French players are unanimous, the HNA Open de France has taken on a different stature thanks to its entry into the very closed circle of the Rolex Series. Endowed with 7 million dollars, the tournament, acclaimed by all the players of the European Tour for the quality of its course, is now one of the unmissable events of the season.

Photo: DR

Alex Levy, three-time winner on the European Tour, shares his impressions “The course is scary and playing at home increases the pressure but you have to be able to transform that adrenaline into positive energy. I will not hide from you that one day I would love to take this trophy home. "

The course is a little different from other years in that the fairways have been intentionally kept flexible and responsive. The strategy for playing it will be impacted. Grégory Bourdy prefers this option taken for the preparation of the Albatross. “The layout has changed a bit this year. The conditions are different and I think it's better. It's more flexible so we'll have to hit more drivers from the starts and the course will be even longer. I don't really like when it's too dry. I really think this course needs to have soft fairways to have more opportunities to hit the driver. It's going to be really good and a good challenge this year. "

Another multiple winner on the European Tour, Raphaël Jacquelin, evokes on the eve of the kick-off, the stress that there can be to know his friends and family present along the route to support him. “There will indeed be a little more pressure at the start of 1 tomorrow but hey these are things that we are used to living and doing. Here we are, we are going to focus on what we have to do, stay focused on the game since it remains exactly the same game with a little more pressure but we are going to do our job as well as possible and it should go well. "

Stress and pressure Mike Lorenzo-Vera learned to manage them with his mental trainer but the fanciful player had to take a break for a few weeks to get things right just after the first Rolex Series tournament at Wentworth. “I did everything, too much, technical, physical, I absolutely wanted to lose weight, through a diet, through more sport, more hiking, more golf, I overbossed and I farted like a popcorn . So here we are, we rectified everything with Meriem during the break. To put everything that was happening into perspective. Trying to integrate that there were expectations on me to try to understand all this because in the end, I was never in this position. My game is good, all the lights are green, I just need to win. It's a new situation to deal with and it helps me a lot. "

They are 21 tricolors in contention this week. The curtain will rise on Thursday at 7:30 am for the first start of the HNA Open de France.

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