Destination France
By John Cockayne
What a year it has been for France: coming up from Africa, the pounding heat of one of the hottest European summers on record was a real surprise!
This was then followed by the deluges that broke the heatwave and washed away large areas in the south east of France, there was the excitement of the World Cup, a Tour De France that broke all sorts of records, including the first Welshman to ride up the Champs Elysee in the yellow jersey and finally golf’s supreme team event, the Ryder Cup, will be coming to Paris.
The team selections are over and Tiger, against all the original odds, has made it into the mix as a player for team ‘Ooo Esss Aaaay’, while the Europeans are using social media type phrasing such as it being time for a little ‘Yankee spanking’, but the talk and the hype is now almost over as the time for the real work on-course to begin.
The host country France is, rightly or wrongly, often renowned as the country where the ‘customer is always wrong’ a tradition that many, so called service related businesses, still seem to find hard to shrug off! That said it can’t all be bad as the country is undoubtedly a tourist Mecca with over 82 million visitors last year and the # 1 ranking (again!) being a testament to this. It is a little known fact that the most visited place in France is not some obvious attraction, but the Mont St Michel – but what golfing pedigree, if any, do the French have to showcase professional golf’s premier team event?
Historically Jean Garaialde, who won the Open de France 12 times in the 1960’s and 70’s, is the most successful, with Jean Van de Velde possibly the best known after his spectacularly unsuccessful play over the 72nd hole at the 1999 Open Championship, which eventually cost him the title.
In more recent times French pro golf seems to be very ‘healthy’ with the names Bourdy, Dubuisson, Jacquelin, Levy and Levet making regular appearances on the leader boards at pro events around the World.
The Open de France has now a virtually permanent home at Le Golf National, which will play host to the Ryder Cup and courses which have hosted the French Open multiple times, such as Le Touquet, Golf de Chantilly and La Boulie are well known to golfing aficionados.
Mont St Michel (Mont St Where? – I can hear some people asking themselves!), as one of France’s top tourist attractions and is perhaps a good example of France’s hidden secrets, not least of which are the rest of its golf courses.
Le Golf National Paris. Pic IAGTO.