ALFRED DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP

September 30, 2025

Nicolas Colsaerts

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Making your 500th start this week on the DP World Tour. What does it mean to you?

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: To set a milestone like that at the Home of Golf, I think anyone would feel grateful. I've been looking at this for a couple years now, and when I was looking at the numbers and everything, I realized that it was going to be a possibility that I'm extremely grateful for.

25 years is a long time. Yes, I'll be the first one to admit it, I could have done a lot better. I could have probably win about 10 or 15 times on tour; I had what was required. But trust me, I had a lot of fun those last 25 years as well. I look back with not as much regret as a lot of people might think.

THE MODERATOR: What are some of the standout moments or highlights of your career?

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Well, there's many, of course. There's three wins but the thing that stands out, still going to ride the wave from last week is the Ryder Cup. I was very lucky to be part of an incredible edition that will still be talked about in the next generations. Played a part in it. I was the first from my country to play in it, and you know, probably, arguably, have taken down one of the best golfers, if not the best golfer that's ever lived on my own.

So I think when I look back, there's still a lot of things to be incredibly proud of.

THE MODERATOR: And what does the DP World Tour and The Ryder Cup mean to you?

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Well, they are two different things. You know, the Ryder Cup, we saw this last week, and you can hear it from the mouths of the guys: There's nothing like it. They are the best weeks of your life. It's so incredible to be a part of it, to feel those emotions, and to be able to represent the whole continent the way we do is something that the majority of us is incredibly proud of.

And yeah, when you realise that it's going to be a reality, when you've dreamt of it for so long, even now, I still struggle to find the right words to actually describe what it's like to feature in an event like that. Every time I think about Ryder Cup, it transports me back to 2012 even just now, walking in now, as a guy that showed up with a Medinah flag. We're 13 years after, just proof that it was an edition that really marked me.

THE MODERATOR: Runner-up finish last year. How much confidence has that given you for this week?

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: I don't know when and where my game's at. Of course, it's always nice to come back to places you played well and it's always nice to come back to inspiring places. There's not a lot of places in the world that will inspire golfers like St Andrews and I think it's basically what happened to me last year.

I had an incredible week from the moment I set foot on property last year. For the first time, I saw people walking an on Sunday, for whatever reason, I decided to arrive on Sunday last year. I've been coming here for 25 years, and it's the first time I've seen kids playing football on the 18th fairway. Played a practise round with Rory and his dad at the crack of dawn on Wednesday. Whizzed around the golf course in 3 1/2 hours, hitting golf shots and talking about golf in general.

So it was certainly a week to remember, to put myself into a position to play incredibly well like I did last year, and if you ask me, I think now I probably gave it to Tyrrell Hatton a bit too easily. Should have won by four (laughing).

Q. You mentioned it already, but your place in history in the Ryder Cup, what does that mean to you?

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Well, it was very special. Growing up in Belgium, I never really had that many examples ahead of me. We've had amazing players. I mean, if you go further back, there's two golfers in my generation, Flory Van Donck and Donald Swaelens. If Flory had a chance to play in the Ryder Cup, he would have played many multiple ones. Never met the guy. So I had to go and get information myself.

Being from Belgium, and breaking through on the screen, the international scene and making the Ryder Cup, I think I helped the explosion of golf a little bit in Belgium. Not sure if I paved the way for those that came after me but I contributed to their mindset, this guy from the same country that I'm from has done it and there's no reason that I can't.

For a small country to have two Belgium players in the Ryder Cup in a stretch of four or six years is absolutely incredible. When you compare to our neighbors, I think we are not as unknown as we used to be, which makes me incredibly proud.

Q. (How much do you feel you were able to help the next generation of Belgian golfers.)

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: I helped a little bit but not necessarily on -- I didn't have to do anything with the golf. When you have kid that young that get on tour, they are obviously very good.

So it's not like I had much to do game-wise. I think it was more how to handle yourself and who is who and try to make their lives and their first couple of steps on the tour as easy as possible. If I had that when I was young, I would have saved a lot of time. I made a lot of mistakes early. It basically took me six, seven, eight years to find my rhythm and find who I want to be out here and what it takes to be good.

I didn't necessarily know this in the beginning. But then these two kid, having gone through the college system were far more ready than I was even by the age of 25, 26, 27. I think I've helped a little bit, looking at what they needed to do, I'm extremely proud of them carrying this Belgian flag throughout the world.

