By Art Spander
Special to PGA.com
LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England – In a land of royalty, we begin with The King. Not of the nation but of the country of golf, Arnold Palmer. He believed in the Open Championship, in what could be described as a sporting manifest destiny, of Americans crossing not mountains but the sea, to accept a challenge and win a championship.
Since 1922, when Walter Hagen, also given a title that would fit in Britain, “Sir Haig," there have been 89 Opens and 40 native-born American winners. That includes the last two at this year's venue, Royal Lytham & St. Annes on the Lancashire Coast -- Tom Lehman in 1996 and David Duval in 2001.
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