English players hoping Royal Birkdale will end nation’s long Open drought

English golfers Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick and others are hoping to end a 56-year drought at the Open Championship being held at Royal Birkdale. The last English player to win the Open on English soil was Tony Jacklin on 12 July 1969, when he beat Bob Charles by two strokes at Royal Lytham & St Annes. Nick Faldo won the Open three times after Jacklin, but all his victories came in Scotland, the most recent in 1992.