Robin Roussel is taking inspiration from last year’s champion Victor Perez as he bids to move to the top of the Road to Mallorca with a strong performance at the Foshan Open, taking place at Foshan Golf Club from October 24-27.
The Frenchman is currently in second place on the Road to Mallorca Rankings following a runner-up finish at the Hainan Open last week and will now go in search of his second win of the season in the event which offers the biggest prize fund.
Roussel earned his first European Challenge Tour victory on home soil, at the Hauts de France Pas de Calais Golf Open in June, and after securing his European Tour playing privileges in Hainan, he now has his eye on being crowned Road to Mallorca Number One.
“We have seen Victor Perez, Robert MacIntyre, Romain Langasque and some others, like Sebastian Soderberg, play well this year and it brings me a lot of confidence because it shows that everybody who jumped from Challenge Tour to the European Tour can perform straightaway,” he said.
“To win the Road to Mallorca would mean a lot because it obviously means you’re the one at the top at the end of the season. It means that you can perform in the biggest events of the season, which means a lot because it means you can be clutch in the right moments.
“The last three events are the three biggest so if you want to finish well in the Rankings then you need to finish strongly in these events. I have been really looking forward to these last three because if you finish in the top five on the Rankings, then you have to play well in these last three events.”
The 28-year-old is experiencing the end-of-season ‘Chinese Swing’ for the first time and has been impressed thus far, particularly with the organisation of each event.
“I have enjoyed my time in China so far,” he said. “Last week was amazing on Hainan Island and I just arrived here in Foshan on Monday.
“I played the course for the first time and it is a lovely course. I heard this event was so well-organised and I have witnessed it since I’ve been here. I’m enjoying it very much.”
This week offers players the final opportunity to book their place at the season-ending Challenge Tour Grand Final at Club de Golf Alcanada, Mallorca. Only the top 45 players on the Road to Mallorca Rankings at the conclusion of the Foshan Open will tee it up in the event, meaning the plethora of players currently outside that mark have it all to do this week to secure a spot in the field.
Among those is England’s Todd Clements, who is currently ranked 46th on the Road to Mallorca, and 47th-placed Aaron Cockerill, who has three top ten finishes in his last four starts.
The 2019 Foshan Open will begin at 6.55am local time on Thursday October 23, with Wil Besseling, Simon Hawkes and Ben Stow getting the action under way from the tenth tee, while Roussel will begin his tournament at 7.45am from the first.
