When Luke Donald named the now 40-year-old Nicolas Colsaerts as one of his Ryder Cup vice captains, you had to ponder whether Suzann Pettersen, the Solheim Cup captain, was wondering, Now why on earth didn’t I think of him? Either that, or this wily Norwegian already has arranged for Colsaerts, or someone like him, to give her team a helping hand.
As to why Pettersen and her team need his input in this instance, it is because they never will have played over Finca Cortesín in a competitive context before the match gets underway at this Andalusian venue on Friday, September 22. Tough to believe but true. The Ryder Cup men, on the other hand, will mostly have attended a couple of Italian Opens at Rome’s Marco Simone Golf Club before their biennial match one week later against the Americans.
Though people may point to the fact that the U.S. women will have no more competitive course experience than the Europeans ahead of this year’s contest, it would seem the home side has missed a trick. In the kind of comment beloved of Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie, Europe’s winning Ryder Cup captain at Celtic Manor in 2010, they would feel 2 up before they started if they had a better all-round knowledge of the scene of battle.
The reason why Colsaerts hits one as the man for the job is because he knows Finca Cortesín inside out or, bearing in mind the hilly terrain, from top to bottom.
It was there, in 2012, that he defeated a trio of current or future major champions – Justin Rose, Paul Lawrie and Graeme McDowell – on his way to winning the Volvo World Match Play Championship. In the semis against Lawrie, Colsaerts lost the first four holes on his way to winning at the 20th before coming out on top of a cracker of a final against McDowell at the 18th.
Colsaerts, who was among the longest drivers in the world at that stage in his career, knew precisely how big a part length played in his success. At the same time, he can talk first-hand of just how shattered he was at the end of a week on that former Andalusian vineyard. “You have to drink all the time and you have to remember to eat,” he said afterwards. “What with some of the stretches between greens and tees, it’s a tough course to walk, even if you’re getting a lot of rides.”
When Donald decided on Colsaerts as one of his assistants for Rome, he for sure would have taken note of what Colsaerts did at Finca Cortesín. Still more, though, he would have been impressed by the part the Belgian played in that year’s Ryder Cup, the so-called Miracle of Medinah.
Though he was the lone rookie in the European side, he and Lee Westwood won their opening four-ball against Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker at the last. Colsaerts contributed eight birdies and an eagle to the cause or, to put it another way, he won the match on his own.
As a newcomer without anything in the way of rookie jitters, Colsaerts would have memories to fuel Donald’s first-timers, of whom there could be rather more than usual should the LIV players be absent. (This, as has been widely reported, will be decided next month at a U.K. court hearing to determine the future relationship between LIV players and the DP World Tour.)
As Westwood said that day at Medinah: “It was an amazing, amazing round of golf on Nicolas’ part. He has got the right attitude, he’s confident and he takes the big occasion well.”
Woods, meanwhile, gave him a compliment he will cherish for the rest of his life: “Great playing, man!”
In a moving story by Tom Kershaw in the Sunday Times of January 15 this year, Colsaerts recounted how, when he was out in Dubai just over a year ago, he thought his life was about to end.
Feeling oddly and increasingly weary, he had a CT scan which showed both legs to be peppered with blood clots, one of which had taken aim on his lungs and started filling them with fluid. The condition worsened and the medical men diagnosed a well-nigh incurable condition called primary membranous nephropathy, a rare kidney-specific condition with no known cure.
A series of experimental treatments turned out to be a success. Now, thanks to Donald’s invitation, he is feeling on top of the world even if he has tumbled from the top 1,000 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Being the man he is, Colsaerts could spread his brand of confidence among any number of rookies.
Colsaerts’ only worry of the moment would seem to concern the extent to which the European players might have been divided by the LIV altercations.
Without knowing what to expect by way of an answer to the findings of the court hearing, he cannot wait to see the result, wrote Kershaw. Though part of him wants the 12 best Europeans in the team, you suspect he would be inordinately proud if the regular DP World Tour players could win without the LIV contingent. In particular, this out-and-out Europhile has found it difficult to stomach how Sergio García, Westwood and Ian Poulter feel entitled to collect their LIV money while still thinking they should be allowed to dip into the DP World Tour as and when they please.
Being the man he is, Colsaerts could spread his brand of confidence among any number of rookies. Especially when you consider how the Americans, who won 19-9 two years ago at Whistling Straits, will not necessarily feel comfortable playing against a rookie-centric side which, on paper, they should hammer still more easily.
Meanwhile, by way of preparing for all that excitement, Colsaerts would surely have little trouble in persuading Donald to give him a couple of free weeks in which to share his very relevant Finca Cortesín expertise with the women.
Verily, he could be a busy man ahead of what is an unprecedented fortnight of Solheim and Ryder cups.
E-MAIL LEWINE
Top: Nicolas Colsaerts will be a vice captain for Luke Donald's European team in Rome.
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