Romain Langasque On Life In The European Tour Bubble

We catch up with 2015 Amateur Champion Romain Langasque

Romain Langasque On Life In The European Tour Bubble

Romain Langasque is halfway through a two week break from European Tour to ensure that he doesn't "become too crazy."

The Frenchman played in the first three events of the UK Swing, where the European Tour has made its return to action post-Covid in a strict bubble.

Players must stay only with their caddie and must return to the hotel immediately after play.

"The conditions are quite tough but I think this is also why also we don’t have any cases at the moment like it’s two and a half weeks and we don’t have a problem so the good point is there but for sure, it’s a bit different and it’s less fun than we used to be in tournaments," Langasque told Golf Monthly.

The 2015 British Amateur champion also says every day is like playing a practice round without the fans.

"A big difference is that there is nobody. You feel like you’re playing a practice round every day," he said.

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"Also because there are less people from the public working for us and volunteering for us so we feel lonely like really in a bubble and you see all the same people every day, all the same teams every week so that’s why I’m taking the week off next week so I don’t become too crazy."

Langasque had a superb amateur career, capped by victory at the 2015 British Amateur Championship at Carnoustie.

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That victory qualified him into three Majors and he made the cut in the two he played before missing out on the US Open after turning pro.

He shot a 31 on the back nine at Augusta in his final round in 2016, which was the lowest ever back nine at the Georgia course by an amateur.

"It was at the right moment," he said about turning pro at the age of 20, opting to skip US College despite numerous offers.

"When I was 18 I really wanted to turn pro and my family and coach at that moment told me it was too early and we need to reach the top level of amateur golf before I turn pro.

"That year when I won the British Amateur I played really, really well because I won five or six tournaments in the same year and it was pretty solid.

"Winning the British Amateur was really the last step I needed to turn pro without any regrets as an amateur so that opened a lot of doors and really helped me to take the amateur-pro journey easier."

The 25-year-old, who grew up in Grasse but now lives in Andorra, won his maiden pro title on the Challenge Tour at the 2018 Hopps Open de Provence a week after finishing T5th in Kazakhstan, and it was those two results that helped him earn his European Tour card for the 2019 season.

Watch: Langasque's final putt to win his maiden pro title -

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A week after his maiden victory, he was at the Ryder Cup in his homeland where he carried the scoreboard during the Fleetwood/Molinari vs Woods/DeChambeau match.

"I wasn’t supposed to do that but when I was over there I tried to do anything to go inside the ropes and they all said ‘No you cannot, we cannot do something'," he said.

"The only solution I can get inside the ropes was for me to carry the scoreboard. For me it was fun, I was ready to do anything to be able to go in.

"It was so good and to be close, to be inside to see the atmosphere from inside was also really different than when you’re outside. It was just unbelievable and I really enjoyed that moment. Yeah it made me want to make the team in the future even more."

Langasque is a quick player and says that the European Tour's pace of play is still an issue despite last year's Four Point Plan, which has done "nothing" and made "no difference".

He says the only way to stop slow play is to introduce penalty shots straight away.

"Nothing, no difference, I mean it was really good like the two, three of four tournaments with the new rules but for example last week it was so long," he said.

"Even the third round when we were just two balls it was so long.

"I think it annoys me when a guy is really slow when he’s with you and when the referee comes he plays so quick and so normal. This is the worst part.

"I think now the thing is like if the guy’s in the middle of the fairway and he takes too much time, straight penalty point, no discussion. This is the only way we are going to really change."

Langasque currently ranks 153rd in the world.

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