Finding fairways and greens is important on any golf course, but the demand for accuracy around Le Golf National is one that should not be ignored if you are to win the third Rolex Series event of the season and the oldest Open in Continental Europe – the HNA Open de France.
Another key factor is bogey avoidance and, it goes without saying, the more fairways and greens you hit, the less likely you are to make bogey.
In fact, five of the last ten winners at Le Golf National have ranked number one for the week in Bogey Avoidance, with eight ranked in the top three.
The last five winners have ranked no worse than third in the Bogey or Worse stats, another important feat when you consider the course ranks second on the European Tour between 2015-18 for the fewest birdies or better (2.86 per round) and has the third highest rate of double bogeys or worse (3.8% of holes).
Tommy Fleetwood, Thongchai Jaidee, and Graeme McDowell, all past winners of this prestigious event, proved you don’t have to try and over power this golf course but instead plot your way around the course.
Throughout his winning week last year, Fleetwood proved just how vital it is to keep it in the short stuff and hit greens.
Tee to green the 2017 Race to Dubai winner impressed, ranking first in the Greens in Regulation stats throughout all four of his rounds and third in Fairways in Regulation. His scrambling was also impressive, ranking second (82%) and, in turn, improving his bogey avoidance ranking.
This year the Englishman will be aiming for his fifth European Tour title and to become the first man since Graeme McDowell in 2013-14 to win the event in back to back years. Only Seve Ballesteros, McDowell, Peter Oosterhuis and Jean-Francois Remesy, have successfully defended their titles in the 101 times this event has been staged.
There are several Ryder Cup hopefuls heading into the HNA Open de France who have impressive stats here and will be looking for a good week to push their way into Thomas Bjørn’s side.
One of these is Ryder Cup veteran Ian Poulter. He ranks second best in Bogey Avoidance at Le Golf National since 2002, making only 2.6 per round versus 3.5 per round for the field.
He is also one of only 17 players to hit 70% or more greens in regulation, ranking behind the likes of Angel Cabrera, Thomas Levet, Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson and Ian Woosnam.
For Martin Kaymer, it is a different story. The German has relied on his putting, ranking 13th in the putts per GIR stats since 2002. His par 5 scoring is also impressive ranking 11th, gaining half a stroke per round.
Others on the cusp of an automatic Ryder Cup place include Ross Fisher, Thorbjørn Olesen - a Rolex Series event winner this season at the Italian Open - Thomas Pieters and Andy Sullivan.
With the Ryder Cup retuning here in September, there maybe isn’t a better week to perform with captain Bjørn sure to be keeping a close eye on proceedings.
