Nicolas Colsaerts (born 14 November 1982) is a Belgian

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

currently playing on the

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

and previously on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

Early life

Colsaerts, also known as "The Belgian Bomber", was born in

Schaerbeek (French language, French, ; former History of Dutch orthography, Dutch spelling) or (modern Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Reg ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. Coming from a sporting family (his great grandfather represented Belgium at basketball and water polo at the 1920 Olympic Games), he started playing golf at 6 years old in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium. He had a very successful junior and amateur career; he was selected twice for the Junior Ryder Cup (in 1997 and 1999), and represented Belgium at the 1998 and 2000

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958 Eisenhower Trophy, 1958, it is nam ...

. He turned professional in 2000, the day of his 18th birthday, with a +5 handicap. Colsaerts speaks five languages: French, English, Dutch, Spanish and Italian.

Professional career

Three days after turning professional Colsaerts entered 2000

Qualifying School In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

where he gained his

card. Colsaerts first season on the European Tour was unsuccessful and having finished 172nd on the Order of Merit Colsaerts lost his European Tour card. He spent the 2002 season playing on the

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour, currently titled as the HotelPlanner Tour for sponsorship reasons and also sometimes referred to as the European Challenge Tour, is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European To ...

and despite a winless season he finished 10th of the Challenge Tour Order of Merit to regain his European Tour card for 2003. Colsaerts continued to play on the European Tour throughout in next four seasons. Colsaerts led the Nissan Irish Open at the halfway stage in 2006, but fell away over the weekend and finished in a tie for 53rd place. Similarly, he led the EnterCard Scandinavian Masters after the third round but finished tied for 24th. Following a poor season in 2007 when he finished 201st on the Order of Merit, Colsaerts again lost his European Tour card and returned to the Challenge Tour for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Colsaerts nearly won the 2009

Challenge of Ireland The Challenge of Ireland was a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour, held in Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is ...

after a final round 68, but lost at the third hole of a sudden-death

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

to English golfer Robert Coles. However, he eventually captured his maiden victory on the

a few weeks later at the SK Golf Challenge and added the Dutch Futures later in October. In 2010, he had a best finish of third at the

BMW Italian Open The Italian Open () is the men's national open golf championship of Italy. It was founded in 1925 and, except for 1933 and during World War II, was played annually until 1960. After an eleven-year hiatus, it returned in 1971 when it was one of fi ...

, and retained his tour card for 2011 after finishing 67th on the

Race to Dubai The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

rankings. In 2011 he won his first European Tour title at the

Volvo China Open The Volvo China Open is a men's golf tournament that has been held annually in China since 1995. The event is organised by the China Golf Association and was co-sanctioned by the European Tour from 2004 until 2019. It has also featured as part of ...

. He then reached the semi-finals of the 2011

Volvo World Match Play Championship The Volvo World Match Play Championship was an annual match play men's professional golf tournament which was staged from 1964 to 2014. The World Match Play Championship was a limited field event, originally contested by just eight players before ...

in Spain, losing to eventual winner

Ian Poulter Ian James Poulter (born 10 January 1976) is an English professional golfer who plays in the LIV Golf League. He has previously been ranked as high as number 5 in the world rankings. The highlights of Poulter's career to date have been his two ...

after a playoff hole in the semi-finals. These results placed him high enough on the year's ranking to get him a spot for the

2011 Open Championship The 2011 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 140th Open Championship, held from 14 to 17 July at Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent, England. Darren Clarke won his first and to date only major champion ...

, and two days later he won the European qualifying tournament for the 2011 U.S. Open at

Walton Heath Golf Club Walton Heath Golf Club is a golf club in England, near Walton-on-the-Hill in Surrey, southwest of London. Founded in 1903, the club comprises two 18-hole golf courses, both of which are well known for having heather covering many of the areas ...

. He finished the season ranked 20th in the Race to Dubai to secure invitations to at least two majors in 2012. In May 2012, he won his biggest career title at the

. He beat

Graeme McDowell Graeme McDowell (born 30 July 1979) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland. He has a total of eleven tournament victories on the European Tour, and four on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble B ...

, 1 up, in the final and was never behind in the match at any point. On his way to the title he also beat

Justin Rose Justin Peter Rose (born 30 July 1980) is an English professional golfer who plays on the European Tour and PGA Tour. He is a former world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, first reaching that position in 2018. Rose came to prominen ...

