The run of iconic courses being used on the DP World Tour continues this week when the Open de France takes place at the track which two months ago was staging the Olympics as Le Golf National hosts the prestigious tournament.
Ryo Hisatsune picked up a first DP World Tour title here a year ago but the Japanese player is not here to make a successful defence of his crown so we are going to get a different winner from a solid if unspectacular field.
Recent Winners
2023 – Ryo Hisatsune
2022 – Guido Migliozzi
2019 – Nicolas Colsaerts
2018 – Alex Noren
2017 – Tommy Fleetwood
2016 – Thongchai Jaidee
2015 – Bernd Wiesberger
2014 – Graeme McDowell
2013 – Graeme McDowell
2012 – Marcel Siem
The Course
After a period of moving this tournament around the calendar, Le Golf National hosts the DP World Tour in October this year. This is a tough course and even though it will be softer at this time of year, the rough will be thick and juicy and you do not want to be on players regularly having to hack out of it. With water in play on a lot of holes and guarding a number of greens the test this week is very much a tee-to-green one whichever way you look at it.
The track is a par 71 which only stretches to 7,249 yards so it is not the longest. Accuracy has such a premium this week but a decent putter will never leave this place hungry as highlighted by the roll of honour above. I’m not interested in any bombers this week. This is a strategic test but it is a great golf course and generally the better courses provide us with a top class winner so keep those with a bit of extra class on side here.
The Field
After a couple of weeks where we have had truly world class fields on show we are back to a bit more of the normal here but there are still four players in the top 50 in the world rankings who are teeing it up here. They are headed by the recent BMW PGA Championship winner Billy Horschel, with the other three in that elite band being Matthieu Pavon, who would dearly like to win on home soil, Justin Rose and Thriston Lawrence.
A whole bunch of players ranked 50-100 are also teeing it up here, headed by Nicolai Hojgaard and his brother Rasmus Hojgaard. Thomas Detry is in the top 60 in the world and looking to move up this week while another home star in Victor Perez will be looking to win his own open. Matt Wallace, Thorbjorn Olesen, Romain Langasque, Matteo Manassero, Jesper Svensson, Niklas Norgaard and Sebastian Soderberg are the other players who will all compete from the top 100 in the world.
Market Leaders
Billy Horschel has remained on the DP World Tour for a third week in four and having won the BMW PGA Championship in the first of those tournaments he is a worthy 12/1 favourite to win around here. This will be the second time that Horschel has played this tournament. He was T20 on debut last year and you would imagine now that he has had a spin around here that he will perform better this time. I’m not massively against him at all but he’s a little short for me.
Rasmus Hojgaard won the Irish Open last month and while he has had a couple of mediocre efforts since then, he is 16/1 to win this tournament and when you look at his form on this track it is hard to go against him. He has played the event twice and has finishes of 2-4 and is -26 for the eight rounds which he has had on this track. There is clearly something which brings the best out of the Dane when he gets to Paris and while 16/1 is a little skinny, this field probably isn’t strong enough to ignore him.
Matt Wallace is another tournament winning within the last five weeks. He took down the Omega European Masters at the beginning of September but he has only had one week off since then and he’ll be playing for a fourth week in a row. That is an immediate negative for me but the other one is that he hasn’t played this event since 2018 and in the two times he has teed it up here he has missed the cut. At 18/1 he feels like a pretty obvious swerve even allowing for that Switzerland win.
Thriston Lawrence is a 20/1 poke to get that elusive tournament win this week. This will be the third time he has teed it up at the Open de France but while he has cashed on both occasions, he hasn’t really contended. Nevertheless, he has finished second twice in his last five starts and is one of the form horses on the DP World Tour. In theory, this track should suit his game nicely so I’m not rushing to write him off but the price is a little tight compared to some others.
Main Bets
Victor Perez was fourth on this very course in his home Olympics just two months ago and when you consider that the three men who were in front of him on the week – Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama – are all absent the Frenchman would look to have every chance of taking down his home open this week. His previous record in this tournament is a little mixed when you look at the end results but in 2019 he was T11 going into the last round and T9 on his next appearance in 2022 but faded on the Sunday on both occasions, however each time he had played the week before which might be significant. Two weeks prior to playing here in 2019 he had won his first DP World Tour title at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and could understandably have been running on fumes and then in 2022 he had just finished third in the Italian Open so the same could apply. Therefore, it is interesting that the Frenchman, who has a very good record on links tracks having also won the KLM Open on one to add to that Dunhill Links crown, skipped the tournament in Scotland last week, an event he has previously won. That tells me he is targeting a big week on home soil and having closed with a 63 here in the Olympics we know he can play Sunday golf on this course. I think he is a genuine contender here.
Nicolai Hojgaard arrives in Paris not in the greatest form but he was seventh in the Olympics on this course in August where he shot a third round of 62. When you consider that the only player who was ahead of him that week who is here is Victor Perez then you have to think that the Dane will fancy his chances. Hojgaard arrives in indifferent form it has to be said but two of his last four efforts were on links tracks and another at altitude so there are mitigating circumstances. After finishing seventh at the Olympics, the Dane then went and finished in the top 15 on home soil so I’m not convinced his form is that bad. He’ll know he can score around here and if he is anything close to top form he looks a massive price.
Outsiders
Nicolas Colsaerts is a former winner around here and given his excellent effort in Scotland last week he should be part of the staking plan for this tournament. I’m always a player of a golfer who is returning to a place where he has good memories and that will clearly be the case for the Belgian here. I’m even more a player when he arrives with his confidence high, which Colsaerts should do even though there would have been a sense of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship having got away from him. When on song Colsaerts finds a lot of greens and if he can do that here then he is entitled to have another great week.
Richie Ramsay has a decent record around here and I don’t want to leave him out of the staking plan. Hitting a lot of greens is often the recipe for success around this course and the Scot sits at 10 on the DP World Tour rankings for greens hit in regulation so that is a huge positive and probably contributes to his previous form here. He is in the top 50 for scrambling too and a large number of those ahead of him aren’t here this week so there are reasons to think Ramsay will go well again. He doesn’t come here having played his home event last week so he should be fresh and although his recent form isn’t littered with great results, he has been in the top 25 in two of his last four starts. It is less than two months ago that Ramsay was third in the Czech Masters and with two top five finishes here and another top 20 last year I think a three figure price is a little big.
Tips
Back V.Perez to win Open de France (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 23.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-8)
Back N.Hojgaard to win Open de France (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 46.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-8)
Back N.Colsaerts to win Open de France (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-8)
Back R.Ramsay to win Open de France (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-8)
