ALFRED DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP

September 30, 2025

Nicolas Colsaerts

Quick Quotes

Q. Your 500th start on the DP World Tour. How proud are you of that achievement?

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Pretty proud of course. When you look at the numbers and you realise that there's not even 50 of us that have been able to get to that number, it's a bit overwhelming and you realise that you've been around for a long, long time and that you've played a lot of golf. And also fortunate enough to have been able to sustain a level about enough to be out here for that long.

Q. You're back here at the Alfred Dunhill Links, a tournament that brought a lot of joy for you last year. How happy are you to be back?

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Extremely happy. It's not just last year. I've played well on numerous occasions here. I think I saved my card or whatever three or four years ago as well, and just because it's St Andrews. You get to play three amazing links courses that have a lot of tradition, a lot of history, and also the fact that Dunhill has been a sponsor of the Tour for a long, long time.

I never had a chance to play the Dunhill Cup, which was that medal play by country. I think that would have been a really, really cool event but it's always a joy to come back not only to Scotland but St Andrews, the Home of Golf.

Q. How happy are you to be playing links golf here?

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: It's always great. It always fun. We don't get to play it enough. We all grew up playing it. Even if you're not from the British Isles, you get to play links golf in all those amateur events growing up. It's a game that requires the elements -- you get battered, it happens once in a while, we're not going to call it charm but I guess it's part of of the challenge. That's why Scotland and the United Kingdom is probably the best place in the world to play golf.

Q. You're hanging up the clubs at the end of the season. Why now?

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Why now? Because it's been 25 years. Because my weeks are pretty long. Because I'm not as engaged as I once was. I'm just not able to go through the weeks like I used to. When you compete against 20-year-olds that have a lot of appetite, you get to a certain age, you need to be fully engaged to keep being relevant.

It's not like I can't play anymore but I don't really put what I need to place to be competitive, or at least play and be relevant enough the way I want to.

Q. And these last few DP World Tour tournaments, are you going to enjoy them more now?

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: I don't know, it's a difficult question. We have had this hand it to be so competitive and we are so competitive, on the first green, it's like, here we go again. It's been weeks now that I realise that when I leave certain tee boxes, my God, this is actually the last time I hit a shot out of this tee box probably in my career, certainly and in my life.

There's been a few overwhelming stages, especially France, where I have been part of the golfing landscape, been French speaking and also in Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche, a place we have a long history with. The emotions have been running pretty high and I think it's going to hit me pretty badly as well when I'm going to walk up the 18th fairway at St Andrews.

Q. And have you had a chance to reflect on your career since the announcement?

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Well, I've been doing it for a while. When you ask yourself those questions, you kind of -- you go back on what you've done, who you were, am I still that same person, and how do you navigate through this world of professional golf.

I've been very fortunate to live amazing moments. Yes, there could have been a lot more wins on my C.V., I will be the first one to admit it, but at the same time, I think I've earned the respect perfect my peers. I think I've always conducted myself in the best of ways. In the world that we live in now, I think that's something I'm pretty proud of.