The third Rolex Series event of the year takes place this week when the Open de France is played out in Paris and this year the tournament will have a lot more focus on it because it is being held at the course which will stage the Ryder Cup in three months.
After an excellent week in Germany we have a top class field making their way to the French capital for what should be a really good tournament on an excellent golf course with a serious prize fund up for grabs.
Recent Winners
2017 – Tommy Fleetwood
2016 – Thongchai Jaidee
2015 – Bernd Wiesberger
2014 – Graeme McDowell
2013 – Graeme McDowell
2012 – Marcel Siem
2011 – Thomas Levet
2010 – Miguel Angel Jimenez
2009 – Martin Kaymer
2008 – Pablo Larrazabal
The Course
It is once again the Albatros course at Le Golf National which will stage this fine tournament. The course was modified ahead of the Ryder Cup a few years ago which has really made it a championship style golf course where there is a real premium on accuracy and good iron play with so much water around.
Ball strikers are the order of the day here as we’ve seen with the recent champions here but the greens are no longer flat things so a good short game will be required as well. We are yet to see a Rolex Series event won by a rank outsider so sticking to the head of the betting could yield the winner. The course is a par 71 which measures 7.249 yards so it isn’t the longest.
The Field
We always see top class fields for these Rolex Series events and this one has one of the leading lights from the PGA Tour teeing it up with Justin Thomas in the field. He’ll be here looking to win but I suspect having a look at the Ryder Cup track is as much of a priority.
Former Rolex Series event winners Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Alex Noren, Rafael Cabrera Bello and Thorbjorn Olesen are all in the field this week as are a number of players who will be eyeing up being back here for Europe in September such as Ian Poulter, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton and Thomas Pieters. Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer add some gloss to the field.
Market Leaders
It is the USPGA champion Justin Thomas who is the 12/1 favourite to win the tournament but while he’s a class act I wouldn’t say he’s for me. I wonder if he’s here to win the event but even if he is this is not an easy course to tame when looking at it for the first time so while I respect him I’m happy to overlook him.
Irish Open and recent Open de Espana winner Jon Rahm is a joint second favourite at 14/1 with the defending champion Tommy Fleetwood. I’m not sure this is a strong course for Rahm although if he uses the driver well he can certainly open the course up for himself. Fleetwood certainly looks the part at 14/1 but he’s playing for a third week in a row and has been on both sides of the Atlantic in that time so that puts me off.
Alex Noren is a class act who should really thrive around this golf course. He hasn’t been firing with his iron play like we know he can in recent times though so that would be a concern but he will certainly be popular at 16/1 I’m sure. Rafael Cabrera Bello comes next at 20/1 and while his game is very good he just feels a little short in this field on a course of this type.
Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia come next in the market at 25/1. Poulter should have the sort of game that will thrive around here and we saw at the US Open recently that most departments of his game are in good order. It has been a while since we’ve seen the best of Garcia which would be a concern on such a testing track.
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Main Bets
The head of the betting is pretty tight in terms of value so I’m going with just the one main bet this week. That is a man who had a decent US Open which should have set him up nicely for the run of tournaments to come in Matthew Fitzpatrick. We know that he has a great tee to green game and in the US Open in particular his putting was top drawer. It is actually something of a mystery why his record here is not a whole lot better than it is but he’ll come good around here eventually and when better than in the year the course hosts the Ryder Cup. He’s my main bet this week.
Outsiders
Graeme McDowell is a twice former champion around here and his game is beginning to come back to good order so there is no conceivable reason why he can’t go well again. We regularly see McDowell go well when he comes back to Europe and his last two European Tour events have seen him finish T12 at Wentworth and T5 in Italy. This course suits up perfectly for him as we’ve seen a couple of times in the past and if he can find some form with his putter the rest of his game is good enough to get him into contention.
Soren Kjeldsen had a decent week in Germany last week which should prime him up nicely for this test which is right up his street being one of the best ball strikers in Europe. The Dane has had his injury problems but there are signs he is coming out of the slump he has been in. Kjeldsen has a good record around here with three top 10s and a whole bunch of top 20s behind that and if he can repeat his form from last week he should be in that mix again here.
There are few better ball strikers and players from tee to green on the European Tour than Andrew Johnston. He has really struggled with the putter this year but the week that short stick clicks he will be deep in the mix. We know he plays tough courses well having won around Valderrama. His success or otherwise will be determined by his putter but at 80/1 we can pay to see how well he goes with it.
One player we don’t need to worry about when it comes to the putter is Chris Paisley. He’s not only a very good putter but he is one of the best on the Tour when it comes to avoiding bogeys which is a big deal this week. Paisley has already won on the European Tour this year when he won in South Africa and he was right there in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. He had been globetrotting for a while but is back in Europe now. He put in a solid effort in the BMW International Open last week which should prime him up nicely for this test. I’m expecting him to outperform his odds this week.
Tips
Back M.Fitzpatrick to win Open de France (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with SkyBet (1/5 1-8)
Back him here:
Back G.McDowell to win Open de France (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back S.Kjeldsen to win Open de France (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back A.Johnston to win Open de France (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back them here:
Back C.Paisley to win Open de France (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-7)
Back him here:
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