The 138th Open, Turnberry
Date: 16-19 July
Coverage: Live TV coverage on BBC Two, Online and the Red Button, live on Radio 5 Live and text commentary online on all four days

By Ged Scott BBC Sport at Turnberry

Faldo claimed his third Open win at Muirfield in 1992

It is 84 years since an Englishman last won an Open Championship on the west coast of Scotland when Jim Barnes from Cornwall took the title in 1925 at Prestwick.

And in 10 attempts since, seven of them at Troon and three at Turnberry, there has not been another English success on this prized stretch of links-strewn Scottish coastline.

Admittedly there was Nick Price, who prevailed at the last Open here in 1994.

The 52-year-old may not have returned to Turnberry this week, preferring to give up his spot to a younger model, but he does have an English mother and admits his proudest moment was driving to Norfolk after his victory to show her the claret jug.

Essentially, though, there have been only nine English winners of the Open since Barnes in 1925.

And, given that there are only 22 Englishmen in the field for the 138th Open Championship, and that one of the other competitors has 14 majors to his name in 12 years, it further illustrates how hard it is to come up with an English winner.

The last was Nick Faldo, who claimed the last of his three Opens at Muirfield, his second victory there, in 1992.

And the six-time major winner, who did not play at Birkdale last year to concentrate on his role as Ryder Cup captain, is here this week to take part in his 96th major hoping purely and simply to still be in contention come Saturday morning when he celebrates his 52nd birthday.

If, despite his old rival Greg Norman's heroics at Royal Birkdale a year ago, Faldo is not to be considered a serious contender, then neither are the little-known band of Englishmen who came through Local Final Qualifying last week.

Baker will be hoping to improve on his best ever Open finish of 15th

One of them, 41-year-old former Ryder Cup player Peter Baker, who qualified in second place at Gailes Links, does at least have some pedigree - even if the last of his three European Tour victories was way back in 1993.

This will be Wolverhampton man's 14th Open and he has missed the cut more times than he has made it, his best finish being tied for 15th, nine shots behind the winner Mark O'Meara at Birkdale in 1998.

The three other Englishmen to come through Local Final Qualifying at Western Gailes - Wiltshire's Steve Surry, 27, (Cumberwell Park), Hertfordshire's Tom Haylock, 22, (The Hertfordshire) and Manchester's Daniel Wardrop, 25, (Didsbury) are all rank outsiders heading into the unknown as they play their first Open.

So too is Buckinghamshire's Jeremy Kavanagh, 29, another member of the satellite EuroPro Tour.

He was one of the first to book his place when he flew to South Africa and secured one of the three spots on offer in Durban at the African section of International Final Qualifying. Kavanagh warmed up with a practice round on Tuesday in the unlikely company of two former Turnberry Open winners, 1977 champion Tom Watson and the 1986 winner Greg Norman, but can even their influence have rubbed off on him?

The three men to come through the European International Final Qualifying section last month are Graeme Storm, Oliver Fisher and Paul Broadhurst, the man who has the dubious pleasure of striking the first ball of this year's Championship at 0630 BST on Thursday.

Paul Broadhurst will tee off the 138th Open Championship on Thursday

Broadhurst, 43, is another former Ryder Cup man and still jointly holds the record for the lowest-ever Open round with his third round 63 at St Andrews in 1990.

He finished 12th that year and matched that placing at Carnoustie in 2007 when he tied with Tiger Woods.

Hartlepool man Storm, 31, has been rated one of the next Englishmen to make the breakthrough but has done so in only one event, the 2007 French Open.

At only 20 years of age, Fisher, from Essex, is one of whom great things are still expected, having been heralded by Faldo as one of the future big names of English golf.

Nick Dougherty, the 27-year-old from Liverpool, is another to have come under Sir Nick's wing on his rise through the game, gets in on account of his recent form.

Anthony Wall, the 34-year-old son of a London cabbie, is here as a result of the consistent form he has shown over the past three years, having twice finished in the European Tour top 30, despite his only win having come as far back as the Alfred Dunhill in 2000.

And Hull's Richard Finch is another who enjoyed a top-30 finish in last year's Order of Merit.

Bristol's Chris Wood will hope to repeat his extraordinary form of last year

The Belfry's Rob Rock, 32, qualifies as a result of his current high placing in the European Tour's Race to Dubai. Bristol youngster Chris Wood, 21, returns for another crack as a result of his extraordinary joint fifth-placed finish a year ago.

Swindon's David Howell, 34, will be looking to improve on an Open record of six missed cuts in 10 appearances as he fights his way back after a three years plagued by injury. Former Hampshire amateur Justin Rose, still only 28, will be seeking to address a slide that has seen him slip outside the world top 50, having been ranked 19th at the end of 2008.

That only leaves the six Englishmen occupying the current World Top 50 who must consider themselves as being in with a shout this week.

Nottinghamshire boasts two of them, 47th-placed Oliver Wilson and 17th-placed Lee Westwood.

Mansfield's Wilson 28, was so close to making the big breakthrough in 2008 when he had five second-placed finishes. And Worksop's Lee Westwood, 36, who challenged Tiger Woods so strongly for his last major at the 2008 US Open, is clearly in form having been the "nearly man" two weeks running on the European Tour.

That reflects on his odds as joint third favourite at 25/1 behind hot 9/4 favourite Woods, once again his playing partner for the first two days, and 20/1 second-favourite Sergio Garcia.

On the same 25/1 shot mark is Hertfordshire's Ian Poulter, 33, ranked 18th in the world and another Ryder Cup man considered in waiting for a major, especially after challenging so strongly a year ago at Birkdale only to finish tied for second.

Another Hertfordshire-born, US college-educated man Luke Donald, 31, and currently ranked 28th in the world, will again surely figure.

There are also high hopes for Surrey's Ross Fisher after his challenge at last month's US Open.

The man from Wentworth, 28, ultimately faded to finish fifth, but he has to be the better for the experience.

And that leaves only the claims of England's highest-world ranked golfer, Paul Casey, to consider.

Cheltenham-born Casey, 31, currently has only Woods and Phil Mickelson ahead of him in the world rankings and is having his best-ever year with wins already in the Middle East, the United States and at Europe's flagship PGA Championship at Wentworth in May.

As a result, he will perhaps have the most weight of expectation on his shoulders when he tees off early on Thursday afternoon looking to become only the third Englishman to win the Open in the last 50 years.

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