Nick Westby: Rose looks England’s only hope of ending barren run in majors

The US Open at Merion is swiftly followed by the Open at Muirfield and then the final big one of the year – ‘glory’s last shot’ as it is billed – the PGA Championship at Oak Hill.

Tiger Woods, who is back on top of the world rankings with four wins to his name this season, is favourite for all of them.

Indeed, such has been his form this season, allied with the fact that he looks closer than ever to the man that swept all before him with the unflappable aura of invincibility a decade ago, it is hard to imagine him not winning one of the remaining three this summer and so ending a five-year hiatus outside the major winner’s enclosure.

Away from Woods there are numerous other contenders.

Adam Scott has the season’s first career-defining honour in his possession after his memorable win at Augusta.

Now he has the major monkey off his back, can he add to his Masters crown?

Brandt Snedeker may not be in the same form he showed pre-Masters but at this week’s 
US Open, when putting is so crucial, an American who on some days sinks everything he looks at, has to be fancied.

Matt Kuchar won recently on the PGA Tour and is generally there or thereabouts in a major.

The man I always look for, at a US Open particularly, is Phil Mickelson. Old ‘Lefty’ has been close numerous times to his national title but never quite crossed the line. Although no longer the consistent force he was, he still has the ability to show rare flashes of the old brilliance.

Then there are Dustin Johnson, Nick Watney, Bubba Watson – all players you could make a case for at Merion this week.

The South African duo of Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen are always worth a look, no matter what the course or the conditions.

If by this stage you are noting a theme then pat yourself on the back, because I have not mentioned a European name yet.

From the men who staged the ‘Miracle at Medinah’ last autumn to the dozens who will contest the majors this summer, I am struggling to find many who are in the form to challenge, let alone win.

Rory McIlroy is a shadow of the man that won a US Open and a PGA in the last two years at a canter. Persisting with Nike irons that do not appear as good as the leading golf brands, regardless of how much they pay him, has stalled his progress this season.

His relationship with Caroline Wozniacki, for me, has no effect on his game, though critics use it as a stick with which to beat him.

But his decision to switch management groups again has led to questions being rasied about how much of his mind is taken up by things off the course.

The beauty of McIlroy, though, is how quickly it can turn. I remember writing similar things about him 12 months ago when he missed four cuts in five tournaments.

Then in late summer he won three times in America, including that runaway success at Kiawah Island in the PGA.

However, when I saw him up close at our PGA Championship at Wentworth two weeks ago, when the wind and rain lashed at his body, he looked like he wished he was anywhere but Surrey.

McIlroy has time on his side. Before the dominant era of Woods, even he had fallow years, like 1998.

Where McIlroy can afford to be patient, the two Englishmen who always attract a lot of attention are Luke Donald and Lee Westwood.

Neither is in the form of two years ago when they traded places at the top of the world rankings.

Donald missed the cut at Wentworth like McIlroy, and told the assembled media after an opening 78 that “the cold got to him”. I’m not a fan of the term “ah bless” but what else applies in response to such an excuse?

Westwood continues to flatter to deceive. Just when you think he is on the verge of a big title as he was at Wentworth two weeks ago, he squanders a lead and self-destructs.

He says his putting and short game – for so long his Achilles heel – are improving, but repeatedly they fail to stand up to the harshest of spotlights that a major casts.

Ian Poulter is in rank bad form. Sergio Garcia was playing well but then engulfed his game in a race row involving Woods.

Since the long barren spell without a major between 2000 and 2006, Europe has produced a champion in each of the last six years, except 2009.

This year it is hard to make a case for that run extending, unless a largely unheralded but in-form player – like Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen or Italy’s Matteo Manassero – emerge from the pack with a magical week.

Otherwise, for me, only two of the continent’s best stand out as potential major winners this summer – Graeme McDowell and Justin Rose.

McDowell is one of those rare things in European golf, a player who knows how to win a major.

His victory at Pebble Beach three years ago transformed his own, and external, perceptions about his game to the extent that he nearly went and won the 
US Open again last year.

After winning on both tours in the last month or so, expect him to challenge.

And Rose looks and sounds content with his game at present. He has the big-game pedigree and the patience to mount a sustained challenge. Of the English contingent, he would be my tip to end what has been a 17-year wait for a major champion.

For me, it is about the mental side of the game when it comes down to winning a major.

Knowing when to attack a course, when to respect it and staying calmest under pressure are the factors that separate winners from losers.

It will be intriguing to see who uses their head best over the golfing summer.

and another thing...

Two men worthy of close attention over the next month or so are Yorkshire players at opposite ends of their tennis careers.

Sheffield’s Jonny Marray and Beverley’s Kyle Edmund both head into the grass court season looking to solidify their reputations.

Marray, 32, produced the underdog tale of 2012, casting aside his journeyman tag to rise above himself and win the Wimbledon doubles title with Denmark’s Freddie Nielsen.

Now, a year on, the first British male to call himself a Wimbledon champion for three-quarters of a century, begins building up to a title defence at Queen’s this week.

While Marray is a late bloomer, 18-year-old Edmund hopes to continue his blossoming in the boys’ singles. The powerful right-hander is one of the more highly regarded of British tennis’s young guns and a future antidote to the inevitable questions about how the Lawn Tennis Association invest their money.

Edmund reached the quarter-finals of the boys’ singles at the French Open last week and is a former 
US Open semi-finalist as well.

In his final summer before committing to the senior tour full-time, winning Wimbledon would be a memorable way to go out.