Matteo Manassero, Guido Migliozzi, Francesco Molinari, Edoardo Molinari, Andrea Pavan, Lorenzo Scalise and Francesco Laporta are the seven Italians participating in the FedEx Open de France, one of the longest-running tournaments on the DP World Tour, founded in 1906 and now in its 106th edition.
ADVERTISEMENT
It will be played from 10 to 13 October for the 30th time since 1991, the 21st consecutive, on the Le Golf National course, in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines near Paris, France, where the Ryder Cup was held in 2018.
France, history
The field includes four players in the top 50 of the World Ranking: the American Billy Horschel (no.
17), the Frenchman Matthieu Pavon (no. 26), the Englishman Justin Rose (no. 37) and the South African Thriston Lawrence (no. 46), in a context that also includes 21 seasonal winners and which makes it a rather difficult exercise to make predictions on the eve.
Among the 21 are Guido Migliozzi (KLM Open), past winner in 2022, when with a final 62 (-9) he took the title and equaled the course record, Matteo Manassero (Jonsson Workwear Open), who was in the running for success in the recent Irish Open (3rd) and BMW PGA Championship (4th), the latter signed in September by Horschel.
ADVERTISEMENT
Among the others, we should mention the French David Ravetto and Frederic Lacroix, who together with Victor Perez, Antoine Rozner and Pavon will try to bring back home a title that has been missing since 2011 (Thomas Levet), the Japanese Rikuya Hoshino and Yuto Katsuragawa, the German Marcel Siem, who won in the Italian Open in Cervia and in this competition in 2012, the Danes Thorbjorn Olesen and Rasmus Hojgaard, the Englishman Matt Wallace and the Iberian Angel Hidalgo, who beat Jon Rahm in the Acciona Open de Espaa.
They have not won on the circuit this season, but the Englishman Danny Willett and Francesco Molinari, two Major Champions, can have their say, with the Italian who on this course was the absolute protagonist in the 2018 Ryder Cup with five successes in as many matches, a record for continental players.
ADVERTISEMENT
And also the Danish Nicolai Hojgaard, the Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin, the Englishmen Jordan Smith and Daniel Gavins and the German Yannik Paul. The tournament is of considerable importance because it is the seventh of the nine Black 9 events that lead to the Genesis Championship (24-27 October), at the end of which the first 110 of the Race To Dubai will have the card for the DP World Tour 2025.
Therefore, there are only three possibilities left for those who are currently outside the list. In addition, there will also be a competition to get into the top 70 of the Race to Dubai who will access the first of the two final races (Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, 7-10 November).
Without forgetting the points up for grabs to automatically enter Team Europe at the Ryder Cup 2025 (six qualified through the Ryder Cup Points List). The prize pool is 3,250,000 with first prize money of 552,500 dollars. The tournament, as mentioned, was born in 1906 as the Open de France, and has had its name associated with a sponsor since 1980, with FedEx being the eighth in the series.
ADVERTISEMENT
There have only been four past winners: in addition to Migliozzi and Siem, the Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts (2019) and the Austrian Bernd Wiesberger (2015) will be at the start. Migliozzi was the third Italian to sign the roll of honor after Ugo Grappasonni (1949) and Costantino Rocca (1993).
Italians have placed second six times: once with Aldo Casera (1954), with Massimo Florioli (1998) and with Rocca himself (2001) and three times with Francesco Molinari (2010, 2012, 2016). The record for victories belongs to the Englishman Aubrey Boomer with five (between 1921 and 1931).
The Spaniard Severiano Ballesteros and the Frenchman Arnaud Massy follow with four and with three the Englishman Nick Faldo, the Argentine Roberto De Vicenzo, the Belgian Flory Van Donck and the Frenchman Marcel Dallemagne (the only hat-trick in a row from 1936 to 1938).
