Le Golf National, the famous venue for the 2018 Ryder Cup and the upcoming Olympic golf events in 2024, got hit by a gang of environmental activists. The trouble went down on the night of November 3 when the green on the eighth hole of the Albatros course got messed up with pickaxes. To add insult to injury, the culprits left behind a bunch of messages on the green, like ‘220 km2 for golf courses, 0 km2 for biodiversity’ and ‘They build golf courses, we want forests’. This isn’t the first time that Le Golf National, owned by the French Golf Federation, has been in the crosshairs of environmental activists. Just last year, members of the UK-based Extinction Rebellion movement took a swing at the 18th green. They went all out, digging holes, planting trees, and leaving signs calling out the ecological impact of golf. The club’s management didn’t take this lying down, though. They reported the incident to the police and made it clear that the course will stay open for play. The green will get fixed up when the course closes on November 7 for its regular maintenance. The French Golf Federation condemned the ‘act of vandalism’ and defended golf as an eco-friendly sport that helps preserve natural spaces.