The Challenge Tour makes its third stop of the year in France for the dispute of the Hopps Open de Provence (Golf International de Pont Royal, Mallemort, France). Special week because it will be played in the unique design of Severiano Ballesteros (year 1992) in the Gallic country. A demanding course, especially from the tee, which will be a great test for a field in which we find 11 Spaniards, led by the brand new winner from Germany, Angel Hidalgo.
The man from Malaga wants to continue with this positive inertia of recent months, where he has gone from not having a Challenge card to being in 16th place on the Road to Mallorca, and getting a little closer to the European Tour. Together with Hidalgo we will have the presence of Eduard Rousaud, Lucas Vacarisas, Javier Sainz, Jordi Garcia, David borda, Ivan Cantero, Borja Virto, Scott Fernández, Samuel del Val and José Luis Adarraga.
Eduard Rousaud dissects us this design by Ballesteros
“It is a good course, a little tricky. You have to go very straight and be very clear where you want to bounce it and the exact distance you want to do from the tee. It gives the feeling that it is a course where you cannot have the slightest doubt from the tee. There are four or five clearly narrow holes and several very good par threes, all with water except one. The 13th, for example, is a 192-yard par-three gentleman, which as it blows against it like today is going to be very hard (narrow green with problems on the right and water on the left). Pair five to put it two on the green you have to hit two big shots, that always denotes that it is a good course.
I sense that it can be a very good course for someone who is able to move the ball with ease. There are clearly face holes and others clearly drawn. The greens are not very big, except for the odd par 5, and they are bumpy ”.
The Barcelona player comes to this tournament in 49th place in the order of merit, that is, he needs to improve four positions in the coming weeks to be in Mallorca. A very similar position has Lucas Vacarisas, 47th.
Better located we have Ivan Cantero (36º). The Asturian needs a good week to get closer to the first 20 positions that will give access to the European Tour.
Among the proper names of the week, we must highlight the local player Julien Brun, winner this year at the Open de Bretagne and the Chilean Hugo Leon, winner of the British Challenge.
Outside of the purely sports, it will be necessary to be aware of the weather. In principle, it is not good for the morning shift (rain and perhaps a storm) and the wind can also complicate. It is an area in which the wind is usually the protagonist and, in addition, what makes it more difficult for a golfer, gusty.
