The European Tour heads to Paris for the 101st HNA French Open at the Albatross course at Le Golf National, which will also host the 2018 Ryder Cup. The tournament is the oldest national open in continental Europe, dating back to 1906.
The betting field is one of the strongest of the year. Spaniard Jon Rahm plays his first event on European soil and is the betting favorite at 11/1. Six of Europe’s 2016 Ryder Cup stars are in the field, led by veteran Lee Westwood. The others include Martin Kaymer, Danny Willett, Chris Wood, Andy Sullivan and Thomas Pieters.
World No. 8 Alex Noren, Italy’s Francesco Molinari, England’s Tommy Fleetwood and past Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter will certainly get their fair share of action. Crowd favorite “Big Beef” Johnston and American Peter Uihlein also made the trip to France.
Other players that deserve your attention are Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, Graeme McDowell and rookie Dylan Frittelli. Wiesberger is a fixture on the leaderboard on a weekly basis, and hewon here in 2015. McDowell won at Le Golf National in back-to-back years (2013-14) and Frittelli has won twice this year on the European Tour.
The Albatross course at Le Golf National is the host track and will also host the upcoming Ryder Cup matches in 2018. Designed by Hubert Chesneau and Robert Von Hagge, the layout underwent 10 months of renovation work before last year’s edition in order to get it ready for the Ryder Cup. The greens will be fast — around 13 on the stimpmeter. The fairways have plenty of slope in them and there are 100 links-style bunkers to navigate around. The stadium-style course is a 7,249-yard par 71 and has the capacity to host 80,000 fans.
Last year, Thongchai Jaidee carved up the Albatross course and walked away with a four-stroke victory over Francesco Molinari. Starting the final round, Jaidee was just two strokes clear of McIlroy and Jeung-hun Wang. The Thai’s solid play held up as McIlroy could only muster up an even par round while Wang fizzled to a final round 78.
TV Coverage: Golf Channel
Current HNA French Open Golf Odds
Jon Rahm +1100
Francesco Molinari +1250
Bernd Wiesberger +1600
Alex Noren +1800
Tommy Fleetwood +2000
Thomas Pieters +2200
Martin Kaymer +2450
Shane Lowry +2550
Tyrrell Hatton +2750
Joost Luiten +2900
Dylan Frittelli +3000
Ian Poulter +3250
Lee Westwood +3400
Matthew Fitzpatrick +3550
Andy Sullivan +3750
Chris Wood +3900
George Coetzee +4000
Graeme McDowell +4250
Ross Fisher +4500
Kiradech Aphibarnrat +4750
Pablo Larrazabal +5000
Thongchai Jaidee +5250
Alexander Levy +5500
Soren Kjeldsen +5650
Hao Tong Li +5750
Thorbjorn Olesen +6000
Victor Dubuisson +6250
David Lipsky +6500
Jamie Donaldson +6600
Nicolas Colsaerts +7000
Brandon Stone +7055
Renato Paratore +7500
Russell Knox +7600
Andres Romero +8000
Andrew Johnston +8200
Hideto Tanihara +8500
Jaco Van Zyl +8800
James Morrison +9000
Matt Wallace +9350
Peter Uihlein +9500
Thomas Detry +9550
Paul Dunne +9800
Peter Hanson +9999
Fabrizio Zanotti +10000
Jeunghan Wang +10000
Jordan Smith +10500
Richard Sterne +11555
Dean Burmester +11000
Graeme Storm +11500
Rikard Karlberg +12000
Alexander Bjork +12500
Danny Willett +13000
Eddie Pepperell +13000
Gregory Bourdy +13500
Jorge Campillo +14000
Marcel Siem +14500
Richard Bland +15000
Richie Ramsay +15000
FIELD – Any Other Player +425
(Golf Odds courtesy of BookMaker.eu)
Odds Analysis
The key this week will be driving the ball in the fairway and hitting the greens. Since 2007, when Le Golf National took over as the host track, five of the winner’s were in the top three in GIR and four of the winner’s were in the top ten in driving accuracy. You can throw out length this week – it’s all about accuracy.
Francesco Molinari +1250 has three second place finishes in France. He drives the ball straight and hits lots of greens. This could be his year to win it!
Tommy Fleetwood +2000 has been hot lately, finishing solo fourth at the U.S. Open and really he’s played solid golf most the year but his track record in France is not good, in fact, he’s played four times and missed the cut all four times. He’s on my fade list.
Bernd Wiesberger +1600 is one of the most undervalued players on the planet and also one of the most consistent. He won earlier in the year at the Shenzhen Invitational and has put together a solid run of four top 20’s and a top 30 in his last five starts worldwide. Oh, and by the way, he won here in 2015.
Andrew “Big Beef” Johnston +8200 is worth a look this week. He played here a couple of years ago and was T30. The big fella hits it straight and won a Challenge Tour event in France in 2014.
South African Richard Sterne +11555 was runner-up to McDowell in 2013 and followed up with a T11 last year. At that price, he’s worth a look.
Check out the latest HNA French Open golf betting odds.
