Few players are as happy-go-lucky as Nicolas Colsaerts.
The tall 6’ 2” Belgium started the Flemish revolution, which has since seen the likes of Thomas Pieters, Thomas Detry, and Adrien Dumont de Chassart, to name a few.
With 10 professional wins under the 42-year-old’s belt, including three on the DP World Tour, the last coming at the French Open in 2019, Colsaerts has been a mainstay on the DP World Tour.
Never liking the PGA Tour, mainly because he was never comfortable playing in America, the 2012 Ryder Cupper spent most of his time in Europe.
Two years ago in Italy, as Vice-Captain, Colsaerts worked with Luke Donald to help win another Ryder Cup for Europe.
Now, the man known as Nico is sitting on top of the leaderboard of the Hero Indian Open after a first round with a see-saw 4-under 68.
“It went great today,” Colsaerts said. “It’s a difficult golf course, and anyone who will shoot under par today is going to be extremely happy. The rough is high this year, the greens are firmer, and it’s a little bit like a mini U.S. Open. It’s a really hard course.”
The seven birdies and three bogeys complement the idea Belgium espoused about the mini-U.S. Open setup.
Sitting 241st in the world, Colsaerts has not made a cut since the Bahrain Championship when he finished T38.
The 68 also ties his lowest round of the season when he opened with the same score in Bahrain.
“It’s a big satisfaction to play a good round on this golf course because it’s extremely hard,” Colsaerts said. “Nothing really pointed out that I was going to shoot four under when I three putt two of the first three greens.”
Colsaerts has little history of playing at the Indian Open. He missed a cut last year and a T60 in 2017, and in neither case did he break 72.
“I would like to stay as patient as I was today and keep understanding that the pars are good; if you make a few birdies, it’s great,” Colsaerts said. “Everybody’s going to make bogeys, and I’m going to try to keep the ball in play as much as possible.”
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