Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts put himself into a strong position at the midway stage of the US Open Championship after posting a one under par 69 on another grinding day at the Olympic Club, in San Francisco.
At just one over par at the halfway stage, the Belgian’s progress is all the more remarkable given the wretched start he made on the opening day, when he double bogeyed two of his first three holes.
The fact that he has fought his way back from four over par after three holes to just one over after 36 – and on a course so reluctant to yield any birdies – is testament to his growing maturity and confidence levels.
After winning the Volvo World Match Play Championship last month, Colsaerts is doing his Ryder Cup aspirations no harm whatsoever with another sterling display in California this week.
Birdies on the ninth – his opening hole – 16th and 18th, mixed with bogeys on the 13th and sixth holes, helped him return one of the rare sub-par rounds of the morning session.
“When you play like this on a course like this in an event like this, you’ve got to be pretty happy,” he said.
Colsaerts’ big hitting game might not appear best suited to the subtleties of the Olympic Club’s Lake Course, but he is plotting his way round superbly, and feels his day could have been even better.
“I could have gone a lot lower, but you can’t be asking too much,” he said. “I started wonderfully. I could have been as low as three or four under after six or seven holes. But you normally get what you deserve in this game.
“The course is getting firmer and some of the pins are three paces from the sides of the greens, so it’s still pretty tricky.”
Colsaerts currently occupies the last of the ten automatic places in the European Ryder Cup qualification campaign, and a good weekend will help propel him towards his dream of becoming the first Belgian to play in the biennial match.
Perhaps an Olympic connection will also prove to be a good omen this week over the Olympic Club, as his great grandfather represented Belgium at basketball and water polo at the 1920 Games.
