Left to right: Lydia Ko, Inbee Park and Shanshan Feng - © Getty Images

AUGUST

Karine Icher and Gwladys Nocera, the two best French women in the world ranking on July 11, 2016 (60th and 147th), were automatically the two representatives of tri-color women's golf at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Respectively aged 37 and 41, the two players were thus rewarded for their entire careers of very good level with this relatively easy selection, as the criterion of only Rolex rankings left little room for last minute contenders . But between participating and performing, there is a world. No miracle for the tricolor duo in this women's Olympic tournament, disputed from August 17 to 20 at the Reserva de Marapendi in the Barra da Tijuca district, in the great suburbs of Rio (course of 5944 meters, par 71).

Gwladys Nocera finished 39th at +6, having signed cards of 73, 71, 74 and 72 (+6). Karine Icher is 44th at +10, with successive cards of 73, 72, 73, 76. A disappointment, we must admit. Especially since the scope of this Olympic tournament, reduced to 60 players and excluding a considerable number of the best in the world (from two to four possible players, even for strong nations), was, in the words of Karine Icher before these Games , "The weakest of the year". After the mixed rankings of Grégory Bourdy (21st) and Julien Quesne (55th) in the men's Olympic tournament, French golf was therefore not at the carnival, in Rio de Janeiro.

Gwladys and Karine missed at least one nice day, like those successful by Bourdy at the start of the tournament (67 and 69). Or even better: an unusual card like that of the Russian Maria Verchenova, 62 (-9!) In the last round on August 20. Placed 41st at +5 with Icher and Nocera after three laps, Verchenova set the course record with this 62. Achieving nine birdies, plus a hole in one at par 3 # 4, the Russian climbed twenty-five places, finishing 16th at -4. Nothing to worry about, however, the top three…

Inbee Park, the South Korean long time number 1 in the world and youngest player to have entered the Hall of Fame (last June, announcement made at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship) appeared at the end of the race, saturated with golf and demotivated, she said , by a recurrent thumb injury. Package in July for the US Open and the British Open, Park, 28, has gathered all his soul and his technique to go for an Olympic gold medal which definitively magnifies his prize list. With a final score of -16, she left no chance to the young 19-year-old player who succeeds her today in the firmament of world golf. Lydia Ko, the New Zealander of Korean origin, is nevertheless superb 2nd at -11, silver medal having snatched with class and panache a final birdie at 18. The bronze medal goes to the Chinese Shanshan Feng, 3rd to -10. A podium of very great players and which honors women's golf.

JULY

US Open, Scottish, British… Nocera, Boineau and Icher!

Valentine Derrey, Gwladys Nocera and her younger brother, Sébastien Clément, in July at the US Open - © Agatha Crispy

Three spots of great interest were on the program for this month in July 2016. In one: the US Open, third Major of the season, played from July 7 to 10 at the CordeValle Golf Club in San Martin, an hour's drive from San Francisco. In two: the Scottish Open, contested at the Dundonald Links from July 22 to 24. In three: the British open, the fourth Major of the season, from July 27 to 31 at the Woburn Golf Club, not far from London. Each time, a Frenchwoman stood out there. And in what way for Isabelle Boineau, winner of the Scottish Open and who wins, at 27, the first big victory of her career! Already 5th in the Lacoste Ladies Open of France in 2014, and again 5th in the 2016 edition of the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco last May, the Marseillaise has chosen her tournament well to shine. Endowed with 500 euros, with a check for 000 euros for the winner, this Scottish Open has allowed it to rise dramatically to the European ranking.

Next September 8 at the ISPS Handa Ladies European Masters (Hubbelrath, Germany), Isabelle Boineau will negotiate the provisional fourth place in the 2016 ranking, just behind the American Beth Allen, the Scottish Catriona Matthew and the Chinese Shanshan Feng the resumption of LET, after the long interruption due to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Thanks to this brilliant performance at the end of July at the Dundonald Links, Isabelle is the only French woman to date to appear well in the European ranking. Behind, you have to go to 23rd and 28th ranks to find Gwladys Nocera and Karine Icher. The latter nevertheless did the job in July, especially in the two Majors who were on the program.

