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The Ryder Cup theme continues for another week. Qualification for the European Ryder Cup team opened two weeks ago at Wentworth, next year’s venue was used last week and this week sees a return to the scene of the 2018 Ryder Cup. For those playing these week, there is the added incentive of preparation for next year’s Olympic Games as the Golf competition will be played here. This is the oldest national Open in Continental Europe with the event dating back to 1906 and has been a regular on this Tour for all but the last two years, when the event was cancelled due to the pandemic. This event even had Rolex Series status until 2018 and a mid-summer schedule slot, but that changed in 2019. The event lost its prestige status and was moved to Autumn. From 12 players inside the top-50 in the World Rankings competing in the 2018 edition, there were none in 2019. There are three this time, including Patrick Reed who leads the market and is in need of World Ranking points. The venue is Le Golf National which opened in 1990 as a stadium course that could support the Tour infrastructure for future events that Chantilly (the previous host to the Open de France) and St-Nom-la-Breteche (host to the Trophee Lancome) could not. It was built to be one of the best courses in Europe and no other can claim to host both the Ryder Cup and the Olympic Games. It is a stadium course, but not in the traditional American mould. This is a course on which the driver should be used sparingly. The fairways are difficult to find and with the course length at 7,247 yards, it is clear that length off the tee is not a priority. Or at least, this was the prevailing wisdom until 2018. More on that later. The long history on this course presents plenty of course stats on which to form angles this week, but it must remembered that this event was played in mid-Summer until 2018. With that in mind, here are two angles to consider this week. Angles to consider: 1. Driving distance does matter at Le Golf National When this event was played here in mid-Summer, the angle was very clear: the driver is not important here. However, that all changed when this event was moved to Autumn in 2019. The big-hitting Belgian, Nicolas Colsaerts, won the event and ranked 3rd for driving distance, his best ranking for distance in six months and his sixth-longest average driving distance in 29 starts in 2019. It is clear that he was not being restrained off the tee. At the start of the week, he ranked inside the top-20 for driving distance on the European Tour and so did George Coetzee who finished 3rd and Kurt Kitayama who finished 4th. A big-hitter winning the event can be written off as a fluke, but not if it was three of the top-four. As such, driving distance replaces scrambling which is traditionally one of the common tipping angles for Le Golf National. The change from mid-Summer to Autumn is important. 2. Greens in regulation is still the key stat This is a far more typical angle at Le Golf National. Given that nine of the last 15 winners have ranked 3rd or better in greens in regulation that week, including Colsaerts in the Autumn event, it is a fairly obvious angle. Even in years when this wasn’t met, such as 2018, three of the top-4 on the leaderboard ranked inside the top-5 for greens in regulation that week. Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players has been selected. George Coetzee
The big-hitting South African finished 3rd in 2019 after holding the lead after both 18 and 36 holes. He was ranked 13th in driving distance on the European Tour at this time and this time he is a similar 21st place in the rankings. That shows his game profile hasn’t changed while, if anything, he has an even better player now. This is evident from his World Ranking (289th at the start of the week in 2019 vs 265th now), but also the fact that he ranks inside the top-15 for scoring average on the DP World Tour this season. That comes from a strong overall game, as well as being one of the best putters on Tour. He won in South Africa last month and is very capable of winning his sixth DP World Tour title this week. Laurie Canter
Canter is, like Reed, a LIV player looking to earn World Ranking points this week, but he also fits the course profile perfectly if this course plays like it did in Autumn 2019. He ranks 11th in driving distance and 9th in strokes gained: off-the-tee on the DP World Tour this year, while also ranking 12th in greens in regulation. It can be difficult for LIV players in these events, but the media interest is much lower this week with Rory out of town and he did play well last week when finishing in the top-10 in the LIV event in Chicago. Yannik Paul
A player with a very different history. The German came through the American collegiate system when graduating from the University of Colorado in 2018 and earned his place on this Tour after finishing ninth on the Challenge Tour's 2021 Road to Mallorca Rankings. Has focused on American golf recently, playing three events on the PGA in July-August, finishing 20th-20th-36th, and then competing in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, which included a top-20 finish in the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. He is solid, but not short, off the tee with his strength being his approach play: he ranks inside the top-20 on the DP World Tour for both strokes gained: approach the green and greens in regulation. He has been runner-up once already this year (Soudal Open) and has the profile to fare just as well this week. Tips 2-1; +14.33pts 1pt e.w. George Coetzee 70/1 (Coral, Ladbrokes 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8) 3rd 1pt e.w. Laurie Canter 60/1 (William Hill, Coral, Ladbrokes 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8) mc 1pt e.w. Yannik Paul 75/1 (Coral, Ladbrokes 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8) 8th
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