The Open / The Betfair Contrarian / 14 July 2010 /

It's a long time since Nick Faldo won The Open, the last time an Englishman won the prestigious event. The Betfair Contrarian isn't one to be deterred by stats or history books though and is convinced that an Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood or Paul Casey can come up with the goods.

The statistics regarding English success at major golf tournaments make for grim reading; there hasn't been any since Nick Faldo won the Masters in 1996, and the last English victory at the Open came way back in 1992. The Contrarian in undaunted by the unerring trend of failure, however, and is adamant that this is the year it all changes. Heres why hes backing an Englishman to win at [5.3]...

It's always England's best bet

England's best shot at major success always comes at the Open, where they have delivered more winners since 1945 than they have at the other three showpieces combined. There have been six English triumphs at the event since World War Two, one of which was achieved at St Andrews by Nick Faldo in 1990, compared to three wins at the Masters, one at the US Open and none at the PGA Championship.

England's elite are knocking on the door

The recent record of English golfers at the Open indicates that it is just a matter of time before one finds that little extra and gets to take home the Claret Jug. In 2008, Ian Poulter got the better of everyone bar Padraig Harrington and even though he had a disappointing time at Turnberry last year, the English challenge was stronger than ever as both Lee Westwood and Chris Wood were just a shot shy of top two Stewart Cink and Tom Watson, with Luke Donald just one behind.

There's no reason why they shouldn't compete

A glance at the latest world golf rankings shows that England's top-ten presence is equal to that of the USA and greater than any other nation. There are four English representatives towards the top of the charts with world number three Westwood, Donald, Poulter and Paul Casey. No other country besides the USA can boast of having more than one player in the top ten.

The American challenge is dwindling...

USA are the [3.15] favourites to provide this year's winner, as they have done in 11 of the last 15 years, but their two big guns are both hard to justify backing. Masters champion Phil Mickelson has never The Open and has also never won two in the same season (he won the Masters earlier this year). The world number two has finished in the top ten just once at the Open, tying for 60th the last time it was held at St Andrews in 2005. Tiger Woods, meanwhile, hasnt been the same since returning from hiatus and has gone over two years without winning a major. Whereas before both the Masters and US Open, his friends were talking up his form, even his caddie Steve Williams has today admitted that his putting is very sub-standard.

...causing English confidence to grow

2008 runner-up Poulter has spoken with remarkable assurance this week about how the opportune moment for English golfers to consistently challenge for and claim major glory is now. He said: The American guys who have won all the tournaments over the past few years are getting older. Mickelson is 40. Can he do what Vijay Singh did in his 40s? He's strong enough; it's whether he is hungry enough, I guess. The talent to replace them is very young and needs a bit more experience, so we have a 15-year window. In five years' time we should have taken a few majors. I don't want to put a number on it but the guys that are in the top 40 in the world are all capable of winning them. It's for us to go out there and prove it but we can certainly win one or two a year, for sure.

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