Nicolas Colsaerts confessed he had visions of Medinah, and venue of Europe’s stunning come-from-behind 2012 Ryder Cup success, during the opening day of the Valspar Championship in Florida.

The Belguim golfer moved to a share of the lead after 11 holes at three under par before ending the day just one shot from the top of the board.

Four players – the American duo of Pat Perez and Matt Every along with Australia’s Greg Chalmers and Korean-born New Zealander Danny Lee – head the event on four under par.

Colsaerts had four birdies in his round with his only bogeys at the par three 13th and 17th holes in cold windy conditions and very much unlike south-west Florida.

Nicolas Colsaerts has visions of Medinah off the tee while competing in this week’s Valspar Championship. (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)

“I played really good all day and for whatever reason I seem to play good on hard golf courses with a cold wind blowing hard all day,” he said.

“So to shoot two under par is a pretty decent score considering I only missed two greens all day.

“My ball-striking has been pretty good the last few weeks and that was again the case today.”

And while Colsaerts agrees that the Copperhead course is not your quintessential Florida course he stood on many tees remarking to his long-time Australian-born caddy Brian Nilson that many parts of the course reminded him of Medinah in suburban Chicago.

It was at Medinah Colsaerts made his European Ryder Cup debut and highlighted when he teamed with England’s Lee Westwood to defeat Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker in the first day afternoon Fourballs.

“It has a little bit of a Medinah feel to it and I said that to Brian that there’s a lot of holes when you stand on the tee remind you of Medinah,” he said.

“So that’s a good omen for the week as I love play tree-lined courses, and I’ve always liked tree-lined courses such as Congressional, Hilton Head and these holes that shape your eye in a way.

“And that’s the surprising thing about being here as that’s one of the first things that struck me and that is the course is nothing like what you would expect in Florida.”

Colsaerts revealed also he teed-up in this week’s event again without going to the practice driving range ahead of his round, and a procedure he has adopted in recent years.

“It seems to work for me when all I work on before a round is my chipping and putting, so I didn’t go to the driving range this morning and I haven’t done that for a while,” he said.

“I have been striking the ball really good so I don’t feel the need to go to the range to work on that aspect of my game, and when I do go to the range I feel as though it adds a little bit of pressure to my round.

“I don’t do that all the time but only occasionally like this week, and I remember not going to the driving range in the week I won the Volvo China Open.

“I quite like not going to the driving range as all you are doing is trying to force and squeeze the ball as far as you can, and for me that’s not what I am looking for in my warm-up session before a round.”