No-one needs reminding how long it is since England won football's World Cup, but it is notable that a similarly long period has passed since an English golfer triumphed at an Open staged in his home country.

Tony Jacklin lifted the Claret Jug at Royal Lytham in 1969, just three years after Bobby Moore hoisted the Jules Rimet Trophy at Wembley.

Since then Sir Nick Faldo has been the only English winner of The Open, with all three of his victories (1987, 90 and 92) coming in Scotland.

There have been the Scottish successes of Sandy Lyle (1985) and Paul Lawrie (1999) as well as Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy claiming the crown at Hoylake in 2014.

But an English winner in England is long overdue. And this week's championship on the parched fairways of Royal Birkdale offers surely one of the best prospects for this form of drought to finally end.

No-one has won more tournaments on the PGA Tour this year than Sheffield's Matt Fitzpatrick. Tommy Fleetwood is a world class local hero. Veteran Justin Rose returns to where it all began and Wolverhampton's Aaron Rai has already shown major winning form this year.

Fleetwood agrees that the lack of English success on home soil is an extraordinary sporting anomaly. "I think so because we've a had a lot of good golfers over the years," the world number nine told BBC Sport.

"We've had plenty of guys who've been close, but all runs have to come to an end some time," he added with a smile.

Fleetwood's form this year has been solid rather than spectacular, but The Open coming back to the Southport area for the 11th time has long been circled in his diary.

Indeed, the notion that he could land his first major title around the corner from where he grew up is irresistible.

"Playing an Open at Birkdale is something that is always going to be very, very special and sit on a pedestal for anybody from Southport," Fleetwood said.

"I'd probably take that and not hit another golf shot.

"I'd take that very happily. That's the ultimate, right? That's like Mount Everest, you know, winning an Open at Birkdale.

"I'm fully aware of just being here, at an Open at Birkdale when I was an eight-year-old kid. And there are going to be thousands of kids here this week with that dream of just having the opportunity to play in an Open.

"I can't forget that and I can't forget to enjoy that."

In 2017, the last time the event was played on this magnificent links on the Merseyside coast, Fleetwood battled superbly after a nervous start to make an Open cut for the first time.

Two years later he was runner up to Shane Lowry at Royal Portrush before finishing joint fourth at St Andrews in 2022 and posting another top 10 after a brilliant start that was loudly cheered by more north-west England locals at Hoylake.

According to Data Golf, which measures performance across all tours, only three players are ranked higher than Fleetwood - defending champion Scottie Scheffler, McIlroy and world number three Fitzpatrick.

The 31-year-old has won three times on the PGA Tour this year and shared third place on the links turf of the Renaissance Club at last week's Scottish Open.

"It's another confidence booster to bring into this week," Fitzpatrick told BBC Sport.

"It's the final major of the year, so you're going to give it a good push."

The South Yorkshireman has used Birkdale on many occasions to hone links preparations for past Opens. But he admits to being unsure over what aspect of his game will be most vital this week.

"I've played the golf course a lot, but I can't put my finger on what necessarily is needed," said the 2022 US Open winner.

"I feel like the fairways this year look a little bit tighter than most links golf courses. And I think for me, that's probably going to play the biggest part into it.

"I think if you can give yourself opportunities to hit the greens, that's going to be the most important thing."

English world number ones Lee Westwood and Luke Donald have come and gone from Opens without lifting golf's most historic trophy. Rose is another to scale the top of the rankings but has not added a home major to his 2013 US Open victory.

The 45-year-old comes full circle this week to the scene of his fourth placed finish as a 17-year-old amateur in 1998, which was capped by a sensational hole out for birdie at the last.

Remarkably it then stood as his best Open performance for two decades before charging through the field to finish runner-up to Francesco Molinari at Carnoustie in 2018.

Rose shared runner-up honours again two years ago and continues to challenge for golf's biggest titles. Could this be the year? What a story it would be were he to emerge victorious.

But what does it take to do that?

Faldo puts it bluntly. "Guess the bottom line is…I could keep my focus and nerve all four days to finish it off," he messaged when I asked for the secret sauce.

Those were characteristics Rai showed in abundance only last May to become the first Englishman win the US PGA in more than a century at Aronimink.

Rai emulating Jim Barnes in 1919 proves Fleetwood correct, these longstanding records and anomalies can be broken.

Excitingly, among the biggest obstacles to English success are fellow UK players because the likes of McIlroy and Scotland's Robert MacIntyre are also strong contenders.

Englishmen Tyrrell Hatton and Alex Fitzpatrick are also capable of mounting strong challenges.

So whisper it, while England's semi-final reaching footballers are giving World Cup fans plenty to be excited about, here on Merseyside the country's golfers might do something similar.