Open De France.....

Graham Storm has a great record here. 140-1 e/w for starters plus miles best bet of this kind for years, 80-1 (100-1 if you can get on) for first round leader. J 1st 2011, J 5th 2009, J3 2007. Recently J13 Irish and J 3 Austria first round efforts. Hope for an early tee time and goooo Stormy.

donny osmond     02 Jul 13 12:07 
french open should attract good fields right up to ryder cup in 2018 to be played on the course

kaymer and poulter got good course form,


Poulter 4th,3rd and 18th in last 3 visits donny....Kaymer also was 4th in 2011

More chance he missed an hour on Twitter

Many areas of water on this course.......can see Poulter going ...splash...splash....splash.

Open De France 2013

We have a really decent field this week at the tremendous Le Golf National for the French Open, even Matt Kuchar is over for pre Open Championship European jaunt.

This truly high quality golf course is likely to play firm and fast and if it does then its as close to a top quality British links that you are ever likely to experience and it will reward patience and top ball striking.

This is not a track for the slogger, prepare for a craftsman or an artisan to be victorious come Sunday in France.

So who is on my shortlist this week and why ? Two of my selections are players who frustrate me endlessly, but this unique course may just inspire them to greater heights and they represent terrific value.

When Gregory Havret followed home Gmac at Pebble Beach to take the runner up spot in that marvellous US Open, I fancied he would progress into a potential Major winner himself. He showed poise and calm and clear head that final day and was just touched off by a high flying McDowell. In my view he has under performed for the most part since that event, but signs are there that he is now very close to picking up another European Tour victory. Four of his last five events have resulted in top 20 finishes and I fancy that this course and in the predicted fine weather will be the perfect blend for him.

We saw last week how the top Irish boys failed to handle the pressure of playing in their national championships, but its much more low key for the French boys and the expectation on them is far less onerous than face Rory and co last week in Ireland.

I have backed Havret at 85 with Betfair and he is a strong fancy.

With a handful of holes to play in the Turnberry Open that Tom Watson nearly won, a relatively unknown South African called Thomas Aitken was oh so close to taking his own place in golfing history. I was on at fancy prices as he crept up the leaderboard and into contention, had he not made a real mess of the easy par 5 17th, I may have had one of my biggest ever payouts, what might have been !

Aiken, like Havret, really frustrates me. Boundless talent matched with a freewheeling attitude on course and an often disinterested look just to add insult to injury. Watching Aitken play a quality Open venue under fairly firm and windy conditions, left me feeling that here was a big winner just waiting to happen. To a certain extent he has dropped off my radar, but my notes on him have always highlighted his chances on a fast and high quality links and this week at Alstom, the conditions are perfect for Thomas. I have backed him at a mouth watering 200 on Betfair.

Every now and again, Richie Ramsey pops up, often when you least expect him, I quite fancy his chances here too and at 100 he seems a fair price.

The market is made because the likes of Donald and Kuchar are in the field, but I don’t fancy either to trouble the judge.
Thongchai Jaidee is also available over 100 and he is a player who plays tough golf courses very well. He has bounced back in the last 14 months after a slump the previous season and I can see him taking a place spot come Sunday afternoon.

Keep an eye out for Thomas Levet, he can plot his way around here with his eyes closed and the 200 is an insult to a former winner, who can still win again.

McDowell seems to be pre-occupied with his new food emporium....... a lay for me.

hope so tobe, I'm on Bourdy win and top 10

There appear to be no hard and fast rules when picking the winner of the Open de France with a huge cross section of players winning with or without course from and with or without good current form so I have picked a cross section of players in an attempt to find the winner.
Austrian Bernd Wiesberger has to be headline pick due to the fact that he has now won three of his last thirty two events and has been in the top five in four of his last seven which amounts to some of the best from on show this week. Whilst he has never set the world alight at Le Golf National he has made the cut on both starts and he is a better player now. I think there is a lot to like about the young Austrian who has all the makings of a top future European player 0.5 ew 40/1
People seem to have a short memory about Simon Khan - it wasn't long ago he lost a playoff for the European Tour flagship event the PGA Championship. That was on a course he excels on and he also has some decent form around this weeks track with a 3rd and 5th amongst three missed cuts in the last five years. He seems to be a horses for courses player who can turn it on from out of the blue so is worth having onside this week 0.2 ew 200/1
Soren Hansen is another who has been superb around Le Golf national in the past with 2nd,3rd,3rd,6th,7th and 10th place finishes from eleven starts. In the last two seasons he has missed both cuts but he was injured/in poor form. Recently there have been some positive signs in his form with some really good GIR stats and if anywhere were to bring out a revival in his game it would be here 0.2 ew 200/1
Darren Fichardt has played some good rounds here in the past and will be glad to see French soil again having won the St Omer event last season. He played really well in the early season co-sanctioned events in his homeland of South Africa winning the Africa Open and finishing 2nd in the Tshwane Open. He hasn't shown a lot since but was 7th in the BMW International a couple of weeks ago - worth the risk - 0.1 ew 200/1 + 0.3 top 10 finish 20/1
I will try a small bet on Seve Benson after he won us a few quid in France last month. His stats are still very good and on his first visit here in 2009 he was 4th with a round to go before blowing up - at the price of 250/1 he is worth a small risk of 0.1 ew

One bet just this week Weisberger at 42's. GL.

Keeping it French this week so lets get on 3 bottlers...

BOURDY
HAVRET
DUBUISSON

Good luck all

how come luke is so short in this field . on recent form i cant see why hes leading the market

If Frankie has a decent putting week he'll get himself into the mix Dragon.

skipping the top 5,gone for siem,wiesberger,sterne,wattel,aiken,aphibarnrat,jan-derksen,khan,broberg,drysdale nice juicy ones among that lot.b.o.l.

gone for

francesco molinari 32
Joost Luiten 36
gregory bourd 110 also top5
seve benson 230 also top5
felipe augilar 220 also top5
Eduardo De La Riva 470 also top5
miko ilonen 75

Great to see that one of the biggest tournies in European golf has attracted so many posts...

The golf forum is alive and kicking ????????

golfdaft and tmm have done a great job with their posts

but its nice to read everyones thoughts

@mengmeng....did you get paid a place on Lowry last week ?

Donald is probably favourite because he has won on the big stage many times and is currently hitting lovely irons.

@toberaheena  yeah basically just got stake back