Tuesday 10 January 2017 13:16, UK
The Open de France has become the eighth tournament to be added to the European Tour's new Rolex Series.
The tournament at Le Golf National, host course for the 2018 Ryder Cup, has a new sponsor in China's HNA Group and will now carry a prize fund of more than £5.75m.
HNA Group has signed a five-year deal to sponsor the event, which will be part of a three-week run leading up to The Open at Royal Birkdale.
It will be the second event of the Rolex Series, which opens with the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in the last week of May.
The Open de France will then be followed by the Irish and Scottish Opens before the season's third major championship.
After a break, the Rolex Series continues in October with the Italian Open and then three more tournaments to complete the 2017 season; the Turkish Airlines Open, Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa and the closing DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
All tournaments in the series offer minimum prize funds of £5.7m with the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai topping £6.5m.
European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said: "We are delighted to announce this exciting relationship with HNA Group which represents a significant new era in the proud history of the Open de France.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank HNA Group for their vision and commitment, not only to the Open de France but to the European Tour as a whole.
"We are also grateful to everyone at the French Golf Federation for their continued commitment to the tournament, which celebrated its 100th edition last year.
"With France preparing to host the Ryder Cup in 2018, today's announcement that the HNA Open de France will be part of the Rolex Series is another important milestone for French golf."
