British golfers have been conspicuous by their absence from the winners' list in the US Open in modern times, though it surely won't be long before that changes.

In the early days of the tournament it was dominated by immigrant professionals, mainly from Scotland, and Willie Anderson from North Berwick won it four times. He remains the only player with three consecutive victories (1903-4-5).

With winners from overseas almost unheard of, Jersey-born Harry Vardon achieved international fame when, during a hugely successful playing tour, he captured the US Open title in 1900.

It was next won from overseas by another Jersey player, Ted Ray in 1920, and though immigrants like Jim Barnes and Tommy Armour took the prize, in effect that was that for 50 years until Tony Jacklin came along.

Jacklin's reign as one of the world's great golfers was all too brief, but when he was good, he was very good and his performance at Hazeltine in 1970 was his finest hour. Leading the field after a windswept first day, he rode a red-hot putter to a record seven-shot victory.

No British golfer has lifted the US Open trophy since then, but there have been several near-misses, with Nick Faldo losing a play-off to Curtis Strange in 1988 and both Faldo and Ian Woosnam later missing out by one stroke.

Colin Montgomerie remains winless in Majors, but he was never better than in the US Open, losing a play-off to Ernie Els in 1994 and twice failing by just a shot, behind Els in 1997 and Geoff Ogilvy in 2006, when he should have won.

In the hoopla surrounding Tiger Woods' dramatic play-off victory in 2008, the fact that Lee Westwood finished a single stroke in arrears in regulation play was almost forgotten.