Olympic course guide: 5 things to know about Le Golf National

All four of this year’s men’s majors are in the books, but three big medals are still up for grabs. Olympic golf is about to get started. The competition gets underway Thursday in the men’s division with a 60-player field from 32 countries vying for gold, silver and gold (the women’s competition, which features 60 players from 33 countries, starts next Wednesday).

The format is four rounds, or 72 holes, of stroke play, and the venue is the Albatros course at Le Golf National, outside of Paris. A longtime host of the DP World Tour’s Open de France (and the site of the 2018 Ryder Cup), the Albatros is no stranger to the spotlight. But many fans might still find it unfamiliar. To help you get acquainted, here are five things to know about the course.

The Marlboro Man helped design it

Situated in the town of Guyancourt, roughly 18 miles from the Eiffel Tower, the course, which opened in 1990, was co-designed by Hubert Chesneau and Robert von Hagge. Chesneau is French. Von Hagge, who died in 2010, was a prolific American architect who, prior to embarking on a career in golf design, starred in television commercials as the Marlboro Man.

It was once a farm

Long before it yielded its first birdie, the ground here produced crops. The course sits on former farmland, a once-flat expanse that was built up into a rolling layout with 45-feet of elevation change and a stadium-style configuration with room for some 30,000 spectators. 

Sir Nick found it “tough but fair.”

In 1991, when the course hosted its first Open de France, Nick Faldo followed up his opening-round 71 by calling the layout “tough but fair.” Earlier this week, Tom Kim echoed that sentiment. “I think it’s going to be a really good test of golf for everyone,” said Kim, who is representing the Republic of Korea. “You can’t really fake it around here.” The historical record bears that out. In its tenure as a host of the Open de France, the course has ranked among the toughest on the DP World Tour.

It has a watery finish

A tight course that favors precision over power, the Albatros can be unkind to wayward drives and approaches. It grows especially unforgiving as the round progresses, with a punishing closing stretch that brings water into play on three of the last four holes.

You can play it

Owned by the French Golf Federation, the course is part of a luxury hotel that is also home to the 18-hole Aigle course and the nine-hole L’Oiselet course. All of the courses are accessible to the public. Tee times resume on Aug. 13.