The Open de France, a European Tour mainstay missing from the authentic 2021 routine, is back again | Golf Information and Tour Information and facts
When, just before Christmas, the European Tour introduced its routine for 2021, there was a single primarily noteworthy name lacking from the line-up. The Open de France, on the Old Earth circuit’s calender since the tour’s inception in 1972, was nowhere to be witnessed. But now it is back. After a year’s absence thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the oldest of the European continent’s countrywide championships will be played Might 6-9 at Le Golfing Countrywide outside Paris.
Apart from 1999 and 2001, the Open up de France has been performed about the 2018 Ryder Cup training course every single year considering the fact that 1991 and offers a distinguished listing of champions. Given that it was very first held in 1906, when future Open up winner Arnaud Massy took the title, major champions JH Taylor, James Braid, George Duncan, Walter Hagen, Henry Cotton, Bobby Locke, Roberto De Vicenzo, Byron Nelson, Kel Nagle, David Graham, Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman, Sandy Lyle, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Retief Goosen, Jose Maria Olazabal, Martin Kaymer and Graeme McDowell have all etched their names on the Stoiber Cup.
The information is not all excellent, nonetheless. Prize income this 12 months is €1.5 million, a significantly cry from the €7 million on offer in 2017 and 2018, when the party was aspect of the beneficial Rolex Collection. The most current title sponsor, Amundi, also has departed, acquiring built the decision to swap to the Evian Masters, a person of the 5 key championships on the LPGA Tour. As of now, Amundi has not been replaced.
Continue to, the new slot on the program does fill a conveniently positioned hole, one that suits the European Tour’s plan of minimizing travel among situations as much as is pretty much probable. Thus, the Open up de France will be the fourth event in a 5-week spring stretch on European soil involving the Masters and the PGA Championship, signing up for the Tenerife Open up, Gran Canaria Open, Portugal Masters and Betfred British Masters.
Keith Pelley, European Tour Main Executive, said: “The Open up de France is 1 of our most historic tournaments, and Le Golfing National is a person of the main venues in Europe, so we are delighted to validate that both will characteristic as aspect of our schedule this calendar year. As properly as becoming portion of a vacation-pleasant run in Europe at that time of the yr, the event also allows us rejoice the superb heritage of the nationwide opens on the European Tour.”
