Andy DevaneyThe FedEx Open de France is back on the Albatros course, and so is Tommy Fleetwood — a past champion with Ryder Cup, Olympic and rather less romantic missed-cut history in Paris.
Tommy Fleetwood has every reason to feel sentimental about Le Golf National. He also has every reason to keep one eyebrow raised.
The FedEx Open de France returns to the Albatros course this week after two years of renovations, and Fleetwood comes back to a venue that has been unusually generous to him in the grand moments and unusually grumpy in the quieter weeks. That is golf for you. It gives with both hands, then hides your hotel key in the rough.
Fleetwood won France’s national open here in 2017, the year he went on to top the Race to Dubai Rankings for the first time. A year later, he was part of Europe’s Ryder Cup victory over the United States on the same turf. Then came Olympic silver at the 2024 Paris Games, adding another serious French chapter to a career that has often seemed to find its sharpest notes in meaningful places.
Yet the event itself has not always been an easy dance. Outside that 2017 victory, Fleetwood has missed five cuts at the Open de France. That gives his return, his first appearance in the tournament since 2018, a rather better storyline than the usual warm bath of “happy memories”.
Fleetwood’s Paris Record Has Teeth
Fleetwood arrives as World Number Eight and an eight-time DP World Tour winner, but the interest is not merely in his status. It is in the contradiction.
Le Golf National has given him one of the defining wins of his career, a Ryder Cup triumph and an Olympic medal. It has also roughed him up often enough that he knows the place is not there to hand out postcards and compliments.
“It is nice to be back,” Fleetwood said. “I love coming back and playing on the DP World Tour as it is. But coming to a place and a course that has been kind to me over the years and given me some unbelievable moments, it’s really nice.”
His 2017 win was not just another trophy. It shifted the shape of his season and, by his own telling, changed what he thought might be possible.
“Yeah, I started the year really, really well (in 2017). I won in Abu Dhabi that year, but it hadn’t really been a goal of mine to win the Race to Dubai at that point. I just sort of got my game back at the start of the year.
“And then I came here. I’ve never made the cut before at this event, and then I ended up winning. And I think that put me at the top of the Race to Dubai, which is where I sort of started to think, oh, maybe I could win one of these.”
That is the useful bit. Not the nostalgia, but the memory of a week that turned from inconvenience into ignition.
Michael Kim Gets A Very Different Defence
Michael Kim returns as defending champion, although not to quite the same examination paper.
The American won last year’s FedEx Open de France at Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, getting up and down from a greenside bunker at the last to finish one stroke clear of Australia’s Elvis Smylie and France’s Jeong weon Ko. It was his first DP World Tour title and ended a seven-year worldwide wait for victory.
Now comes the awkward pleasure of defending a title on a different course. Kim is not simply trying to recapture a feeling; he is trying to transfer it onto the Albatros, with its lake-strewn closing stretch and habit of making good players look as though they have suddenly remembered an urgent appointment elsewhere.
“I don’t get too many chances to be defending champion,” Kim said. “Not many players do except maybe Scottie and Rory. So I’m just very honoured and excited to be back.”
What he does carry is the memory of execution under pressure. Kim still remembers standing on the 16th tee last year, knowing the tournament was there if he could take it. The 17th, in particular, has not faded.
“And I remember standing on 17 fairway, and I knew where everyone stood. I knew if I made birdie, I would have an awesome chance on 18, and just remembering that this is my chance. And I hit an awesome shot there on 17 with a pitching wedge that set up the birdie, and obviously the putt on 18 was very, very cool.”
That sort of memory travels well. Whether it survives the Albatros is another matter.
Hovland And Åberg Get Their First Open de France Look
Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Åberg make their FedEx Open de France debuts this week, though neither is walking in blind. Both represented their countries at Le Golf National during the 2024 Olympics, and both arrive after finishing tied 27th at last week’s BMW PGA Championship.
They will play the opening two rounds together alongside Ryder Cup teammate Matt Fitzpatrick, which adds a tidy European thread to the 108th edition of the event without needing to pretend it is anything more dramatic than a very good group on a very demanding course.
Hovland’s interest in the place is technical, which tends to be when he is most interesting. He sees a course that rewards proper ball-striking rather than decorative scrambling.
“I mean, I’ve already been here in ’24, the Olympics, and I was very impressed by the golf course,” Hovland said. “I think, yeah, it’s probably one of the best courses I’ve played in Europe, especially in a tournament. I think it’s one of those places where if you play well, tee to green, if you hit the ball well, you can really separate yourself.”
That closing stretch will do its usual work. Water, intimidation, uncomfortable targets, the suspicion that par might not be such a bad idea after all. Hovland called it “a very fair golf course”, which is golfer-speak for: it may beat you, but it will probably have evidence.
Åberg, too, sees a venue built for the big occasion.
“I think it’s a golf course that’s meant to host big events,” he said. “You can see it, the way it’s built and the way the grandstands, the natural grandstands kind of work. So, yeah, I’ve been looking forward to playing.”
The Albatros Returns With A Few New Edges
The tournament’s return to Le Golf National is not merely a change of backdrop. Since the course last staged France’s national open, holes four, five and six have been redesigned, while remodelled greens, bunkers and a new championship tee on the 15th form part of the wider enhancements.
Those details matter because the Albatros has always been a course of consequence. It does not rely only on scenery or reputation. It asks questions off the tee, asks them again into the greens, and then saves several of its more pointed remarks for the back nine.
For Fleetwood, Kim, Hovland, Åberg and Fitzpatrick, the appeal is obvious. This is a proper tournament course, with enough architecture, water and memory to make the week feel larger than a standard stop on the calendar.
A Home Hope With A Serious Crowd Behind Him
Martin Couvra leads a strong French presence, with 26 French players in this year’s field. The 2025 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year is making his third FedEx Open de France appearance and will hope to turn home interest into something more substantial.
That is not a small ask. Home opens can be strangely heavy things. They bring noise, affection, expectation and more people than usual who know exactly how to pronounce your name.
But the Open de France has always had room for local hope alongside international weight. That is part of its value. Fleetwood brings history. Kim brings the title. Hovland and Åberg bring fresh elite interest. Couvra brings the dream that every home crowd quietly carries into Thursday morning.
For Fleetwood, though, the week may come down to which Le Golf National he meets. The one that made him a Rolex Series winner and helped turn 2017 into a career year? Or the one that has sent him home early often enough to keep the romance honest?
“I think it’s great to come back to somewhere where you can draw on great memories,” he said. “Like, you know, no matter how hard you found a place before or how many tough weeks you might have had, I think just having those good moments and those great shots to fall back on when you have done it, I think is more important than the bad stuff.”
On the Albatros, that is a sensible attitude. Also, possibly, a survival mechanism.
