The Euros, Wimbledon, the Open — England has hosted some big sporting parties so far this summer, although a home triumph has been the missing ingredient.
Perhaps Lewis Hamilton will change that on Sunday at Silverstone. At Sandwich the likelihood is that golf will be added to the list of those where it is not coming home.
Not after a day at the Open when the domestic challenge never quite fired up in the way that would have been hoped, despite the urgings of the 32,000 spread around Royal St George’s.
The Open is yet another event that likely isn't coming home after English golfers didn't fire up
Despite Paul Casey (pictured) and Andy Sullivan ending five under, they're way off the pack
Paul Casey and the less heralded Andy Sullivan ended at five under to maintain a vague sniff of glory on Sunday, but it will take a fairly dramatic switch around for either to grasp the Claret Jug.
Almost all the big guns in English golf had survived the cut, but none could quite make a move. Perhaps we should not be too surprised, as the most prominent names have long since specialised in consistency rather than outright glory.
There are seven English players currently in the world’s top 50 who have enjoyed what are, in most ways, enviable careers and certainly lucrative ones. Between them they have played 372 majors, including this week, but the only win in that total remains Justin Rose’s 2013 US Open triumph.
Despite recording a birdie on the seventh hole, Justin Rose just could not get a run going
By Sunday night Lee Westwood will have completed 88 of them, setting the record for the most entered without a victory. Danny Willett, past Masters champion but currently outside the top 100, briefly excited hopes of a surge when he eagled the 10th, but he reverted back to four under by the end.
Rose began on Saturday at three under with hopes of making a serious move, but after a birdie on the seventh could not get a
