Contrary to popular opinion, the list of famous Belgians is quite long.
Nicolas Colsaerts is slowly but surely inching his way up that particular order. Recognition is a hard thing to gain, mind you. "Last week in America, I was teeing off on the first and somebody shouts 'good shot, Andrew'," recalled the big hitter from Brussels with a bemused smile. He made people sit up and take notice by sharing seventh in that event, the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina. The next time he visits the US, the 29-year-old could really make a name for himself.
Colsaerts has made the trek back across the Atlantic to showery Scotland for one final Ryder Cup push in the Johnnie Walker Championship, which starts today on the PGA Centenary course at Gleneagles. A win, or a second place, here in Perthshire would see Colsaerts barge into the one remaining automatic spot on the world points list, while dunting Martin Kaymer out in the process. Even if he fails in that quest, there is a very good chance that the increasingly impressive Belgian will be named as one of Jose Maria Olazabal's two wild cards when the European captain unveils his choices on Monday morning.
For Colsaerts, a place on the team plane to Chicago next month would be a historic achievement. Belgium is hardly one of the great golfing hotbeds, although eager analysts of this Royal & Ancient game will recall the trail-blazing exploits of Flory Van Donck, a prolific winner around Europe and the runner-up in both the 1956 and 1959 Open Championships. In the wider sporting world, the name of cycling colossus Eddy Merckx, who pedalled his way to five Tour de France triumphs during an all-conquering career, still resonates, while those with a fascination for fitba' will trot out the names of such classy exponents as Paul van Himst, Fernand Goyvaerts, Eric Gerets and Enzo Scifo. Colsaerts remains confident that his own crusades, which could yet lead to him becoming the first Belgian to play in the Ryder Cup, can help inspire a new generation of golfers.
"The golf culture in Belgium is so small, in a sad way perhaps because Flory was never remembered to have been as good as he was ," said Colsaerts, as he continued his Belgian waffle with the press corps. "Unfortunately, he was a few generations ago and it's one of my regrets of my golfing career that I never spent time with the guy.
"Of course, getting to the Ryder Cup would be huge in Belgium and it's frightening how much support I have. It certainly has hit me in the last year how much it means to the kids, all they talk about is just me. I'm still nowhere near those guys [Merckx]. I still think that I have a lot to prove and, in the sport I do, I'm always going to have to do unbelievable things to get recognised as much as they were. But I've written a little page of Belgian history and maybe, by next week, it will be written even more."
A graduate of the second-tier Challenge Tour, Colsaerts went off the boil for a spell in 2008 and 2009 – "I had my mid-life crisis at 25, so that's out of the way" – but he has since fulfilled his considerable potential. Victory in this season's World Matchplay Championship, allied to a seventh-place finish in the Open at Lytham, have helped to illuminate a productive campaign that has thrust him into the Ryder Cup reckoning.
"I'd like to think that I've done everything I could've done to get the pick," added Colsaerts, who will partner one of Olazabal's vice-captains, Thomas Bjorn, during the opening two rounds. "I don't know what the captain is looking for; if he's looking for certain individuals or certain skills. Fortunately I still have a way to get myself in, but I'd like to think I'm in a good position to get a pick. I think about it [the Ryder Cup] all the time, there's not 15 minutes during any day when I don't."
Like Colsaerts, Irishman Paul McGinley's mind is consumed by thoughts of the forthcoming match in Medinah. The 45-year-old will form part of the European backroom team and the four-time tour champion will bring the valuable, meticulous qualities of a self-confessed Ryder Cup anorak to the fold.
"I'm intrigued with how Ryder Cups have been won and lost over the years," said McGinley, who holed the winning putt in the 2002 match at The Belfry and will forever remember the "incredible" role performed by that year's skipper Sam Torrance. "I love the tactical and motivational side of it," said McGinley. "I watch a lot of things you wouldn't know about. I've asked a lot of questions of a lot of people and got a lot of information. I've always enjoyed having a beer with the American players or captains afterwards too, just to ask them about strategy and decision making. It's great to learn about it."
McGinley's fellow vice-captain, Darren Clarke, has pitched up at Glenagles for the first time "in a while" following his less than flattering comments about the course a couple of years ago. The PGA Centenary track has undergone a significant facelift in that time and the addition of a SubAir system, a contraption used to suck moisture out of the greens, has, in Clarke's eyes, made "massive improvements".
With the European captaincy at Glenagles in 2014 on his radar, last year's Open champion is on the charm offensive here. For Colsaerts' more immediate Ryder Cup ambitions, this week is the final offensive.
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