Nicolas Colsaerts (born 14 November 1982) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

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 known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fif ...

and previously on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

Early life

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

Schaerbeek ( French and archaic Dutch, ) or (contemporary Dutch, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Etterbeek, Evere and ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. 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 (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium. He had a very successful junior and amateur career; he was selected twice for the

Junior Ryder Cup The Junior Ryder Cup is a team golf competition between Europe and the United States for junior golfers aged 18 and under. It is based on the men's Ryder Cup and is run by the same organisations, the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe. The 2018 e ...

(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, it is named after Dwight D. Eise ...

. 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 is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History ...

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 The Irish Open (currently known as the Horizon Irish Open for sponsorship reasons) () is a professional golf tournament on the European Tour. The Irish Open was first played in 1927 and was played annually, except for the war years, until 1950. ...

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

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 Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It was played from 2005 to 2009. Robert Coles (golfer), Robert Coles won the 2009 event in a playoff over Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts. Wi ...

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 The SK Golf Challenge was a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour played in Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden ...

and added the

Dutch Futures The Dutch Futures was a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour from 2007 to 2009. It was played at the Golfclub Houtrak in Halfweg, the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type ...

later in October. In 2010, he had a best finish of third at the

BMW Italian Open The DS Automobiles Italian Open ( it, Open d'Italia) 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 returne ...

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

Race to Dubai The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fif ...

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 has been co-sanctioned by the European Tour since 2004. It has also featured as part of the A ...

. 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 14–17 July at Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent, England. Darren Clarke won his first and to date only major championship, ...

, 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 ...

, 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 most of his golf on the PGA Tour, while keeping his membership on the European Tour. He won his first major championship at the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf ...

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 season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. After this victory, he moved into ...

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 maj ...

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 athletic club and private social club in San Francisco, California. First named the "San Francisco Olympic Club", it is the oldest athletic club in the United States. Established on May 6, 1860, its first officers were ...

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 professional golfer from the Basque region who has enjoyed success on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour, and has won two major championships, both at The Masters. ...

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 comp ...

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 Kevin Alan Chappell (born July 8, 1986) is an American professional golfer who is currently playing on the PGA Tour. Amateur career Chappell was born in Fresno, California. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles where he won the Ja ...

, 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 play ...

and reached round of 16 of the

WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship The WGC Match Play, currently titled as the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play for sponsorship reasons, is a professional men's golf tournament that has been held since 1999. It is the only one of the World Golf Championships to have been contested ...

. With a final 128th place in the

FedEx Cup The FedEx Cup is a championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Announced in November 2005, it was first awarded in 2007. Rory McIlroy is the 2022 champion. Th ...

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 Italian Open may refer to: *Italian Open (tennis), a Masters 1000 level tennis tournament played in Rome each year. *Italian Open (golf), a European Tour golf tournament. *Italian Open (darts) The Italian Grand Masters is a darts tournament held i ...

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 ...

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 tourna ...

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

, ninth at the

Paul Lawrie Match Play The Paul Lawrie Match Play was a golf tournament on the European Tour that was played from 2015 to 2017 in Europe. The inaugural tournament was played from 30 July to 2 August 2015 at Murcar Links Golf Club in Aberdeen. The tournament's host was ...

and 13th at the

Qatar Masters The Qatar Masters was 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 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, and originally called the British PGA Championship. History The BMW PGA Championship ...

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, near Paris. Designed by architects Hubert Chesneau and Robert Von Hagge, in collaboration with Pierre Thevenin, it is located in Guyancourt, southwest of central Paris. ...

outside of

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Amateur wins

*2000 Belgian Stroke Play Championship, Belgian Match Play Championship, French 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 PGA. T ...

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 *

(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 frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

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 comp ...

(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 Ryd ...

(representing Continental Europe): 2011,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

(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 concept i ...

(representing Belgium): 2011,

, 2016 *

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 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...