4 and 3,

Brandt Snedeker Brandt Newell Snedeker (born December 8, 1980) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He won the 2012 FedEx Cup with a victory in the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. Following this victory, he moved into the top t ...

4 and 3, and

Paul Lawrie Paul Stewart Lawrie (born 1 January 1969) is a Scottish professional golfer who is best known for winning The Open Championship in 1999. He was a vice-captain for the European Ryder Cup team in 2016. Early career Lawrie was born in Aberdeen a ...

at the 20th hole in the semi-finals, after beginning four down after four holes. Prior to all of this, he had only just advanced from the group stage after defeating

Charl Schwartzel Charl Adriaan Schwartzel ( ; born 31 August 1984) is a South African professional golfer who currently plays in the LIV Golf Invitational Series and has previously played on the PGA Tour, European Tour and the Sunshine Tour. He has won one ma ...

at the first playoff hole. Colsaerts entered the top 50 in the world after his win took him to world number 32. Colsaerts played in the 2012 U.S. Open at the

Olympic Club The Olympic Club is an sports club, athletic club and private social club in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. First named the "San Francisco Olympic Club", it is the oldest sports club, athletic club in the United States. Established ...

and made the cut for the first time in a major championship, going on to finish tied 27th. For a brief period during the third round Colsaerts was tied for the lead and started the final round just three strokes back of the leaders. However he fell away with a final round of 76. On 27 August 2012, he was selected by European captain

José María Olazábal José María Olazábal Manterola (, ; born 5 February 1966) is a Spanish Basques, Basque professional golfer from the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country, who has enjoyed success on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour, and has wo ...

as a wildcard for the

2012 Ryder Cup The 39th Ryder Cup was held September 28–30, 2012, in the United States at the Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois, a suburb northwest of Chicago. This was the first time that the Ryder Cup was held in Illinois. Europe went into the ...

team, becoming the first Belgian to play in the event. He finished the season ranked 11th on the Race to Dubai. In October, Colsaerts joined the PGA Tour, accepting Special Temporary Member status for the final three events of the season. Colsaerts made $677,011 as a non-member, finishing almost $30,000 ahead of Kevin Chappell, the golfer who earned the 125th and final PGA Tour card for 2013. The amount earned Colsaerts full membership into the PGA Tour for 2013. In 2013, Colsaerts played on both the European and PGA Tour; in the US, he finished tenth at the U.S. Open, 8th at the

Zurich Classic of New Orleans The Zurich Classic of New Orleans is a professional golf tournament in Louisiana on the PGA Tour, currently held at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, a suburb southwest of New Orleans. Beginning in 1938 and held annually since 1958, it is commonly pla ...

and reached round of 16 of the

WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship The WGC Match Play, titled in later years as the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play for sponsorship reasons, was a professional men's golf tournament that had been held since 1999. It was the only one of the World Golf Championships to have been co ...

. With a final 128th place in the

FedEx Cup The FedEx Cup is the championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction in 2007 marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Since its inception, the competition has been sponsored by FedEx. In 2022, the PGA Tour ...

he missed the end of season playoffs, but was able to retain his membership thanks to his 114th place in the money list. He collected five top-10 finishes in the European Tour, with a fifth place at the Italian Open as best result. In 2014 he finished second at the

Portugal Masters The Portugal Masters was a European Tour men's professional golf tournament which was played for the first time in October 2007. It had a prize fund is US$2 million, making it one of the richest golf tournaments in Portugal. It was jointly staged b ...

and Malaysian Open, fourth at the

Wales Open The Wales Open was a professional golf tournament on the European Tour played at the Celtic Manor Resort. It was played annually from 2000 to 2014, as part of a 15-year deal between the tour and the Celtic Manor Resort, that included staging the 2 ...

and sixth at the

BMW Masters The BMW Masters was a golf tournament played annually at Lake Malaren Golf Club, in Luodian, Shanghai, China. The tournament began in 2011 and became a European Tour event in 2012. It was dropped from the European Tour in 2016. In 2011, the tou ...

. His season was less successful in the US, where he was cut 7 times in 12 events and lost his tour membership. During the 2015 season, Colsaerts finished seventh the

Nordea Masters The Scandinavian Masters was an annual golf tournament on the European Tour played in Sweden. In 2020, the tournament became co-sanctioned with the Ladies European Tour and was rebranded as the Scandinavian Mixed, in which both male and female go ...

