Open de France: The Punter's Preview

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Open de France tournament history

France's Arnaud Massy, who won the Open Championship in 1907, won the first two editions of this event in 1906 and 1907 and the Open de France is the oldest national open in Continental Europe.

The tournament wasn't played during the war years, and we lost two renewals because of the pandemic, so this is the 108^th edition.

The tournament was staged at Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche last year while its usual venue, Le Golf National, underwent a renovation due to the expansion of the greater Paris underground (see below).

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Venue

The Albatros Course, Le Golf National, Paris.

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Course details

Par 71, 7,365 yards

Le Golf National only opened in 1990 but it's already establishing itself as a truly great venue that provides an extremely demanding test. 

It's a fairly exposed track with a linksy feel and undulating fairways of average width. The greens are bentgrass, of an average size, and they usually run at around 12 on the stimpmeter. Water is in play on 10 holes in total, with holes 1, 2, 15, 16 and 18 especially challenging. 

It's a stadium style course designed by Hubert Chesneau and Robert Van Hagge and it underwent some significant changes prior to the 2016 edition, in preparation for the Ryder Cup in 2018. 

In addition to being the venue for this event since 1991 (apart form 1999 and 2025), Le Golf National also hosted the Olympics in 2024 when Scottie Scheffler claimed gold having trailed by four with a round to go. 

The course was closed immediately after the 2024 edition of this event due to the positioning of the aptly named new Paris underground line - Metro Line 18. 

The work to the Albatros has centred around a three-hole stretch - holes four, five and six - and this article on the DP World Tour website has all the details. 

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Weather forecast

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TV coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 12:30 on Thursday.

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Last 10 winners with pre-event Betfair Exchange prices

2025 - Michael Sim -16 38.037/1 (Nom-La-Bretèche)
2024 - Dan Bradbury -16 150.0149/1
2023 - Ryo Hisatsune -14 110.0109/1
2022 - Guido Migliozzi -16 130.0129/1
2020 & '21 - Event cancelled
2019 - Nicolas Colsaerts -12 160.0159/1
2018 - Alex Noren -7 19.537/2
2017 - Tommy Fleetwood -12 25.024/1
2016 - Thongchai Jaidee -11 75.074/1
2015 - Bernd Wiesberger -13 38.037/1
2014 - Graeme McDowell -5 16.015/1

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A statistical look at the Open de France

Accuracy is far more important than distance off the tee at Le Golf National, as demonstrated perfectly by the last two winners of this event here.

Ryo Hisatsune ranked 68^th for Driving Distance and sixth for Driving Accuracy in 2023 and Dan Bradbury ranked 29^th and second for those two metrics a year later.

There weren't any DD stats produced for the Olympics two years ago but Jon Rahm, who really should have won gold, hit more fairways than anyone else and over the last 20 years at this event, the winners have had an average DD ranking of 34.2 and an average DA ranking of 12.2.

Bradbury only ranked 25^th for Greens In Regulation but that's an unusually high ranking here given 10 of the last 18 winners have ranked inside the top three for GIR.

The last two event winners have ranked only 15^th and 14^th Scrambling but that's usually the key stat here. 

The 2022 winner, Guido Migliozzi, topped the Scrambling rankings, Thongchai Jaidee ranked second when he won here in 2016, the 2015 winner, Bernd Wiesberger, ranked third, when the top five scramblers all finished inside the top-six places. 

Jaidee also finished runner-up here 12 years ago when he also ranked second for Scrambling, with Mathew Baldwin, who finished 5th, ranking first. In 2013, six of the first seven home ranked inside the top eight for Scrambling and 14 years ago, four of the first six home ranked in the top six for that stat. 

GIR is a stat to concentrate on, but Scrambling looks the most important and the top scrambler for the week has finished in the places in 16 of the last 20 renewals. 

Bradbury ranked sixth for Putting Average two years ago and three of the top four ranked inside the top seven for Putting Average in 2023 but it's not unusual to see someone to rank poorly for putting and win. 

Alex Noren only ranked 37^th for Putting Average in 2018, Tommy Fleetwood's PA ranking in 2017 was only 53^rd, Wiesberger ranked just 33^rd in 2016 and the three winners between 2011 and 2013 had an average PA ranking of just 25.6. 

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Course form counts at Le Golf National

The 2024 winner, Bradbury, missed the cut on his only previous visit to Le Golf National, but he'd sat 16^th and only three off the lead after a 67 on day one on debut and the man who finished second to him, Thorbjorn Olesen, was finishing inside the top three for a third time here.

The 2023 winner, Hisatsune, was playing here for the first time when he won in 2023 and the two tournament winners before him didn't have a strong set of course numbers but prior to 2019, course form was king at Le Golf National.

