I can end long wait for English champion, says Justin Rose

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In terms of strength in depth, England has never been better represented in the world rankings with five players — Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Rose — in the top 16.

However, a sad fact of history is that no English player has won one of the four annual major tournaments since Sir Nick Faldo claimed his sixth title at the Masters in 1996.

And the last English winner of the Open was also Faldo, at Muirfield way back in 1992. According to Rose, that victory drought could come to an end at the conclusion of the fourth and final round. The 29-year-old, brimming with confidence after taking two victories in the space of a month on the US PGA Tour, said: "I fully expect one of us to be in contention on Sunday.

"Numerically you look at the world rankings and the opportunity for us is probably better than ever. Just using that as a basis, I think one of us will be in contention on Sunday afternoon."

Of all the English challengers at St Andrews, Rose faces a test unique to himself in that he will partner world No1 Tiger Woods for the first and second rounds.

For a lot of players, teeing it up alongside the winner of the last two Opens hosted by these Scottish links in 2000 and 2005 would present an intimidating prospect, especially in light of the furore surrounding Woods and the sex scandals that have turned the American's private life upside-down.

But Rose insisted he is looking forward to Woods's company and he revealed that Tiger is, in fact, a pussycat. He said: "Playing with Tiger has never been a problem. He's very courteous. If you hit great shots, he always compliments them."

Of greater concern to Rose is the weather. He was out practising on the Old Course at 8am this morning and reported: "The last four or five holes coming in were crazy, with the proper sideways rain that everybody dreads.

"But that made it valuable practice. It was a good hour spent getting to know what's possible and what's not possible in terms of the shots you can hit and what you can get away with."