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JOHNNIE WALKER CHAMPIONSHIP AT GLENEAGLESAugust 22, 2012Nicolas ColsaertsAUCHTERARDER, SCOTLAND MICHAEL GIBBONS: Quite a big week for you; give us your thoughts going into the week. NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Well, here we are. I've been in this position for quite some time now. Seems to come down to the last week every time. I wish I wasn't in this situation but there's going to be somebody. But it's a good problem to have. So still have one shot at it. Just going to try to make the most of it. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Do you know what you need to do? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: I heard pretty much. But when you play for second or third, or first, you're in the same position pretty much. This is a course I've been coming here since my first year on Tour, and even though some of the changes have changed the course so I know this place quite good. But like I said, when you've got to finish second, which is what I need to do I think, you're going to be in the Majors later on in the week. Q. Do you feel as if you don't finish first or second, you are deserving of the pick? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: You're a devil (laughter). I think I have adopted the best way to go about it, is to be very humble. I think Ollie has been around for so many years. He's been to so many of them that he's got all the scenarios covered regardless of what I do, what some of the other guys do. I think, you know, you're only looking at two or three options, so it's quite simple. I'd like to think that I've done‑‑ I've showed basically everything I could have done to get the pick. But then I don't know what the captain is looking for; if he's looking for certain individuals, if he's looking for certain skills. I know he's been over there and he's seen what the course is going to look like, if it's going to suit one sort of player or another, and that's just not in my hands. Fortunately, I still have a way to get myself in, but I'd like to think that I'm in a pretty good position to get a pick. But still got to wait for Monday. Q. When did Ollie last speak to you, and also, are you very surprised that Kaymer isn't here? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Yeah, a bit surprised. But then, that allows me to go through. Everybody goes about their business in different ways, but obviously I'm amazed like everyone else. Concerning Ollie, we spoke briefly in Scotland. We just crossed waves in the locker room, and it's funny, because he told me with a big smile, "I'm watching you." I'm like, the opposite would have been very surprising because I know we are on the radar so to say. I was pretty honest with him and I told him it was very difficult to play without thinking about it. When you want something like that for such a long time, and you've never been in this position before, it's just very difficult and I think about it all the time, simple. It not like 15 minutes during any day where I don't think about it. So it's very difficult to play. But then he had good advice to me, he said, you need to play, the only thing you need to do is worry about what you can do. We speak the same language, we have played quite a few times together, so he's always been very offering in advice the few times that I've met him and spent a bit of time with him. Even though when we play together, he's still so intense and you don't really get much out of him. Q. If you do have to rely on a wild card, do you think it will work in your favour that there are no rookies on the side at the moment? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: That's a difficult one. There's certainly a lot of experience on the team. I think it could, but then to answer you, it's just not in my hands. Q. Did you also have a smile when you saw Thomas Björn is playing up there, obviously no coincidence. NICOLAS COLSAERTS: I knew I was either going to get drawn with Darren or Thomas. It was very clear to Brian, my caddie and I, when we were flying over, we were going to get paired with one of them two. So when I saw Thomas the other day on the chipping green, he's giving me a big smile. My answer was like, do you think I'm stupid? (Laughter). Yeah, it's no coincidence at all. But then I found it very surprising that they still want to take looks at guys like that, because, you know, we've played together so many times. It's not like you're going to see something different. But you know, Thomas is great company to play with. Q. You showed at the Match Play‑‑ what do you think you will bring to the team? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: I think the first time you play something like that, you just sit down and listen to what's been said in the room and how to go about the pairings and all these kind of things. It's difficult, I don't know. Yeah, definitely. Regardless of four‑balls or foursomes. I'd like to think that I can bring a lot of things to the team, but like I said, the first time you're out, you just listen to the old dudes. But yeah, I'd like to think that there's some guys on the team that will probably‑‑ I mean, I already have an idea of who I would be pretty good with, but then, I'm going to have been given the chance. Just vague ideas, they are not very clear. Q. You do know who Flory Van Donck was? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Of course. Q. Can you give us an idea of how important it would be and how proud you would be to become the first Belgian, if you made it? And are people saying that to you and is it an added bit of pressure? