England Looking for a Win

Now this is what you call a slump. The last player from England to win the British Open was Nick Faldo in 1992. It’s one thing for a player to be in a slump, but it’s another for a country to take the collar.

“I think we’re very capable,” Luke Donald said. “Majors only come around four times a year.”

Donald, a 25-year-old from Hempstead who turned pro late in 2001 after starring at Northwestern, started playing the PGA Tour full time in 2002 and won the Southern Farm Bureau Classic. He has one top 10 this year.

Colin Montgomerie, 40, was born in Glasgow but lives in England. He said the older British players are far from done, but had to expand the field to include Europeans to make his point.

“Do you think Nick Faldo is coming here to finish second? No. Do you think I have? No. Do you think other people over 40 that have are British? I saw Bernhard Langer in the clubhouse. He’s not British, but very European, and one of us. I don’t think he’s here to finish second; he’s come here to win as well.”

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Fred Couples has a back problem and says it’s hard to bend over.

“My back has always been a problem, but I’ve got a new little spot and it’s worse because I really can’t play,” he said. “But anyway, the main concern is that I just stay loose.

“It just goes out. It’s something I’ve always been able to get back quickly, but not this particular time. So it’s not been much fun.”

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From the Department of Probably Useless Information: Kenny Perry won four of his first 431 tournaments -- and has won three of his last four. Perry has played in one other British Open and missed the cut at Royal Birkdale in 1991.

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Montgomerie is playing in his 14th British Open. His best result was when he tied for eighth at Turnberry in 1994 -- Montgomerie’s only top-10 finish.

He was asked whether he was frustrated.

“No. No, I’m not frustrated at not winning an Open, no, if that’s your question. If I finish my career and haven’t won a major and whatever the case may be, I’ll look back on a very successful time, thank you very much.

“It’s just a matter of crossing that final hurdle that hasn’t been possible to this stage. Who knows? Who knows?”

Monty on the new generation of European players, such as Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose, Paul Casey and Donald versus the establishment.

“Faldo, [Ian] Woosnam, Langer, [Sandy] Lyle, you can’t stay at the top forever. If we did, Muhammad Ali would still be champion, wouldn’t he?”

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If you’re watching the British Open on Sunday, you’ll surely see Alex Harvey of Perth, Scotland, hard at work, just before someone wins the tournament.

Harvey, 78, is the official engraver of the Open championship, a post he has held since 1973, and the person who engraves the champion’s name on the trophy, the Old Claret Jug.

He waits until a signal from Peter Dawson, secretary of the Royal and Ancient, to begin his careful work. There is never a slip-up, Harvey said.

“I don’t make mistakes.”

Harvey said his favorite engraving task was when he put countryman Paul Lawrie’s name on the trophy in 1999. He said he also enjoyed meeting Tom Watson.

“I got used to meeting him. After all, he won it five times.”

Harvey, who began his engraving career in 1939 in Glasgow, says this is probably his last Open.