, ninth at the Paul Lawrie Match Play and 13th at the

Qatar Masters The Qatar Masters is a European Tour golf tournament held at Doha Golf Club in Doha, Qatar. When founded in 1998, it was one of two European Tour events to be staged in the Arabian Peninsula, but was at one point, one of six. From 2005 to 2007 ...

. In August 2016, Colsaerts represented Belgium at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

in the Individual Stroke Play competition, finishing tied for the 30th place. In May 2017, he tied for third place in the

BMW PGA Championship The BMW PGA Championship is an annual men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour. It was founded in 1955 by the Professional Golfers' Association (Great Britain & Ireland), Professional Golfers' Association, and originally called the ...

at Wentworth. In October 2019, Colsaerts won the

Open de France The Open de France is a European Tour golf tournament. Inaugurated in 1906 it is the oldest national open in Continental Europe and has been part of the European Tour's schedule since the tour's inception in 1972. The 100th edition of the event ...

Le Golf National The Albatros course at Le Golf National is an 18-hole golf course in France, southwest of central Paris. Designed by architects Hubert Chesneau and Robert von Hagge, in collaboration with Pierre Thevenin, it is located in Guyancourt. Facilitie ...

outside of

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In October 2024, at the

Alfred Dunhill Links Championship The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is a golf tournament on the European Tour. It is played in September or October, on three different links courses, centered on the "home of golf", St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. The tournament is a pro-am, ...

, he finished second to

Tyrrell Hatton Tyrrell Glen Hatton (born 14 October 1991) is an English professional golfer. He has played on the European Tour and the PGA Tour, winning eight times on the former, including five Rolex Series events. He also has one win on the PGA Tour at the ...

. Hatton birdied the final hole to win by one stroke over Colsaerts.

Amateur wins

*2000 Belgian Stroke Play Championship, Belgian Match Play Championship, French International Boys Championship

Professional wins (10)

European Tour wins (3)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

OneAsia Tour The OneAsia Tour was a men's professional golf tour based in the Asia-Pacific region. The tour was founded in 2009 as a joint venture between the PGA Tour of Australasia, the China Golf Association, the Korean Golf Association and the Korean P ...

Challenge Tour wins (2)

Challenge Tour playoff record (1–2)

Alps Tour wins (1)

French Tour wins (1)

Other wins (3)

*2000 World Travel Open (PGA of Belgium) (as an amateur) *2002 Belgian Match Play Championship *2003 Omnium of Belgium

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 2 (2012 U.S. Open – 2012 Open Championship) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (twice)

Results in World Golf Championships

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied

Team appearances

Amateur *

European Boys' Team Championship The European Boys' Team Championship (Jean-Louis Dupont Trophy) is a European amateur team golf championship for men up to 18 organized by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1980 and it has been played annually since. S ...

(representing Belgium): 1997, 1999 * Junior Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 1997, 1999 (winners) *

Jacques Léglise Trophy The Jacques Léglise Trophy is an annual amateur boys' team golf competition between Great Britain & Ireland and the Continent of Europe. It was first played in 1977, as a one-day match before the Boys Amateur Championship, but since 1996 it has ...

(representing the Continent of Europe): 1998, 1999, 2000 *

(representing Belgium):

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

European Youths' Team Championship The European Youths' Team Championship was a European amateur team golf championship for men under 22 organized by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1961. It was played every year until 1982, then every second year. It ...

(representing Belgium): 1998, 2000 *

Bonallack Trophy The Bonallack Trophy is an amateur golf competition on the model of the Ryder Cup which opposes every two years a European team and a team representing Asia/Pacific. The venue alternates between courses in Europe and Asia/Pacific. The first compe ...

(representing Europe): 2000 (winners) Professional *

Seve Trophy The Seve Trophy was a biennial golf tournament between teams of professional male golfers; one team representing Great Britain and Ireland, the other team representing Continental Europe. The tournament was played in years when there is no Ryde ...

(representing Continental Europe):

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

(winners) *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

(representing Belgium):

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Royal Trophy The Royal Trophy was a men's professional team golf tournament which was played between 2006 and 2013. The competing teams represented Europe and Asia. Eight man teams played a series of 16 matches involving foursomes, four-ball and singles for the ...

(representing Europe):

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...