opinion, plus unmissable deals for bunkered subscriptions, events, and our commercial partners.

I found myself in a rather peculiar situation at The Open on Saturday.  

Like so many of my fellow Englishmen, I was rooting for Justin Rose to get over the line at Royal Troon and finally get his hands on that famous old Jug he so desperately craves.  

But it also had me worried.  

Sure, Dan Brown put himself in the mix and I’m delighted that he notched a top-ten to book a spot at Portrush in 12 months, but not even the Yorkshireman’s mum could have convinced us he’ll get over the line. So why does it feel like Rose is the only hope English golf fans have of ending this wretched run at golf’s oldest championship?

When he tees up on the stunning Northern Ireland links next July, it will be 33 (THIRTY-THREE) years since Nick Faldo was crowned Champion Golfer of the Year. For context, since amateur John Ball became the first Englishman to win this grand old tournament in 1890 – which sparked a run that saw 15 of the next 25 Opens why by his compatriots –  the longest wait for an English Open winner was 18 years.

I overheard an incredibly touching moment at Royal Troon when Rose’s caddie, Mark Fulcher, explained that “we haven’t seen the best him yet” in regard to his boss. But even Rose – 44 next week – admits “the clock is ticking” in his race to become a Champion Golfer. 

english open winners
England’s best hope Justin Rose ultimately came up short at Royal Troon. (Credit: Getty Images)

Since Faldo joined the ludicrously exclusive club of being a six-plus-time major champion, the only Englishmen to get the job done on the biggest stage are Rose himself, at the 2013 US Open, Matt Fitzpatrick, at the same tournament nine years later, and Danny Willett, who took full advantage of Jordan Spieth’s meltdown at the 2016 Masters. At The Open, though, it’s just nothing but misery.

Neither Luke Donald nor Lee Westwood – the top-ranked players in the world for a combined 78 weeks in 2011 and ‘12, remember – could get over the line when it mattered. Also from that generation is Ian Poulter and Paul Casey, who, if you had said at their peak would never win a major, would have you laughed out the conversation. 

In that spell when Donald and Westwood were trading the No 1 spot between them, the other three were never far from the top ten. 

Today? Not a single Englishmen in there. And only one in the top 20.

Tommy Fleetwood, who feels a good bet and has a couple of Open top-fives on his CV, is at 13. Fitzpatrick is at 22 and in desperate need of a change in fortunes. Tyrrell Hatton is at 25 and only going in one direction since joining LIV Golf. Rose’s T2 at Troon moves him up from the 60s to 34. Then Aaron Rai, who is having a solid if unspectacular season on the PGA Tour, at 47. And, well, it’s a hell of a leap to Matt Wallace, who sneaks in at 94.  

There’s not a lot to go on there, really. Maybe I, like so many my age, feel incredibly fortunate to have tuned in for the best part of two decades worth of majors where any one of at least five or six of my compatriots could come away clinching that beautiful trophy.    

Now we’re forced to pile the pressure on one man deemed “too nice” and another deemed “too old”.  

Sitting in the media centre at Troon, I even found myself admitting that my next choice of winner would be Billy Horschel, purely on the basis that he describes himself as “very English when it comes to sporting events”. An ardent West Ham fan, he loves football, cricket, and The Darts. If he had seen out his 54-hole lead on Sunday, I’d have certainly claimed it.  

Jokes aside, England is going through its driest spell of top-name stars for as long as I can remember. At a risk of sounding a bit “everything was better back in my day”— well, everything was better back in my day. 

Still, at least our football team is winning plenty of troph… Oh. 

• Through the smiles comes the hurt: The unseen side of Justin Rose’s Open heartache

Scar tissue that I wish you saw

Tiger Woods is in the headlines again – this time because he has been seen in public for the first time without the sleeve that has been hiding the scars on his right leg.

Surprising? Sure. But he’s clearly OK with people seeing it now. What’s more curious is just how shocked people are by the size of the scar, like we’ve forgotten it’s the result of life – and leg – saving surgery following a brutal car accident. 

Tuber Trump

Politics is a funny old thing, isn’t it? We now live in an era where you’re either red or blue and absolutely nothing you can do will change that.

I love that Donald Trump has recorded a video with YouTube star Bryson DeChambeau. I think it’s ace.

But remember when the Republicans used to lay into Barack Obama for hitting the links in his spare time? You can’t have it both ways, guys…

Dunlap of honour

Nick Dunlap has made PGA Tour history by becoming the first player to win as an amateur and a professional in the same season after he added the Barracuda Championship to his CV on Sunday.

He was ranked 4,121st in the world at the start of the year. He’s now comfortably inside the top 50.

Bring on the girls

And so ends another men’s major season and the countdown to the Masters. Remember when I campaigned for The Open in September? Not so silly now, eh?

Still, we’ve got next month’s AIG Women’s Open to look forward to – and it’s being played in St Andrews which will make it even better than it normally is. Oh, and there’s a Solheim Cup shortly after. Don’t cancel your Sky subscription just yet…

And finally…

I finish, as always, with some work from my talented colleagues here at bunkered HQ.

Ben Parsons was busying himself as players came off the course on each day at Royal Troon, and I particularly enjoyed the bits he did with Phil Mickelson and those joggers, Joost Luiten and that Olympics snub, and Xander Schauffele’s caddie on their victory.

Michael McEwan, meanwhile got some great quotes out of Schauffele’s always-entertaining dad, Stefan, while his long list of major-ending thoughts and takeaways is always worth five minutes of your time.

And John Turnbull got to write about a seagull.

Only 262 days until the Masters, folks…


author headshot

Alex Perry is the Associate Editor of bunkered. A journalist for more than 20 years, he has been a golf industry stalwart for the majority of his career and, in a five-year spell at ESPN, covered every sporting event you can think of. He completed his own Grand Slam at the 2023 Masters, having fallen in love with the sport at his hometown club of Okehampton and on the links of nearby Bude & North Cornwall.

Associate Editor

More Reads

Image Turnberry green

The bunkered Golf Course Guide - Scotland

Now, with bunkered, you can discover the golf courses Scotland has to offer. Trust us, you will not be disappointed.

Find Courses