On July 10 at the US Open in San Martin (victory for the American Brittany Lang), Gwladys Nocera ranks 38th after being the only one of the four French women involved in the cut. Neither Karine Icher, nor Jade Schaeffer nor Valentine Derrey (first US Open for Jade and Valentine who had brilliantly invited themselves thanks to a qualification obtained at the end of May in England!) Indeed succeed in extending their Californian stay. On July 31 at the British open in Woburn (victory of the Thai Ariya Jutanugarn), Karine Icher finished well 25th and improved her mark of 32nd signed in early April at Ana Inspiration at Rancho Mirage. For their part, Isabelle Boineau and Gwladys Nocera do not pass the cut, confirming the rule: in four Major already contested in 2016, there has never been more than one tricolor player to invite to the weekend.

Only the Evian Championship, from September 15 to 18, remains to reverse this trend. Isabelle Boineau, qualified for the fifth Major of the season, thanks to her victory at the Scottish Open, and Céline Herbin - assured of participating in the French Major since her title at the end of 2015 at the French Open and whose superb place was noted 11th on the LPGA Tour on July 17 at the Marathon Classic in Corning, Ohio (victory for Lydia Ko) - will be among the French women who will fight in Evian so that there is finally an exception to the rule.

June

Céline Herbin "Major", Karine Icher 3rd in LPGA

On the left: Céline Herbin, in June at the KPMG with her woodguard “Olive, the wife of Popeye”, on the right: Marion Ricordeau and her younger husband Inigo, in June at the KPMG - © Agatha Crispy

June was marked by Céline Herbin's first performance in a major tournament: 46th in the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, on June 12 in Sammamish, near Seattle. For the first Major of her career, the winner of the Lacoste Ladies Open of France 2015, was well surrounded since four other French women, Gwladys Nocera, Karine Icher, Marion Ricordeau and Joanna Klatten, were at the start with her. On the magnificent but very challenging wooded course of Sahalee, on the northwest coast of the United States (not very far from Vancouver and Canada), Céline Herbin showed an exceptional mind. Already to take a complicated first round, very far from the best, at +5. The Bas-Normande suffered from severe angina and had to fight 5:40 on the course with 25 minutes of waiting in the rain at the start of one of the last holes, as the parties had "stacked" over the course of the day .

Despite her delay in the score, it was she, Céline, who was going to be the only one of the five Blue to pass the cut, set at +7 on the evening of the second round. Ricordeau and Icher missed the weekend for one point, Nocera for three points, while Joanna Klatten, suffering from acute low back pain, had forfeited on Thursday morning. While young Canadian Brooke Henderson won the first play off hole against Lydia Ko (world number 1 and winner of the Ana Inspiration in early April), Céline Herbin was in 46th place, although very weak by his angina, completed the second Major of the season. Confirmation of his first great performances on the LPGA Tour this year.

Just before this KPMG Women's PGA Championship, Céline Herbin had indeed already been 22nd in the ShopRite LPGA Classic in Galloway, on June 5 in New Jersey. Tournament over three laps, certainly "zapped" by many of the best in the world but where Karine Icher had for her part taken a very good third place thanks to a 62 record in the second round. It was the ninth “podium” for Icher in eleven seasons on the LPGA Tour. But still not this victory after which the Castelroussine has not stopped chasing since its debut on the American circuit ...

As for the Ladies European Tour (LET), the calendar for June had been reduced to a single tournament: the Tipsport Golf Masters, at the Pilsen Golf Club in the Czech Republic. This three-round tournament, contested from June 17 to 19 and won by Danish Nanna Koerstz Madsen, enabled Sophie Giquel-Bettan, 8th, to return to the top 10 of a tournament on the European circuit. Which may augur beautiful things for the Breton of Ploërmel before the end of the 2016 season, especially since it is between September and December that the LET will offer the most tournaments and therefore opportunities to the players, the French in particular.