The French golf business community celebrated last week after the Golf National course in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, near Paris, was picked to host the Ryder Cup in 2018. The win should support the French golf federation's plans to quickly lift golf participation in the country, and it could provide a substantial boost to the French golf market.
The Golf National beat competing bids from courses in Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, which had been tipped as favorite after the passing of Seve Ballesteros. It is the first time that France will host the game between Europe and the U.S., but the Golf National is very well-suited for high-profile games, with a layout enabling it to welcome about 70,000 spectators per day.
The victory of the French bid neatly backs up the ambitious projects of the country's golf federation to lift the number of French golf players from about 400,000 to 700,000 by 2022, partly by building more than 100 urban golf courses. It also aims to have three French players on the European Ryder Cup team by then.
