Andrew's Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge (HPT) Preview
- Andrew
- 4 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Two events to look back on last week. The Korn Ferry Tour hosted the Memorial Health Championship which was won by Canadian lefty Drew Nesbit with a predictably ridiculous -26. Drew also robbed our number one player of a first round leader win with a 60 – Carson Young’s 61 would have been good for a FRL the last few years. More disappointingly, Young followed up with a 70-67-67 run to miss the places comfortably, whilst neither John Pak nor Andrew Kozan featured. Nesbitt’s win was something of a shock and will probably go down as an outlier unless he’s hit a new vein of form in his thirties. Of greater note is the success of the new PGA Tour-U grads. I mentioned this crew were promising ahead of the Amarillo event and in just their second possible KFT start as pros, we saw Tommy Morrison in the final group and finishing fifth, with Christain Maas in 19th and Filip Jakubcik (despite a final round 72) finishing 33rd. All could make noise for the rest of the year.
On the HotelPlanner Tour, rather less happened. The course put up surprising resistance, with poor weather only having an impact on the final round. I suspect that firmer greens and fairways were more of a challenge than I expected, but in John Gough we got exactly the type of winner I predicted (experienced, links-skilled, British, accurate.) He was fourth in the same event in 2025 so I’m kicking myself that I didn’t find him, as several others did.
Gough’s chances for the coming week will be impacted by Open Qualifying – he spent all of Tuesday in England, finishing solo sixth at Royal Cinque Ports after 36 grueling holes (he noted on the broadcast that he was so tired he was seizing up whilst sitting down, which isn’t encouraging.) Yes, five qualified. It was a great performance but it must have taken a lot out of him, and he’ll only have arrived in Normandy this week. So, with congratulations to those who’ve made it to The Open, I’ll be looking to find players who didn’t take part in the challenge and have had a more orthodox build-up. Let’s get into the event.
The Tournament
We’re in France for a second week, at the more normally named event Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge.That’s held at PGA France du Vaudreuil in Le Vaudreuil (a word I’m now heartily sick of typing,) which is in Normandy, on the Seine river about halfway between Paris and the English Channel. This is a beautiful course and has hosted this event since 2013 (apart from Covid.) It has a storied list of winners with a very English feel, including recent major winner Aaron Rai. Add names like David Horsey, Nathan Kimsey and Andrew Johnson and you’ll have a sense of what you’re getting here. Here’s what I said last year:
This is a tee-to-green test, and that’s what I see when I review the recent leaderboards, too. At 7,000 yards exactly for a par 72, this is more about accuracy than length. The last four events have been won at -14 or -15, which gives a clear idea of what’s needed to win.
I’m still focused on approach play and accurate driving more than anything, and David Horsey’s win (at -16) is just more evidence to back that up – he’s also a strong putter which can never be a bad thing. With not much weather to worry about I think we’ll see decent scoring again. I would note that there’s a possibility of a wave advantage to the early starters so do have a look at tee times if you like that sort of thing. I wouldn’t go overboard, though.
The Selections
We have a market headed by the usual suspects (Pablo Ereno, Hamish Brown, Adam Wallin) together with recent form performers and course performers David Horsey, Kristian Krogh Johannessen and Clement Sordet, but amongst them are a couple of notable names from other tours, Caleb Surratt who is vying for favouritism, and Luis Masaveu. Both are good enough to beat most of this field on most courses. Both would prefer something longer and tougher – as would Ereno, Brown and Wallin – and both took part in Open Qualifying. I’m happy to look further down the list for my selections. It was harder to leave out Santiago Tarrio as he returns to form, but I’ve managed to hold my list to four selections, and just one afternoon starter.
First up is a player I picked last year too, Liam Nolan, who has shown great form of late with three top tens in five starts, including fourth at Blot Play9 last week. Missing Open Qualifying and with an early tee time he’s well-positioned to go well this week and grab a maiden HPT title. He’s grown up in Galway and these short, accuracy-based and tight courses are his bread and butter. He won’t mind the wind, either. As a good amateur, we won the Brabazon at Sunningdale, which is a pretty strong course comparison for this.
Second on my list and at a shorter price, it is impossible to leave Tadeas Tetak out of my staking plan. I expected a shorter price for a man who also has a good tee time, and who has finished in the top ten on his last three starts (including second at the Swiss Challenge.) He’s been thriving on these short approach-based courses and was also good enough to get a top ten in the English Open. After missing last week he’ll be far fresher than guys who’ve played that and the Open Qualifiers since he last had a competitive round. His sole appearance in this event came in 2024 when he was 22nd. Since then he’s become a more seasoned player with DPWT-level experience and is clearly in his best ever form currently.
Thirdly I’m taking Jean Bekirian. Although he represents Armenia (uniquely in professional golf, I believe) he grew up in France where his parents lived and worked, and as such is playing a bit of a “home” game. He was a shocking winner of a DPWT card after 2024 Q-school and struggled last year both to get DPWT starts and to make the best of them. He’s found the right level at HPT currently and he duly popped up with a top ten at Interwetten two starts ago. His 29th last week was fair rather than excellent but this calm and consistent ball striker and solid putter is certainly good enough to do better, and this seems like the ideal sort of challenge in which to back him for further success.
Finally, I am taking one afternoon starter, and it is someone I’ve been backing for years, Robin Sciot-Siegrist. Hard to deny that I’ve expected more of Robin, but his best ever finish was second here in 2022 (he’s had two runners-up finishes in 167 starts on the HPT, and has two third place finishes in 78 DPWT starts.) He was also sixth here last year. This is clearly a course he adores and one where he can give of his best. He’s from the Parisian suburb of Saint-Nom-la-Breteche which puts him in a real home environment here. The bad news is that his current form is incredibly weak – five missed cuts from six events (though he was 21st in Switzerland) – and he has an afternoon start. I was close to leaving him off my list for those reasons, but I do believe we’ll see a better golfer than we have anywhere else and I saw a price that I couldn’t resist.
Liam Nolan, 50/1, 1pt e/w, 1.4 odds 5 places, Ladbrokes
Tadeas Tetak, 35/1, 1pt e/w, 1.4 odds 5 places, Bet365
Jean Bekirian, 66/1, 1pt e/w, 1.4 odds 5 places, Bet365
Robin Sciot-Siegrist, 90/1, 1pt e/w, 1.4 odds 5 places, Bet365