The Open de France is a

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

tournament. Inaugurated in 1906 it is the oldest national open in

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

and has been part of the European Tour's schedule since the tour's inception in 1972. The 100th edition of the event was held in 2016. The 2022 edition will take place between 22 and 25 September on the Golf National course. There will be €3 million of prize fund. Last edition played was the 2019 tournament, won by

Nicolas Colsaerts Nicolas Colsaerts (born 14 November 1982) is a Belgian professional golfer currently playing on the European Tour and previously on the PGA Tour. Early life Colsaerts, also known as "The Belgian Bomber", was born in Schaerbeek, Belgium. Coming ...

. Originally played at La Boulie, the tournament has been hosted by many different venues, but since 1991, it has been held at the

Le Golf National The Albatros course at Le Golf National is an 18-hole golf course in France, near Paris. Designed by architects Hubert Chesneau and Robert Von Hagge, in collaboration with Pierre Thevenin, it is located in Guyancourt, southwest of central Paris. ...

near

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

every year except for 1999 and 2001. Since the turn of the millennium, the Fédération Française de Golf has made a concerted effort to enhance the stature of the event. In 2004 qualifying tournaments were introduced on the model of those for

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

and the U.S. Open and were open to professionals and amateurs. The prize fund rose from €865,000 in 1999 to €4 million from 2006 to 2009, putting the Open de France in the top group of European Tour events (excluding the majors and the

World Golf Championships The World Golf Championships (WGC) are a group of annual professional golf tournaments created by the International Federation of PGA Tours as a means of gathering the best players in the world together more frequently than the pre-existing four ...

, which are co-sanctioned by the U.S.-based

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

). The prize fund was €3 million in 2015 and €3.5 million in 2016. It rose to

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7,000,000 in 2017 after joining the new Rolex Series. However the main sponsor of 2017 and 2018 editions: HNA decided to cancel its budget. In 2019, the tournament took place in October. Since then it has no longer been a Rolex Series event. From 2014 to 2018, it was one of the Open Qualifying Series events for

with the leading three (four in 2016) players, who had not already qualified, qualifying for the Open. With a new sponsor for 2022 (

Cazoo Cazoo is a British online car retailer based in London, England which was founded in 2018 by Alex Chesterman. History Cazoo was founded in 2018 by British internet entrepreneur Alex Chesterman. It launched an online marketplace for used cars in ...

) the prize fund was €3,000,000.

Venues

From 1970 to 1973 the first two rounds were played on two different courses, everyone playing one round on each course. After the cut, one of the courses was then used for the final two rounds. In 1970 Chantaco and Biarritz-Le Phare were used, with the final two rounds played at Chantaco. In 1971 La Nivelle and Biarritz-Le Phare were used, with the final two rounds played at Biarritz-Le Phare. In 1972 La Nivelle and Biarritz-Le Phare were used, with the final two rounds played at La Nivelle. In 1973, two courses at La Boulie were used, La Foret and La Vallee, with the final two rounds played on La Vallee.

Winners

Sources:

References

External links

*
Coverage on the European Tour's official site
{{coord, 48.7522, N, 2.0851, E, type:event, display=title European Tour events Golf tournaments in France Recurring sporting events established in 1906 1906 establishments in France