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• Nicolas Colsaerts reflects on his two years on the PGA Tour
• The Belgian spent most of 2013 and some of 2014 over the Atlantic
• “It was very hard to adjust straight away,” said Colsaerts

NICOLAS COLSAERTS

What did Nicolas Colsaerts learn from his two seasons playing on the PGA Tour?

“That I don’t want to live there.”

Off the back of an impressive debut in the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah, the big-hitting Belgian spent most of 2013, as well as a chunk of last year, playing on the other side of the Atlantic.

However, after posting just three top tens in 29 starts and seeing his world ranking tumble from a high of 32nd in May 2012 to 199th by last September, he decided to return full-time to Europe this season.

“It had never really been a dream of mine to play on the PGA Tour” – Nicolas Colsaerts

It hasn’t been a particularly straightforward re-adjustment. The 32-year-old has missed seven cuts from 14 starts and is sitting just inside the top 100 on the Race To Dubai.

However, Nicolas Colsaerts insists this is where he belongs after his pursuit of the ‘American dream’ turned into a nightmare.

“It’s difficult to live like a European over there just because of the way we grew up,” the two-time European Tour winner told bunkered.co.uk. “When you’ve lived in Europe all of your life, it’s very hard to go over to America and adjust straight away to living in a gated community and doing everything they way they do.

CONTINUES BELOW…

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“Plus, I wasn’t really quite on as much of a mission as I should have been. If you go over there and you accept the challenge, then you can do well but, to be fair, it had never really been a dream of mine to play on the PGA Tour.

“I didn’t grow up in the generation where we had it on the TV every week like kids do these days, so it really wasn’t much of a goal of mine to play there.”

Nicolas Colsaerts is in Aberdeen this week playing in the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Matchplay at Murcar Links. He opened his title challenge yesterday with a 2&1 win over Gregory Bourdy of France and takes on South Africa’s Trevor Fisher Jnr in the final match out on the course today, teeing off at 2pm.

To keep up-to-date with scores, log-on to www.euroepantour.com.

Nicolas Colsaerts :: Tough times in the US

What do you make of the Belgian’s thoughts on the difficulties of adjusting to life on the PGA Tour. Leave your thoughts in the ‘Comments’ section below.

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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

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