Saint-Omer Open the next stop on the European Tour- Facts and Figures
Saint-Omer Open is the alternative event taking place at the European Tour, while majority of the top guns are preparing to test their skills at the Congressional Country Club, where the US Open will take place.
The event, carrying a purse of €600,000, is presented by Neuflize OBC. As history sees it, this is the lowest purse offered on the tour, owing to the lack of big names attached to the event.
The European Tour event will be hosted by the course for the seventh consecutive year. The four-day session will take place at the par-71 Aa Saint Omer Golf Club in Lumbres, France. The venue is one of the most beautiful locales
in the area and apart from its breathtaking beauty, its treacherous par has made it the choice of European Tour.
Earlier, the course was a par-73 layout, which made it long and hectic. However, to become part of the tour, the course management decided to bring changes in it and transformed it into what is a par-71 layout.
This is the 12th edition of the tournament and out of the past 12 winners, seven of them have been first-timers on the European Tour. The first winner of the tournament was Pascal Edmond who lifted the trophy in 2000.
He was followed by Sebastien Delagrange, Nicolas Vanhootegem, Brett Rumford, José-Filipe Lima, Joakim Backstrom, Cesar Monasterio, Carl Suneson, Christian Nilsson and Martin Wiegele.
The youngest winner of the event was 22-year-old José-Filipe Lima, who won it in 2004, while the oldest winner in the history of the tournament was Cesar Monasterio, who was 42 years and 164 days of age, when he lifted the trophy
in 2006.
The specified bracket of winners proves that only a player, who is physically fit and mature enough to handle the pressure is prone to make it to the winner’s podium on a particular Sunday.
Moreover, the lowest 18-hole score was set by Sebastien Delagrange in 2001. He compiled a score of 10-under par 63 in the first round and led the field until the third round, where he recorded an aggregate of 19-under par, which
is by far the lowest 54-hole score in the tournament history.
Six players hold the record of making a hole-in-one in twelve-year history of the tournament. Carlos de Corral made it in the first round of the tournament in 2005, while in the same year, Lewis Atkinson made it in the second round
of the same tournament. Matthew Morris, Niki Zitny, Clodomiro Carranza and Anders Schmidt Hansen were the other names to attain the honours.
This year’s tournament might not to be carrying a powerful field, but it will see some of the European Challenge Tour players climb the ladder of rankings, if not become superstars of the future.
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