Playing Le National

Today is the big day, we play Albatros course at Le Golf National which is the same course that the Ryder Cup was played on, they have also kindly left the pin placing as they were in the singles. We have decided on no goodie bags so that we can see how few points we score. They have left the rough and course in the same condition as it was and we are the lucky few who get to experience it today.

Comp of the day is Better ball matchplay, it is a revenge match of the battle of the spouses, and Ryder Cup is in play with a must win for the Mr Mr’s.

It is a shot gun start and we are starting on hole 9 which is one of the holes we watched the most. We were all nervous, I think that we had seen so many difficult holes and heard so much about the course that we let ourselves get too intimidated by the “beast” as she is affectionately known.

I was playing off 7, kaching! Jen off 13 and Neil off 30 and poor old John only got 3 extra shots. They use the new handicapping system where they add the difference of the course rating to par onto your handicap.

Garcia bravely stood up and nailed one off the tee and continued that form throughout the day, his wedge play exceptional and if he hadn’t waiting 10 holes to get the pace of the greens he would have been on fire. On 15th Garcia put his approach shot into the water, so plays his approach from the dropping zone and nearly holed out leaving himself a tap in 5 for 3 points. He finished with a very very respectable 34 points.

Stenson, struggled with the driver and let me tell you if you are not hitting the ball off the tee well the. You are in the deep poo. He persevered and righted the ship to score some points on the home stretch. As you may or may not know, we watched the final singles matches go through the 11th green and we would have seen at least 20 putts from 3 to 10 foot past the pin. Only one of these putts was made, well let’s make that 2! Stenson read the green, stood up to the putt and respectfully let it dribble down to the hole and into the cup.

Lee was going really well, driving straight down the middle. A beautiful tee shot onto 16 and a good putt notched her first birdie. Playing the 3rd, Lee had played a beautiful drive, superb second only to catch the tree and drop into the bunker. Her bunker shot was good by normal course standards, but on Le Golf National after Ryder Cup with greens running at 12 on the stump metre it just rolled off. She let her playing partners know that she really really wanted to par this hole, asked for the flag to be left out and proceeded to chip in. Unfortunately she injured her shoulder which was doing so well and the day went from bad to worse for her. Not only was the shoulder sore, the golf deteriorated as well. But being the trooper she is and not wanting to let her partners down she soldiered on to a well earned 26 points.

Lewis started off very well leaving herself a short chip in on the 9th and managed to right royally stuff it up. She then gave herself a stern talking to and pulled it together getting 19 points on the back 9, ending up with a winning 35 points. After a very near hole in one on 16 she left herself with a tap in birdie, and her dream hole to birdie was the 18th which she managed. Chicken dinner for Lewis, wining wine and golf towel in the ladies Comp.

The consensus in the group was that the course was tough but fair. The greens true, the water carries not unreasonable, overall a fitting end to our French leg of the tour.

We also were hosted in the USA pavilion, so saw their dressing rooms and relaxation areas and the facilities that they had. I have to say that there is t. UCL that they want for. Even the walls were decorated with past winning imagery. Whilst we were playing they were still dismantling the stands , TV towers and villages. The work that goes into setting that up is just incredible.

A truly spectacular day.