Damien Perrier will be the headline draw at this week’s Cordon Golf Open as the Frenchman takes part in his home event for the 13thtime – but his first as a European Challenge Tour winner.
The 27 year old won the D+D REAL Czech Challenge earlier in the season and consistency throughout the year has kept him in sixth place in the Road to Oman Rankings heading into the final eight events.
Perrier, who as part of Team Cordon has close ties to this event, knows Golf Blue Green de Pléneuf Val André well – something he hopes will be of benefit this week.
“It’s an advantage to know the course as well as I do,” he said. “It depends on the set up of the course, but it looks really dry this year.
“Each edition is different, but I know the design of the course and I’ve played it in many different conditions, so I think it’s definitely an advantage.
“Playing so near to my home is a great feeling and I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself, just do my best – it’s going to be a special week for me, but I’ll just try to keep in my routine.
“I think this is my 13thtime. I just missed one edition last year because I had to defend my Alps Tour ranking with only a few tournaments left, so I had to go to Spain unfortunately – it was the first year I didn’t play since 2003 I think.
“Before it was a Challenge Tour event it was on the Alps Tour and the French Tour as well, so it’s a comeback for me this year, and as a full Challenge Tour player having a good season.
“It will be nice to get the crowd behind me because I’m just living in Rennes, so very near – this is not quite my home course but it almost is, I come here to practise in the winter and I love it.
“I hope it’s going to be a good week because this is the tournament of my main sponsor, Cordon, and I hope to play well in front of the local public.
“I’ve got everything in place here to make it a good week, maybe a bit of extra pressure compared to normal but sometimes that can be a positive thing so we’ll see.”
Perrier has thrown himself into his second full season on Europe’s top developmental tour, playing in all but one event on the 2016 schedule so far – and even that was only because he was playing on the European Tour.
He arrived in France on the back of two top-ten finishes – his fifth and sixth of the season – and, with just three missed cuts, he has been constantly scoring points as he bids to graduate to the European Tour.
“I’ve been very consistent,” he said. “I feel a bit tired because I’ve played 15 tournaments in a row now since Czech Republic, and I’m the player who has played the most this year – I just missed one Challenge Tour event to play in the Open de France.
“I like to play, I just feel like it’s boring when I’m not playing, and I like to travel to play, and to defend and improve my place in the Rankings before the end of the year – I’m giving myself every chance I can to finish well on the Road to Oman.
“Some players don’t pay attention to the Rankings, but I’m one of those who likes to know, and this year is going to be a weird year because of some of the new young players, like Thomas Detry last week, playing very well – he can come from behind in the final few events, with plenty of points on offer there.
“Last year there was three guys – Nacho Elvira, Sebastien Gros and Ricardo Gouveia – playing very consistently and taking most of the points, so the cutline for 15thplace was about 80,000 but this year it’s going to be higher for sure – probably 90 or 95,000 to be sure, so I still have plenty of work to do.
“I’m trying not to fix myself a minimum, I’m just trying to pass 100,000 and then get as high as possible to get a good ranking for next year, but the main goal is to finish in the top 15.
“There are eight tournaments to go and it’s going to be interesting with so many guys still in contention, there are no double winners this year so that’s made the Rankings very compact, and I think we all know it – at the end of the season a few thousand can make a big difference.”
Englishman Jordan Smith is the highest-ranked player in the field this week, a tie for sixth at last week’s Bridgestone Challenge taking the 23 year old back to second place in the Rankings.
As well as Perrier, French interest will fall on two other tournament winners this season, Adrien Saddier – victorious at the Fred Olsen Challenge de España – and Clément Sordet, who won the Turkish Airlines Challenge and, like Perrier, is a member of Team Cordon.
Andrea Pavan took a memorable wire-to-wire victory on his last visit to Pléneuf three years ago on his way to topping the Rankings and, currently 31
st
, the Italian will be hoping those memories can inspire him to repeat that success this week.
