​SOUTHPORT, England – The English are coming! The English are coming!Paul Revere is nowhere to be found but 20 English golfers are in the field this week at the 154th British Open at Royal Birkdale attempting to become the first English champion to have his name etched on the Claret Jug on home soil in 57 years.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNick Faldo was the last English winner of The Open in 1992, while Tony Jacklin remains the last English victor at home back in 1969. This might be the best chance to end “the curse.”“This is the one – certainly for an English player,” said Justin Rose. “It’s been a long time and hopefully I can be the guy to knock off that curse. And you have to say that is exactly what it is, a curse. There’s no getting around how long this has been going on.”Jacklin won his first of two majors at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 1969. Faldo hoisted three Claret Jugs in Scotland, the last of them at Muirfield in 1992.Justin Rose speaks with the media after a practice round ahead of the 2026 British Open at Royal Birkdale.But this year, the English contingency includes three of the top-10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking – Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood and Rose – six players ranked in the top 50 and 11 in the Top 100, a staggering improvement from 25 years ago when there was one.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThat honor belonged to Lee Westwood. He is among the old English guard consisting of Paul Casey, Luke Donald, Ian Poulter and Rose, who won titles big and small, cashed checks for millions, and starred on victorious Ryder Cup teams. But they claimed only one major among them — the 2013 U.S. Open by Rose —and have failed to win The Open.“It’s one of those crazy things that none of them have won The Open,” said Jacklin. “It boggles the mind. It’s hard to believe.”An Englishman has won other majors, including Faldo in 1996 and Danny Willett in 2016 at the Masters, Fitzpatrick at the U.S. Open in 2022 and most recently Aaron Rai at the PGA Championship in May. Rory McIlroy knows how hard it can be to play in front of the home crowd. He flamed out of the 2019 Open at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, missing the cut, but handled the pressure better in his second go-round last year, finishing T-7.“It’s a tough environment,” he said. “It’s a great environment but tough in a way that you just feel the extra expectation on your shoulders, and you feel like you’re trying to play well for everyone else and not for yourself.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNo one will quite face as much pressure as Tommy Fleetwood, the world No. 9, who grew up 5 minutes from Birkdale and is the pride of Southport.Tommy Fleetwoodspeaks with the media after a practice round ahead of the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.“It’s an absolute dream to play here in my hometown in front of people that are all here to support me,” he said. “I’m no different t