STEVE DOUGLAS
AP Sports Writer

HOYLAKE, England (AP) — Justin Rose and 18 other Englishmen have a two-fold mission at the British Open this week: end their country’s 22-year wait for an Open champion and lift the gloom hanging over England’s woeful sporting summer.

In the past two months, England’s football team has made its earliest exit from a World Cup since 1958, Chris Froome’s defense of his Tour de France title lasted five stages before crashing out and the winless run of England’s cricket team extended to nine tests — its worst sequence in 21 years.

Throw in a whitewash of England’s rugby team in three tests against New Zealand and England’s sport-loving public has had nothing to cheer.

Maybe England’s golfers can end the misery.

Rose says “there’s great English players that have an opportunity to win.”

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