The European Senior Tour returns to France for the inaugural Paris Legends Championship on the L’Albatros course at Le Golf National, host venue for The 2018 Ryder Cup…
Rewind
2002 winner Malcolm Mackenzie
Although this the first edition of the Paris Legends Championship, Senior Tour players are not unfamiliar with this course as four of the field have won the Open de France at this venue.
Italian Costantino Rocca was the first of the field to win, beating 2014 European Ryder Cup Captain Paul McGinley in a play-off to secure his second European Tour title.
It was 2002 European Ryder Cup Captain Sam Torrance in fine form in 1998, finishing two shots ahead of a chasing pack, which included 2004 Ryder Cup Captain Bernhard Langer.
Englishmen Phil Golding and Malcolm Mackenzie won in successive years, with Golding emerging victorious in 2003, a year after Mackenzie won his maiden European Tour title.
The field
Two-time Major Champion John Daly
As well as the aforementioned Open de France winners, Major Champions John Daly and Ian Woosnam headline the field in Paris, with the two-time Major winner Daly making his regular European Senior Tour debut.
Woosnam, the 1991 Masters champion, is searching for his sixth Senior Tour title, adding to his already impressive resume of 29 European Tour victories.
Former Ryder Cup players Gordon Brand Jnr, Gordon J Brand, Eamonn Darcy, David Gilford, Barry Lane, Steven Richardson, José Rivero, Costantino Rocca, Des Smyth, Sam Torrance, Philip Walton, and Jean Van de Velde will tee it up on the course set to host the next Ryder Cup on European soil.
As well as Woosnam, fellow former John Jacobs Trophy winners Peter Fowler, Carl Mason and Paul Wesselingh are in the field, with Carl Mason bidding to add to his record of 25 Senior Tour titles.
Already victorious on the Senior Tour in 2016, André Bossert, Paul Eales, Gordon Manson, Andrew Oldcorn and Tim Thelen are all aiming to become the first player to win two events this season.
The course
Five years ago, France was announced as host country for The 2018 Ryder Cup, the Albtros course, a European Tour Properties Destination selected as the venue for the biannual tournament.
Designed by Hubert Chesnau, the course was originally opened in 1990 and is renowned as one of the toughest on the European Tour circuit, having hosted the Open de France since 1991.
It underwent extensive remodelling in 2015 in preparation for The Ryder Cup, with the first and 16th greens reworked, the fourth and fifth holes re-bunkered and the installation of a pond in front of the green on the 11th hole.
