Theater of the unforgettable 2018 Ryder Cup then the 2022 amateur world championships, host of the French Open since 1991, the Golf National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines is a flagship in terms of sports equipment.
Designed by the architect Hubert Chesneau and inaugurated in 1990, this true “golf stadium” will experience a new significant episode in its history during the events of the XXXIII Olympiad.
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The world ranking of the best golf players
The European Tour calendar will be directly impacted this season by the Olympic event.
For the ladies, the Amundi Evian Championship (won last year by Frenchwoman Céline Boutier) will be brought forward by one week (from July 14 to 20) while the men's French Open will be postponed by one month ( from October 10 to 13).
FedEx title sponsor until 2026
Changes which foreshadow others, even more important, in 2025. It had not escaped anyone, the European Tour which holds the rights to the Open de Franche had been looking for almost a year for a successor to title sponsor Cazoo .
The British brand dedicated to the automotive sector announced in the summer of 2023 that it was withdrawing from all its sports sponsorship commitments in Europe.
Before leaving his seat as boss of DP World at the start of the year, the Canadian Keith Pelley leaves behind a sponsor for the French Open: it will be the American brand FedEx, with the blue and orange logo, already a reference in the golf on the PGA Tour with the FedEx Cup, which signed a three-year contract (2024-2026) guaranteeing an allocation of 3.5 million euros.
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“We will have to close the Albatros course at the end of next October, just after the French Open, for a period of around eighteen months,”
recalls Pascal Grizot, president of the FFGolf.
This closure is linked to the work necessary for the construction of the Grand Paris Express.
The layout of the course must be modified to make way for line 18. »
Direct consequence: the green of hole no. 4 will disappear to be installed in place of the tees of hole no. 5, which will be moved to a free and available space, a little further forward.
This could even affect hole 6.
The fairways of the different holes will therefore see new curves born and will be revisited.
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Another consequence: the organizers of the oldest Open in continental Europe (which dates from 1906) had to find a course capable of hosting the FedEx Open de France 2025. And the choice fell on the Saint-Nom-course. la-Bretèche, former host of the Lancôme Trophy, which has already hosted the French Open three times.
If the contract has not yet been signed and there remain points of detail to be resolved, the different parties have already agreed on the essential contingencies to be implemented.
Barring an improbable turnaround, the FedEx Open de France will take place in Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche in 2025.
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The oldest remember that in 1965, the Spaniard Ramon Sota won there while in 1969, it was the French legend Jean Garaialde who lifted the trophy.
In 1982, the immense Severiano Ballesteros won the second of his four victories at the French Open on the eighteen holes of Saint-Nom.
2025 will therefore mark the 4th edition of the French Open on the fairways of the course located on the edge of the Marly forest