Worthwhile visit to an impressive La Rochelle Sud - Keith Redmond
Keith Redmond was thrilled to travel to the 2025 French International Pairs (the initial staging of this intriguing event) with his good pal John Ross Crangle and was delighted to return home with the laurels. Here's Keith's evaluation of a memorable weekend.
What motivated you both to travel to the inaugural French Pairs?
I think that like a lot of players, we both regret the end of the playing season each year, so an opportunity to extend it with an international tournament is a great motivator. We had already entered the Catalan Pairs tournament and when the French popped up we figured it would be something new and well worth a visit. It’s hard not to be impressed when you take a look at the La Rochelle Sud social media presence, so we signed up.
Did you realize you were the only Irish pair making the trip?
Not until the entrant list came out, we had gotten our entry in early but our focus didn’t really turn to this event while the season was in full flow, JR was involved in the Inter- County so that kept him occupied right up until the week before France.
Being the only Irish team on the published list wasn’t really a big deal, I think a lot of players were previously committed to the Catalan event, we were just fortunate to be able to do both really.
Your impressions of the La Rochelle course?
Hugely impressed, we went with high hopes but the reality exceeded those. The holes are quite distinct from one another and don’t become generic or plain, the distances are varied but feel familiar to Irish distances with most in the 50 to late 70 metre range. The ones that are 80+ bring complication on the green rather than penal hazards, so that makes it much more playable than it could be.
I would add that the general facility is excellent, I would describe it as equivalent to a good Irish golf club, with a shop / bar / restaurant / driving range and dressing rooms. Not unusual for a commercial venture but certainly very different to our members-style clubhouses in Ireland. I think facilities of this type can attract people to our sport who potentially wouldn’t be our traditional member.
You haven’t played many international events. How did the experience measure up?
I was an intermediate player when I last went to an international event, I think I played two Catalan Opens and I didn’t really have the ability to treat either trip as a competitive outing, so this experience was quite different having become a bit more capable over the years. Add in that I was partnering someone of JRs level, I wanted to go and compete properly for the first time which we fortunately did.
Were you both disappointed with your opening 51 in Greensomes?
Disappointed is not the word I would use, we are both generally quite relaxed about scores and don’t overreact to those things in the middle of a tournament, that said we knew we hadn’t played very well, especially on the greens where we left a lot behind us.
If anything, it gave us a bit of motivation to perform in the second round and the change to a better ball format also set us up to be aggressive, I think we had two birdie putts on every hole in round 2 under that format.
The overall standard (particularly among the French players) was quite high?
Yes, the standard was impressive, a lot of the French players we played with or watched had technically excellent swings and struck the ball beautifully. With experienced players from Catalonia and Galicia also in the field we were never under the impression we could pick up a prize without playing well.
Five way tie overnight, what was the plan for Sunday?
We had three rounds under our belts between practice and the tournament by that stage, so we both just really wanted another go at the course, we knew pins were changing for the final round so that added a bit of interest to proceedings too.
The plan was simple really, play aggressive pitch and putt on every hole and set a target that would be hard to beat, at least then if someone beats you by playing incredible stuff you won’t have too many regrets.
What was the turning point in your win?
We got off to a fast start; we were -2 after three holes, which took us clear of Michael and Bastian who we were out with. That was milestone one really, win the fourball, you can’t win the tournament otherwise.
From there we were trying to figure out what was happening on the course, we could hear some shouts and knew teams were scoring, but we went through 10 to 13 in -4 (including a hole-in-one from JR on 12) to get us to -7 total. That section stands out as the winning of it to me, we then birdied 14 and 15 to get to our finishing -9.
Your experience as Dublin Inter-County team mates must have helped?
Oddly enough, I think this is the first time we’ve ever played a competitive round together! We tend to think about the game in similar ways and we have been great friends for years through Dublin so we never had any concerns about playing as a team.
What further international Pitch and Putt ambitions do you both have?
We’re signed up for the pairs event in Catalonia in October so we will see if we can do a double over there, with the large Irish entry and Gareth & Evan looking to defend, it should be a great competition.
The European Strokeplay will be in France next year. Presumably you’ll both play in that?
I’d hope to anyway, it will remain to be seen what level of entry is available and whether we need an Irish qualifier. If La Rochelle Sud turns out to be the host venue then hopefully the experience of winning the Pairs will be an advantage if I am lucky enough to get a place in the field.