Q. So post-retirement, do you have any plans to get involved in the grass roots?

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Well, my relationship with Belgium is a little bit strange because I left Belgium close to ten years ago. Funny story, I was never asked by the Belgian federation to come and help the young kids, which I find very surprising to this day.

But I am still very well connected to where I've come from. I've not forgotten where I've come from. I want my kids to know where they come from. I think it's extremely important.

But I will still be around. I love this game so much, and you know, I know a lot about the game, and I think that that's why broadcasting is something that has kind of set itself up in front of me very easily. The feedback is pretty good, which is nice.

And also the fact that I am from a different culture. You know, you guys might have invented the game, but it's always nice to hear a different point of view. I'm really happy to spend weeks with the likes of Ken Brown and Sam Torrance and Jamie Spence and all those guys, and I've been welcomed extremely well into the business.

I mean, John Morgan sitting back there, we've been friends since we were 16 years old and we are still spending time together and if you think about it, the one thing that is incredible about this game and this life is that you don't do it on your own. You forge friendships with people with a common love of the game. I've cried a lot the last couple years, but you know, John is somebody that I have a relationship with for a long, long time and it's just this passion of the game that brings us together.

Q. What are your thoughts on the abuse the Europeans received last week?

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Well, I think that, again, a Ryder Cup in the U.S. is never easy. If you look at the last couple of ones, whatever, okay, it was hot. Oak Hill was hard. Medinah was hard. Hazeltine was also hard for us; we lost. We go to Whistling Straits and we have no fans. And now you're going to New York and you have to deal with the abuse of the crowds.

The first two rounds were absolutely incredible to watch. I've looked at it from an eye of how was I able to do this 13 years ago? What they have been able to do, the arena that they had to play in, and the level that they were still able to display I thought was off the charts.

But we kind of knew it was going to get over the line. You know, when I was in the running for being a vice captain, I told Rachel, when we go, you're going to have to get ready to be insulted. She's like, oh, yeah, I think I can do this. But I think it's worse than anybody would have anticipated, including myself.

But like Rory said yesterday, I'm not sure that anyone would be ready to go and play a Ryder Cup like that. I think The PGA of America maybe would have or could have handled the situation a little bit better at times.

Q. There's been a lot of chat about that. In your opinion, what do you think can be done moving forward?

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: I think that you have to be extremely strict. You know, yes, sport has become in the modern era, sport has become something else. There's no doubt that sport has become entertainment. But when you are in an arena like this and there is this on instruction, this violence in content and abuse from the crowd, that's not what it meant to be, or what Samuel Ryder would have thought; going back a hundred years, the world has changed.

The thing that doesn't sit well is Americans think they have the same issues when they come to Europe, and I think this is the example that we need. I think you just have to be stricter. There's no choice. Otherwise, it will quickly get over the line like it was.

Q. When you say stricter, do you mean less alcohol or --

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: You can't punish the ones that can't handle their drink but as soon as you say something stupid, you're out. It's not the job of the European players to sell the security the guys should be booted out. There should be people there to know when a line is crossed, and it's just unfortunate that something like that had not been put in place, and some of our guys, in the middle of the Ryder Cup playing golf against 12 very good American golfers have to police themselves.

Q. Luke Donald -- the resurgence on Sunday -- what does that say about him as a captain?

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: I don't think it says anything about Luke Donald. I think anyone can applaud the way that the U.S. have come back on that last day and gave it an incredible run. I think the majority of Europe was pacing the inside of their living rooms thinking, hang on a minute, this is far from over, and it looked at one stage like we were going to be done.

Look, most of us would applaud this American Team because of the way that -- they didn't necessarily play bad the first two days. We just played incredibly well. But historically, you look at the singles, the U.S. has been able to do a little bit better than us, and I think that's why we kind of put the foot down the first two days because we were trying to work a little bit of credit for Sunday.

Q. Andy Murray is making an appearance at this tournament. What do you make of his chances? Do you know anything about his golf swing?

NICOLAS COLSAERTS: I really like what he said. There was an interview I think when he was playing a Pro-Am at Wentworth and his kids were like, oh, you're going to go pro in golf.

And he responded in the most gentle way, no, these guys are good. He understands he's a long way off. What I find incredible is that us sports men, when we meet one another, we are quickly eager into the layers of discussion. I've been fortunate enough to meet incredible sports men and straightaway, you talk about something you know. We share the same emotions. We understand how much it takes to do this week-in, week-out.

And so we understand each other fully, straight out of the gates. I think it's great that people that have been huge ambassadors of their game are falling into golf and ultimately will make golf look even better.