Belgium’s Pierre Relecom believes his compatriot and friend Nicolas Colsaerts can go on to be one of the world’s top golfers and thinks that his success will only breed more success for Belgian golf.
Colsaerts has climbed to fourth place in The 2012 Race to Dubai following his enthralling victory over Graeme McDowell in the Volvo World Match Play Championship at Finca Cortesin last week, and is now number 32 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Coincidentally, Colsaerts’ second and biggest European Tour victory came in the week before his home country’s biggest professional golf tournament, the Telenet Trophy.
Relecom is the biggest Belgian hope in the field this week and is joined by his brother Jean, also a professional, as they attempt to become the second home winner in the tournament’s seven year history.
Pierre, the older of the brothers at 26 years of age, is a close friend of Colsaerts and says that watching his friend become the best golfer Belgium has produced provides him with a lot of confidence.
“It definitely gives us hope”, said Relecom. “It’s a bit like the Danish guys, it’s such a small country and all of these guys are really successful. It makes you believe in yourself and work hard and not listen to what other people tell you.
“For Nicolas, it’s huge because being top 50 in the world is going to change his life. He’s always been the leader in Belgian golf and now nobody can criticise him anymore because he’s really established as the number one in Belgium and in the top ten in Europe.
“When I play with him I see how I can improve. He helps and gives me advice but it’s all about confidence. I practiced with him over the winter and you can see his game is another level.”
Relecom believes that Colsaerts, who has twice gained a European Tour card through the Challenge Tour, in 2002 and 2010, has the game to climb further up the Official World Golf Rankings and also has the necessary flair to become a star of the game worldwide.
“Nicolas is competing with the best,” he said. “When you see how he played in the Volvo World Match Play, his long game was better than McDowell. He was out-driving him. I'm sure he knows he has a lot to work on but he’s got big potential.
“He hits it long too so he’s famous for that, he stands out. He’s not a boring player so that’s really good too. Even the Swedish or English will remember him because he’s the number one long hitter and they’ll love him in the States because they like the ‘grip it and rip it’ kind of player.”
