Azahara Muñoz - Photo: ASO / P.Ballet

After the success of the two previous editions, the Lacoste Ladies Open de France will be contested again this year, in the first days of autumn, in the heart of the Basque Country. Nestled on the heights of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, the Chantaco golf course will host the Women's French Open for the third time in its rich history. A true institution in the French golf landscape, the club was created in 1928 by René Thion de la Chaume, whose daughter Simone, great golf champion of her time, married René Lacoste, one of the four musketeers of French tennis from the interwar period and creator of the famous clothing brand. Since last year, the great-granddaughter of the founder, Véronique Smondack, has been at the head of the club, thus perpetuating the family tradition. As for the course, 5577 meters long for a par 70, it is the work of the famous British architect Harry Colt. Its technicality makes it an excellent test of golf commensurate with the talent of the best players of the Ladies European Tour, the European women's circuit.

Seventy-eight of them will be at the start of the 27th edition of the tournament with the ambition of succeeding Azahara Muñoz on the prize list. Last year, at the end of a last tour rich in suspense, the Spaniard had preceded a quartet of French women made up of Gwladys Nocera, Valentine Derrey, Joanna Klatten and Karine Icher. The best French tricolors will therefore be on hand to try to join their only three compatriots victorious in the event: Marie-Laure de Lorenzi (1988, 1993 and 1995), Patricia Meunier-Lebouc (2000) and Stéphanie Arricau (2004). 19th of the 24 Ladies European Tour tournaments in 2014, the Lacoste Ladies Open de France is once again the last event to be contested on the Old Continent. This strategic position at the end of the season, combined with an endowment of 250 euros, should attract the best European players and guarantee a very good show.