The 2018 winner, Alex Noren, took his time to get to grips with the track, he missed his first three cuts, and his next four visits yielded form figures reading 78-37-14-MC, but he was trending in the right direction having finished eighth in 2016 and tenth in 2017.

Both Graeme McDowell and Jean-Francois Remesy have won the event back-to-back and there was enough evidence in the 2016 renewal alone to highlight how important course form is...

Thongchai Jaidee had finished second and 10th in the two previous renewals, the runner-up, Francesco Molinari, was occupying that finishing position for the third time here, Rory McIlroy finished third, six years after he'd finished fourth on his previous visit, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, who finished fourth, had also placed in each of the two previous editions and former winner, Martin Kaymer, finished fifth.

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US Open form worthy of consideration

This is a strong test that requires patience and accuracy from tee-to-green so it's not surprising that players that have performed well in the US Open have played nicely here.

The 2022 winner, Migliozzi, is an in-and-out performer and he often goes off at a triple-figure price, but he finished fourth and 14th in his first two appearances in the US Open and Paris winners G-Mac, Martin Kaymer and Retief Goosen have all won the US Open.

Tommy Fleetwood and Colin Montgomerie, who have both won at Paris National have also both gone very close in what's widely regarded as the toughest major. 

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Great event for long-shots

Between 2006 and 2013, six of the eight Open de France winners here were matched at a triple-figure price before the off, so it was a reasonable event for longshots.

Things changed after that though and the next five winners were all plausible candidates, but it's swung the other way again now and following Bradbury's victory two years ago, the last four winners here have all going off at more than 100.099/1.

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Winner's position and Betfair Exchange price pre-round four

2025 - Michael Sim -T3 - trailing by one 6.86/1 (Nom-La-Bretèche)
2024 - Dan Bradbury - T4 - trailing by two 16.015/1
2023 - Ryo Hisatsune - solo fifth - trailing by four 32.031/1
2022 - Guido Migliozzi -T9 - trailing by five 90.089/1
2020 & '21 - Event cancelled
2019 - Nicolas Colsaerts led by three strokes 2.001/1
2018 - Alex Noren T7 - trailing by seven strokes 42.041/1
2017 - Tommy Fleetwood T3 - trailing by two 5.14/1
2016 - Thongchai Jaidee - led by two 3.953/1
2015 - Bernd Wiesberger - solo third - trailing by three 6.86/1
2014 - Graeme McDowell - tied seventh - trailing by eight 

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Odds-on shots and third round leaders worth taking on

Every winner here has been inside the top-ten places through 54 holes, and that includes Scheffler at the Olympics, who sat tied for sixth and four back, but Guido Migliozzi pushed that that stat to the max four years ago given he was tied ninth through three rounds.

We've seen winners come from two, three, four, five and seven adrift at Paris National and when McDowell defended the title 12 years ago, he trailed by eight with a round to go.

Noren trailed by seven with a round to go in 2018 and he was one of five men to trade at odds-on in round four.

Marcus Kinult, who had led after round three, was matched at a low of 1.8810/11, Jon Rahm hit 1.981/1, Julian Suri was matched at 1.9520/21 and the eventual second, Chris Wood, traded all the way down to 1.454/9 before bogeys at 15 and 17 did for his chances.

With water in play on 10 holes and with such a tough finish, Le Golf National is a great place to take on odds-on shots. Rahm hit 1.182/11 at the Olympics before he lost his way on the back nine but that's almost the norm here!

Jordan Smith was matched at almost 1/101.10 in round four of this event in 2023 when he led by six, Rasmus Hojgaard was matched at a low of 1.42/5 before finishing second four years ago and in the 2019 edition (no event in 2020 or 2021), J.B Hansen hit a low of 1.241/4 and George Coetzee hit 1.330/100 before the third round leader, Nicolas Colsaerts, who had led by three with a round to go, rallied to take the title. And Colsaerts is a bit of a rarity...

Since Pablo Larrazabal won his first DP World Tour event here in 2008, leading after every round, we've seen 20 players lead or co-lead here after three rounds and Colsaerts is one of only three to convert. And that includes Xander Schauffele at the Olympics.

As Ewen Ferguson demonstrated perfectly in 2023 when he putted into the water on the very first hole, there's danger everywhere but it's a particularly tough finish.

"Unbelievable"

Le Golf National is no easy track as co-leader @EwboF drops two shots! #CazooOpenDeFrance pic.twitter.com/PoPQWqX6sn

-- DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) September 24, 2023

Previously a par five, the 18^th is very often the hardest hole on the course but after the par five 14^th, it's a tough finish all round, so if your fancy is in front with four to play you might want to bank some profit and if you're planning to trade in running on Sunday, anyone already in the house will have an advantage over anyone on the same score with holes to play.

That may seem obvious, but the market always favours those still on the course even though playing the last four holes here in level-par is a great finish.

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