McKibbin adds Open de France to his schedule as Race to Dubai hots up

Tom McKibbin will join Danish golf stars Rasmus and Nicolai Højgaard at next month’s FedEx Open de France, adding to an exciting line-up set to take on Le Golf National from October 10-13.

The 21-year-old Holywood man carded rounds of 68 and 66 on Saturday and Sunday at the BMW PGA Championship to secure a top-10 finish and climb back into the provisional 10 PGA Tour card positions on the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai, collecting more than $150,000 in the process.

The Højgaard twins have won eight titles on the DP World Tour between them since bursting on to the scene in 2019, one year after representing Europe at the Junior Ryder Cup in Paris.

Rasmus claimed his fifth DP World Tour title at the Amgen Irish Open at Royal County Down earlier this month, while Nicolai will be making a swift return to Le Golf National having represented Denmark in the Men’s Golf Competition in this Summer’s Paris Olympics, finishing seventh.

They will also be joined by Belgium’s Thomas Detry, who represented Belgium at the Olympic Games, and Italian Matteo Manassero, who is the youngest winner in DP World Tour history, among a number of home favourites already confirmed for the prestigious event, including Matthieu Pavon, Victor Perez and the DP World Tour’s most recent French winner Frederic Lacroix.

Also teeing it up will be Major Champions Justin Rose, Francesco Molinari and Danny Willett and 2013 FedExCup winner Billy Horschel, who won last week’s BMW PGA Championship, as the 2024 Race to Dubai nears an exciting conclusion.

“I had a fantastic experience representing Denmark at the Olympic Games last month so it’s nice to have the opportunity to go back to Le Golf National so quickly.” said Nicolai. “I got a lot out of that week and I’m hopeful that I can make even more of an impression next month.”

“I’m looking forward to returning to Le Golf National,” said Rasmus, who finished runner-up at the Open de France in 2022 and fourth last year. “It’s a venue where I’ve come close in the past and I’d love to get over the line this time around.

“The Albatros Course is a tough test of golf and there’s a lot of excitement out there. It should be another great week.”

Celebrated as the oldest national open on Continental Europe, this year will mark the 106^th edition of the Open de France. Past champions include legends of the game such as Seve Ballesteros, Colin Montgomerie, Bernhard Langer, Sir Nick Faldo, José María Olazábal, Byron Nelson and Walter Hagen.

The tournament occupies a prime position on the DP World Tour’s ‘Back 9’, which encompasses nine of the Tour’s most historic tournaments and national opens, giving members their final opportunities to secure playing rights for 2025 and also advance to the season ending ‘DP World Tour Play-Offs’.