Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts admits he’s in a better place heading into the 2014 European Ryder Cup qualifying campaign than he was two years ago.
Colsaerts is returning to competition at this week’s KLM Open, and a Kennemer golf course he remembers playing when he was just 15 years old, after a month’s break since he last tournament being finishing well down in the PGA Championship at Oak Hill.
The premier Dutch event is the third for Gleneagles qualifying in a 12-month long qualifying process that will see the top-9 automatic qualifiers making the Paul McGinley’s team.
Nicolas Colsaerts looking to make the most of his next five months competing on the European Tour. (Photo – www.golffile.ie)
In the 2012 qualifying period Colsaerts had been inside the list of automatic qualifiers early on with a fourth in the Volvo Champions Open, second in his defence of the Volvo China Open, brilliantly defeating Graeme McDowell to win the Volvo World Match-Play Championship and a strong seventh in the Open Championship.
But hurting the big-hitting Brussels golfer was not qualifying for the Masters and finishing well down in two of big final qualifying events – the WGC Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship.
He was then rewarded for a consistent season by being afforded a ‘wildcard’ pick by Jose Maria Olazabal.
However with the third European Ryder Cup qualifying event starting tomorrow (Thurs) here in Holland the opportunity to play in a second straight European side could not be healthier for the popular Belgium golfer.
He managed to hold on to his PGA Tour card for 2014 despite not making the FedEx Cup Play-Off Series and he will tee-up on the Dutch coastline currently ranked 51st in the world.
“I’m excited that the Ryder Cup qualifying has started and everything you do from now on counts so it will be nice to kick off with some good results,” he said.
“But then the role is not to qualify for this Ryder Cup but to play in many more Ryder Cups.
“At present, I’m one spot outside the top-50 so I need to keep playing well to keep myself inside the top-50 as it’s easier to play in the bigger events, like the Majors and WGCs, when you’re inside the top-50 on the rankings.
“That’s where you make most of your points, of course.
“But there is a reason I feel pretty confident I can qualify for Gleneagles as I am going to play from here on right through to the Desert Swing at the start of next year, so that is going to be a fair amount of chances to try and make the most out of the events.
“I have been playing really, really good for two years and the reason I didn’t play that good this year was that I had to also digest playing on the PGA Tour for the first time and also balance playing in Europe.
“We’ve seen so many guys who might play in one Ryder Cup and they never play well again to play a second Ryder Cup, so a lot of good results will take care of everything.
“But after having played in a European Team in the States I dearly want to play in a European Team on European soil.”
And after four weeks away from competition Colsaerts is fresh and injury free for his sprint five-month European Tour sprint.
“I took a few weeks off, because I’d played a lot of golf over the last 18 months,” he said.
“As I said for the Ryder Cup last year I was chasing the points to try to get into the team, and playing so much golf took a toll on my physical condition. I think I played over 30 tournaments last year, and my schedule this year has been almost as busy with the commuting from America to Europe.
“So I needed a break, and I only started hitting the ball again five days ago.
“It felt pretty weird at first – I don’t remember the last time I’d taken such a long break from the game through choice. But it was vital for me to do so, and I feel a lot better for it now.”
Colsaerts will play the opening two rounds of the KLM Open in the company of Mikko Ilonen and former KLM Open champion, Ross Fisher.
