The FedEx Open de France begins at a substantially remodelled Le Golf National, with the Albatros course returning as host after work connected to the Grand Paris Express project displaced the tournament in 2025.
France’s national open was played at Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche last year while the long-standing venue underwent almost two years of changes. The revised Albatros now presents competitors with a different sequence from the fourth through sixth holes, as well as reshaped greens and bunkers elsewhere and a new championship tee on the 15th.
That makes this more than a return to a familiar setting. Le Golf National hosted the 2018 Ryder Cup and the golf competitions at the 2024 Olympic Games, but players arriving for this week’s event will face a changed front-nine test before reaching the water-heavy closing stretch for which the course is widely known.
Three redesigned holes reshape the front nine
The most extensive work has taken place across holes four, five and six. The changes followed the need for a wide mound to the right of the fourth hole to protect the metro line and a new public footpath, according to the DP World Tour.
- Fourth hole: a 497-yard, dogleg-left par four with its fairway and green moved left and a raised putting surface.
- Fifth hole: a 476-yard, dogleg-right par four played from an elevated tee, with the green relocated to a high point.
- Sixth hole: a 414-yard par four featuring a split fairway, additional fairway bunkers and a narrow, elevated green.
Seventeen bunkers have been added across those three holes compared with the original layout. The course alterations also include green remodelling and redesigned bunkers, while the new championship tee on the 15th forms part of the wider enhancement programme.
France’s Martin Couvra told the DP World Tour that he particularly liked the changes at the fourth and fifth, although he expected the fifth to be especially difficult. Ugo Coussaud said the fourth remained a demanding hole, citing its length, a tighter fairway for a full drive and a narrow green. His assessment underlined how the redesign has retained the requirement for precise shots rather than merely changing the appearance of the holes.
Ludvig Åberg said the course still rewarded players who executed their shots and punished those who did not. The Swede, making his Open de France debut, said the fairways on the fifth and sixth appeared wider than before, but added that changes to the greens had not removed the Albatros course’s established character.
Kim and Hovland expect demanding conditions
Defending champion Michael Kim said Le Golf National would represent a tougher examination than Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, where he won the 2025 Open de France by one shot. Kim, who is playing the Albatros course for the first time, said the visible water hazards made controlling misses a priority and indicated that keeping the ball out of trouble would be central to his title defence.
Kim’s 2025 victory ended a seven-year wait for a worldwide win. His return therefore comes with evidence that he can contend in France, but not with recent competitive experience of the remodelled course itself.
Viktor Hovland is also making his Open de France debut, despite having played Le Golf National at the 2024 Olympics, where he finished tied 30th. The Norwegian described it as one of the best tournament courses he had played in Europe and said strong tee-to-green play could create separation in the field.
Hovland also identified the challenge from the tee and the amount of water, particularly on the back nine. He said the rough appeared less thick than it had been during the Olympics after a warm summer, while adding that the course still demanded players know where their ball was heading.
The comments from Kim and Hovland point to a tournament in which execution from the tee and into raised or narrow greens may carry particular weight. That is an assessment rather than a prediction, but it is consistent with the rebuilt holes and with the players’ descriptions of an exacting, visually exposed layout.