The second of the European Tour’s newly created Rolex Series tournaments tees off in France this week with eight Australasian’s in the running for a share of the US$7,000,000 prize fund.

The eight tournament Rolex Series is designed to encourage Europe’s top players to tee up more often in Europe and a strong field has assembled for the HNA Open de France at Le Golf National.

Scott Hend, Brett Rumford, Marcus Fraser, Jason Scrivener, Wade Ormsby, Andrew Dodt, Ryan Fox and Sam Brazel are all in the field which is spearheaded by PGA TOUR player and one of the most exciting prospects in the game, Jon Rahm.

Le Golf National, which will host the Ryder Cup in 2018, is one of the more difficult courses the Tour plays all year with the winning score often not reaching double digits under par.

All the Australians in this week’s field have had mixed results at the tournament, Scott Hend the best performer in 2016 in a share of 56^th place.

However, there have been highlights along the way with Marcus Fraser finishing T15 in 2015 and Wader Ormsby T11 the year before.

While Fraser has struggled with his game of late Ormsby has been on a trajectory of improvement and despite fading after taking the first round lead last week there is a lot to like about his game.

A missed cut at the U.S. Open at Erin Hills two weeks ago was caused predominantly by two poor holes and after almost a year off with injury his play for most of 2017 has been decent.

Last Thursday’s 64 suggests all elements of his game are close and he could well be one to watch this week after two frustrating results in succession.

Sam Brazel makes his first appearance at the event and it is a course which he may find to his liking.

While it has plenty of length there is a premium on accuracy at Le Golf National and that plays right into Brazel’s hands.

While he is yet to contend since winning the UBS Hong Kong Open late last year, Brazel has missed just three cuts in his rookie European season, one of those coming last week in Germany.

Brett Rumford and Andrew Dodt have had little success in multiple visits to the course with Rumford missing five cuts and withdrawing twice in his 12 appearances.

Dodt was T18 in 2010 but has three missed cuts, a WD and a T65 finish to his name since.

Scott Hend is yet to miss the cut at the event but has finished T56 and T57 in his two visits to Paris, the tight nature of the course working against his naturally aggressive style.

Ryan Fox, the sole New Zealander in the field will look to continue his solid performance on the European Tour following three straight top-30 finishes.