By Matt Slater Golf editor

Claret Jugs? Check. Green Jackets? Check. Ryder Cups? Checkedy check. US Open titles? Erm....no.

Europe appears to be as comfortable with USGA courses as it is with new constitutions.

Jacklin's seven-shot win in 1970 is as good as it gets for European golf

The one honourable exception to this woeful record is Tony Jacklin's run-away win at Hazeltine in 1970.

Prior to that, no European had had a sniff since Tommy Armour's victory in 1927.

So that's two US Open wins in 78 years for the Old World - not great when you think British-born golfers won it every year from 1895 to 1910.

Since then nativism has been the watchword for the golfing calendar's second major, although South Africans have been making inroads of late.

As the European contingent has grown with each passing year - 24 make the trip this time - so has the sense of frustration.

Seve Ballesteros, a winner of five majors including two Masters, went close-ish three times in five years in the mid-1980s - the nearest being a third place behind Scott Simpson and Tom Watson in 1987.

That same year Bernhard Langer, another two-time Masters champion, finished in a tie for fourth. A European victory appeared to be a matter of time.

In 1988, Nick Faldo lost a play-off to Curtis Strange at Brookline. But that would be the closest the Englishman would ever get to adding the US Open to his three Open and three Masters titles in 18 visits to the June major.

A play-off defeat in 1988 was as close as Nick Faldo ever got

The following year, Strange held off Welshman Ian Woosnam to scoop his second straight US Open crown.

The next four years were depressingly similar as Europe's challenge either melted in the American summer or got lost in the USGA's notorious rough.

There was one shaft of light in 1992 and that was the third-place finish of a then 28-year-old Colin Montgomerie on his US Open debut.

Monty's US Open misses would go on to become a feature of US Opens in the mid-1990s, and in many ways they define the Scot's career as much as his Ryder Cup heroics.

A play-off defeat to Ernie Els followed in 1994 before the South African pipped him once more at Congressional in 1997.

A missed four-footer for par on the 17th did for Montgomerie's chances that time, and he has never been in genuine contention for a major since.

Recent years at the US Open have not been kind to other Europeans either.

The last seven US Opens have been humdrum affairs for followers of European golf.

This missed putt at Congressional's 17th did for Monty in 1997

Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez claimed a share of second at Pebble Beach in 2000, but as he was 15 shots behind Tiger Woods' winning score he can hardly say he was ever in a position to win.

So will this year be any different? Perhaps.

Many Europeans play full-time in the US these days, and even more have taken advantage of special exemptions and sponsors' invites to play in the States in the weeks before the American majors.

This means the old excuses about the heat and how different the courses are should no longer apply.

But what remains to be seen from the current crop of European talent is whether they can handle the heat of contending for a major down the stretch.

No major title of any flavour has been won by a European since 1999, when Jose Maria Olazabal won the Masters and Paul Lawrie took the Open.