• The Open de France ALSTOM is not only the oldest National Open Championship in Continental Europe, dating back to 1906, but also the richest, with a prize fund of €4,000,000.
• Defending champion, Graeme Storm will be aiming to join an exclusive club of players who have successively defended the Open de France ALSTOM title. Since The European Tour came into being, only Peter Oosterhuis (1973-74), Seve Ballesteros (1985-86), Nick Faldo (1988-89) and Jean François Remesy (2004-05) have achieved the feat.
• Should the championship witness another English victory, it will be the first time in the history of The European Tour, England have won the Open de France ALSTOM three years in a row, following John Bickerton (2006) and Graeme Storm 12 months ago.
• When Jean-François Remesy won his National Open Championship for a second consecutive time in 2005 he became the first and only French player to date to successfully defend a European Tour title. In 2008, there will be 21 French players trying to claim the title.
• History was created in the 1986 Open de France when Seve Ballesteros became the first player to successfully defend a European Tour title and win both in a wire-to-wire fashion, in 1985 and 86.
• The 2002 Open de France saw history made by England’s Malcolm Mackenzie when claiming his first European Tour title in his 509th European Tour event – the most events played by a player gaining his first European Tour victory. Mackenzie beat the previous record of Roger Chapman, who won at the 472nd attempt at the 2000 Brazil Rio de Janeiro 500 Years Open.
• The Open de France is used to high profile players winning the Championship. No less than 18 Major Champions have their name etched on the roll of honour. The field assembled for the 2008 Championship includes no fewer than 95 players who have won on The European Tour.
