RORY MCILROY IS set to return to the Open de France this year to play in the tournament’s centenary event as part of his preparations for The Open.
The Northern Irishman has twice teed it up at the European Tour event, missing the cut during his first season as a professional in 2008 and falling short of a play-off by one stroke in 2010.
McIlroy’s decision to play in France means he will not feature at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational as the tournaments are played on the same weekend between 30 June 30 and 3 July.
The four-time major winner was a victor at the Bridgestone Invitational in 2014 but was unable to defend last season due an ankle injury.
And McIlroy believes playing at the Le Golf National – host of the 2018 Ryder Cup – will provide ideal preparation for The Open.
“I feel that playing in the 100th Open de France at Le Golf National will be the best way to get ready for The Open, which is just two weeks after the French Open,” McIlroy told the European Tour’s official website.
“Le Golf National might not be a pure links course, but it is traditionally firm and fast and can throw up some tricky conditions during the French Open.
“It’s a great test of golf and I think playing there, as well as staying in Europe, will offer the best conditions to prepare for The Open at Troon.
“It will also be great to be part of the centennial edition of the French Open, which is one of the best events on the European Tour. I am sure there will be a special atmosphere at the tournament this year, so I’m looking forward to hopefully being a very big part of it.”
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Let the black card witch-hunt begin. Lead by the masters of cynical play Tyrone, big surprise!
Donegal not happy with it neither that’s their game plan out the window
Dublin won an All Ireland with it, Mayo did it to them the year before. Nobody is innocent here, Harte’s Tyrone got 3 All Irelands by playing in the rules of the game it’s up to the rest to put it up to them as all teams play with the same rules.
are you saying dublin won a championship with cynical play?
No, I’m saying Dublin played by the rules of the sport to win, Mayo did the same to get to two All Irelands and Tyrone did it to tie for Team of the Decade. You play to win or you don’t want it badly enough Paul.
I think the black card will effect Donegal and Tyrone more beacuse they play on the edge I dont agree with the blackcard anyway as if a incident is bad enough to send a player off its a redcard
Still think, given time, it will be positive. There’ll always be mistakes made, but you can see that body checking the third man runner has already been stamped out.
It was a poor decision from Goldrick, no getting away from it.
Coldrick made a mistake – get over it! The black card is a great idea for the first 65 minutes of a match – teams will still do what it takes to get a win so I can still see lads getting dragged down, etc. Being able to replace only the first 3 black cards helps in this regard.
You shouldn’t be able to replace a black carded player in the last 5 mins.
Yeah 2 people who argued against it before it was introduced saying the same thing after it has led to confusion.. can’t wait until further controversies effect your own teams and we then have you all backing the black card and not being critical of officials or rules at all as its only a tyrone and donegal thing obviously. ..
First Mickey heart, now Peter Canavan.
they see the writing on the wall daragh the two blackcards should have been redcards