England expects but don’t expect one particular Englishman to reappear at this July’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
Nick Faldo enjoyed a St Andrews swansong in golf’s oldest major back in 2015 and is not tempted to emerge from retirement when the championship returns to the Southport links where he made his debut in the event back in 1976.
“No, no, no,” he said adamantly on a conference call to promote the 146th championship. “I had such a great send off at St Andrews, I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I was on the bridge, I’d just birdied the 17th, I had the original Pringle jumper on. It was my 100th major so it all made sense. I’m still very happy to have called it a day there.”
Faldo remains the last Englishman to win the Open with his victory at Muirfield in 1992, which was the third Claret Jug of his shimmering career. Hopes continue to rise that the current crop can bridge this 25 year title gap and Faldo is confident too.
“Justin Rose is definitely a serious contender, he's a major Champion, he came up short at the Masters and he’ll be hugely inspired coming to Birkdale,” said Faldo of the Masters runner-up who famously claimed a share of fourth as a teenage amateur in the 1998 Open at Birkdale. “We’ve got Justin, Tommy Fleetwood, Paul Casey. Maybe this is the time for the 25 year run to end?”
Faldo had a chance to win the 1983 Open at Birkdale but “blew up” on the back nine after briefly taking the lead on the final day. It was a learning curve which would stand him in good stead for future conquests, though. His 1992 victory at Muirfield swiftly sprung to his mind. “I had a four shot lead, everything was going well, and then I frittered it all away,” he reflected. “And then I had that moment when I looked at the leaderboard on the 14th green and I was two back. So that was going to be my major that I had absolutely blown, and I would have probably been scarred from it somehow. I said to myself ‘right, forget everything, absolutely everything, You've got four holes to play, you'd better play the best four of your life'. And I just about did.”
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