Belgium might be a small country but its golfing scene is developing with the help of this week’s Challenge Tour event, the Telenet Trophy, and its leading player, Nicolas Colsaerts.
The Telenet Trophy, this year taking place at Rinkven Golf Club in Antwerp, gives valuable competitive experience to young players from Belgium and all over the world, and offers Belgian golf global coverage.
It is a tournament that Colsaerts played when he was progressing through the ranks, and the 27 year old is now reaping the benefits with a number of fine performances on The European Tour this season.
Colsaerts, who is from the Belgian capital Brussels, graduated via the Challenge Tour Rankings in 2009, finishing third after wins in the SK Golf Challenge and the Dutch Futures, as well as a further eight top ten finishes.
It proved a sound foundation for 2010 on The European Tour, and he has finished in the top ten in three events – the Volvo China Open (tied eighth), the Open de España (tied sixth) and the BMW Italian Open (tied third). As well as flying the flag for Belgium, Colsaerts is inspiring the next generation of Belgian golfers.
“Having a Belgian event on the Challenge Tour schedule helped me a lot as it meant I received a lot of invites, and without them I wouldn’t have been able to get on The European Tour,” he said.
“Having the tournament in Belgium is great for the young lads as it gives them a go. It gives you a chance to make it. Now it’s sort of my job to put golf in Belgium on the scene.
“There are a few young player who are trying to make their way on to the Challenge Tour at the moment. They haven’t been that prolific so far but some of them are getting to play which is what you have to do – to see how good they can be by playing on the Challenge Tour and going through Qualifying School.”
Colsaerts cites Belgium’s size as an obstacle for the growth of the game in his country, but says that has not stopped the development of some talented young players emerging.
“The thing is in Belgium is that we lack lots of land so it’s not good for expanding golf courses,” he continued. “There is a great course in Knokke (Royal Zoute Golf Club) and everyone’s always asking me when we’re going to go back there, and the only answer I can give them is that it’s probably up to me.
“We lack a bit of space and a few facilities, and I guess the only way to build up the profile of the game in Belgium is to get some good results so I get more recognition. So that’s what I’m trying to do.
“There are some players who are doing pretty well. There’s Thomas Detry who won the Dutch Junior Championship last year and played in the KLM Open last year, and he seems a lot like me when I was that age a few years ago. He plays the game very easily, and I guess he’s one player who has a shot of making it in the next few years. He’s very good, and I’m very curious to see how he progresses.
“I’ve been working so hard on my own game and at getting my European Tour card these last couple of years that I haven’t had much chance to get involved in any junior programmes or anything like that. But I try to coach some of the younger up-and-coming players when I can, and when I’m back in Belgium I try to play nine or 18 holes with some of them, even if it’s only two or three times a year.”
Of Rinkven Golf Club, the host venue of this week's Challenge Tour event, Colsaerts said: “I played Rinkven a long time ago, but I remember it being a very good track – tree-lined and quite difficult. I think the last time I played there was about ten years ago. I think the players will like it, and Antwerp is a great city too.”
