Tony Jacklin’s win is still the finest ever by a Brit

One of the biggest regrets of my career is that I never got the opportunity to play in the US Open.

Sadly, when I was in my prime, it was very difficult for British and European players to get in the field. I would have had to go over and try to pre-qualify for the tournament. It wasn’t a lazy decision not to go.

Flying to the States wasn’t as straightforward in those days and I just felt that I would have been giving up too much over here to spend two weeks away from the circuit. I would have gone without hesitation if I’d ever received an exemption. It was the same for my contemporaries like Neil Coles, Brian Barnes and Christy O’Connor, none of whom had the chance either.

That’s why Tony Jacklin’s US Open victory at Hazeltine in 1970 remains the finest ever performance by a British golfer.

His achievement was so great because he was playing in an era of exceptional golfers Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Billy Casper, Lee Trevino. Tony had won our Open the previous year at Royal Lytham and he took up the mantle to take on the best US players in their own backyard. He went across to conquer America and he did it. To win by seven shots on a US Open course tells you everything. It was the pinnacle of his career.

Tony was always a great, long driver, like Rory McIlroy nowadays. But his putting over those four days was phenomenal. His game reached a new level that week and he was unbeatable. To put it in context, he finished 21, 23, and 24 shots clear of Player, Nicklaus and Palmer respectively.

The US Open is now much more international, but still only Graeme McDowell and McIlroy have matched Tony’s feat in the last 43 years. And it’s hard to see one of our players joining that list next Sunday at Merion. There seems to have been a collective hangover since the Ryder Cup heroics at Medinah. Everyone was full of expectations going into this year but of the 12 players, only McDowell has won a tournament in 2013. No one has really got going.

Rory has struggled to adjust to the combination of his elevated status and his new clubs. Luke Donald has uncharacteristically missed cuts, while Ian Poulter seems to have lost confidence in his game. It’s very hard to find your best form at a Major. You should be concentrating on putting a score together, rather than worrying about your swing. Golf is a tough game and it doesn’t wait for you to catch up if you’re struggling.

In many ways, Tiger Woods learned that lesson with his performance at the Memorial Tournament last weekend. He almost looked like he hadn’t picked up a club at all since winning the Players’ Championship three weeks before. His whole game was poor. Even his short game let him down. However, it could be the worst possible outcome for the rest of the field this week.

Tiger will have been very angry with his display. It’ll have triggered him to put in the hours on the practice ground. Merion is not long but it requires good strategy. Woods showed he has that when he won at Sawgrass and if he can recreate that kind of form, he’ll be the man to beat once again.