Hugues Joannes leads the home bid for glory at this week’s Belgian Challenge Open looking to continue his rise up the Rankings as he chases his golfing dream.
The 25 year old is on the right path after finishing runner-up in the Fred Olsen Challenge de España two weeks ago and, having risen to 26th in the Rankings, is looking to continue to build on the foundations laid in Spain.
Only a few months Joannes was questioning whether this was the life for him after failing to qualify for the Final Stage of the European Tour Qualifying School but those doubts have been expunged and his goal is clear.
“When I failed to qualify to play the Final Stage last November, many questions came to my mind. Should I stop playing golf or not? Did I want to try again? And eventually, I realized that it was my dream to live this life.
“My aim was to take advantage of the seven invitations the federation could give me to play the Challenge Tour and to have good results to obtain a category to play next year.”
Two years ago Joannes was riding the crest of a wave as he won his maiden title as professional on the Alps Tour and engraved his name on the Flory Van Donck trophy. Belgium’s most famous golfing son, Ryder Cup player Nicolas Coalserts, was among those who congratulated him on social media, the kind words from the Belgian bomber not lost on Joannes although his focus remained on his studies.
“In 2012, I was not ready to play golf full time and I decided to go on with my studies. I passed my Bachelor degree and last July I graduated with a Masters of finance from ATRA University. I spent seven years in Texas and it was wonderful. People from there are very welcoming. I wished I could stay there but there were better opportunities in Europe.”
Johannes admitted that his studies made him stronger on the course. He took time to explore other interests outside golf and now, his maturity is an asset to manage his game and his career. He has a team working with him, with his swing coach - the same for the past 14 years - a physical coach and a short game and putting coach, Jérôme Theunis, who started this winter, added another piece of the jigsaw.
A new generation of Belgium players is coming to the fore, with Colsaerts' brilliant results in one hand and Thomas Pieters graduating from Qualifying School in the other inspiring the next generation. They feel it is possible, even for a small golfing country, to have players on main Tour.
“I didn't know Thomas Pieters before last year but I travelled a lot with him. He is a great character, very determined. He knows exactly what he wants and it was an inspiration to me to see his behaviour.
“It is great to see that we are now four or five on the Challenge Tour. Pierre Relecom and Guillaume Watremez got a category as well so we have at least two players from Belgium every week.”
This is a special week with Belgium playing their opening match in the football World Cup on Tuesday night in Brazil, securing a win the match against Algeria. The Belgian flags draped from every in the small town of Aartselaar near Antwerpen further motivate the Belgian contingent.
“I watched the second half and it was difficult for them but eventually they succeeded. It is nice to see a country like ours behind one team and speaking one language, sport.”
