The Open de France is a European Tour golf tournament. Inaugurated in 1906 it is the oldest national open in Continental Europe and has been part of the European Tour's schedule since the tour's inception in 1972.
Originally played at La Boulie Golf Club, the tournament has been hosted by many different venues, but since 1991, it has been held at the Le Golf National near Paris 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. One of these measures included the dropping of title sponsorship from 2003. In 2004 qualifying tournaments were introduced on the model of those for The Open Championship and the U.S. Open and are 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, which are co-sanctioned by the U.S. based PGA Tour). For 2010 and 2011 the prize fund was reduced to €3 million.
Read more about Open De France: Winners
Famous quotes containing the words open and/or france:
“Don: Why are they closed? They’re all closed, every one of them.
Pawnbroker: Sure they are. It’s Yom Kippur.
Don: It’s what?
Pawnbroker: It’s Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday.
Don: It is? So what about Kelly’s and Gallagher’s?
Pawnbroker: They’re closed, too. We’ve got an agreement. They keep closed on Yom Kippur and we don’t open on St. Patrick’s.”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“France has lost a battle. But France has not lost the war!”
—Charles De Gaulle (1890–1970)