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: I don't think it's added pressure. You know, the golf culture in Belgium is so small, in a sad way, because Flory was never remembered as good as he probably was. It's unfortunately a lot of generations ago and it's one of my only regrets in my golfing career is that I never spent time with the guy. Even though it is said he not really a sharer, but when you finish twice runner‑up in The Open and you travel the world in the 50s or 60s and win about 30 or 40 times around the world, I think it's difficult to match. It would be obviously huge in Belgium; it's frightening how much support I have. I just found out the other day somebody started a page on Facebook for me to be on The Ryder Cup Team back home, which I didn't know about. It certainly has hit me in the last year how much it means to the kids; all they talk about is just me, which is something I was doing when I was young and I never really had anybody to look up to. It doesn't really add a lot of pressure when it's kids doing it. It's more when a bunch of people that, like, you know, are into the sport environment back home and especially with my story, as well, you know, how long it's taken me to build on my potential, as well. Yeah, I'd like to think it would be pretty big. Q. (Inaudible.). NICOLAS COLSAERTS: I wasn't talking to anyone. That's why it took me so long. I never had anyone next me to saying, you should do this, don't do that. The only couple of guys, only a couple of Belgian guys that played on Tour with me on and off, and they had other things to do than take care of some 18‑year‑old guy coming on the scene. But then I'm not ready, as well, to do it with the next generation, because I'm just very busy right now. I would love to do it in a couple of years, and I'm just not ready yet, but I'm sure I will. Q. The Belgian national coach, George Wohl (ph) I think it's did he have any influence on you? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: No, because I was right after George was in charge of the Belgian national team. I met George a few times but he was the generation just ahead of me. So I started to play in some of the regional stuff when I was probably, you know, 12 orb‑‑ 11, 12, 13, and he was on his way out. He stayed in Belgium for a couple more years, and I know some of the guys ahead of me knew a lot of what he does. I know certainly enough, that he passed away a couple of years ago and I come from the club where he spent most of his years in Belgium, so I feel some sort of connection. I know he's beaten I think it was Palmer or something in the four‑ball, so I know George very good a little bit. Q. Can we talk about your golfing psychology when you're playing? If you were to go to the next level of a Ryder Cup, would you still be as aggressive as you are, or would you feel you have to think more about it, or do you just naturally play your own game? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: I don't think I'm that aggressive. It's not because I hit the ball long that I play very aggressively on the target. When you look at somebody like Luke, he seems more aggressive than I am, because he just takes on every flag pretty much. That's actually something that we have been working on in the last year, that I go at these pins a lot more than I actually do. So it might actually come as a shock, but I shape the ball quite a lot, so I'm always going to favour a side to bring the ball in on to pins and stuff. But we actually would like to fire a bit more at them. So, in that case, you know, I don't really consider myself as aggressive as people think. It's not because you whack the ball 350 yards all of a sudden you become an aggressive player, it's the way you go about your target. Q. Do you think you would add a freshness and do you think you would enjoy the team environment? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Yeah, I always have. I played a lot of team sports when I was young. Funny enough, like I found another side of me when we played Vivendi last year. I never really considered myself as a leader so to speak. But I was put in a situation in the pairings that I had to sort of grab the hand, so I sort of discovered a new‑‑ well, it's not a new, but I never felt like I had it that much to me. But then when you get in the team room like with Westwood, Donald, Garcia, like I said, you just shut up and listen, and if you want to bring a point, you just going to have for advice; what do you think about that, what do you think about this. You're not going to go, I want to do this. But I come from such a different culture that anybody from Belgium, France or Germany, I don't know if you asked the same question to Martin the first time he went; when you are thrown into a team like that with a bunch of‑‑ how can I tell this, very experienced players, they usually know what they are talking about. Q. (Inaudible.) NICOLAS COLSAERTS: It was massive. It was my first team event as a pro, and even though I think the pairing was right, you know, I never felt like I was going to have to carry the group as much as I was asked to. When I play your first team event like, that you want to try to get as much experience as possible and understand how it works and yes, kind of.  That's just the way human beings are made. There's always a dominant person; you throw a bunch of them together, there's always going to be louder people. But it was a good thing, and, yeah, because I found myself driven by the whole thing, even though I was taking care of myself, I was trying to make sure he was going to make the most out of his game, too. That's what team sports about, it's not just only yourself, but make a little‑‑ not adjustment, but to say little things here and there that's going to make the other players tick and you can get the most out of their game. Maybe just a little thing here, a little thing there. Q. How do the American crowds receive you? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: They are pretty cool, actually. That's where coming from Belgium actually set me free a little because I don't really feel like the Americans see me as a threat. But they have always been pretty cool to me. I speak the same language they do, in a way, and it's I think a bit of fresh air when you have somebody like me coming from Belgium‑‑ it always brings a smile to their phrase. So I've felt pretty welcome over there. Not because I bring a lot of baggage with me there. They kind of like, that I guess. Q. You were called Danish on US TV during the PGAÂ….. NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Danish? Well, somebody last week called me Andrew. (Laughter) Yeah, I'm teeing off the first and he goes, "Good shot, Andrew."  I looked at Brian, my caddie, and was like, who is Andrew? And we find out a couple of holes later, I am Andrew Coltart. Q. Where do you rank yourselves among national sports heros? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: At the moment, nowhere near guys like that. I still think that I have a lot to prove and the sport we do, whatever I do, I'm always going to have to make unbelievable things to get recognised as much as they were. But myself, having written a little page of Belgian history, and maybe next week it's going to be written even more. Q. Was Merks perhaps the greatest Belgian sporting hero ‑‑ NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Yeah, without a doubt. The guy just won everything. The guy just won everything and killed everyone. As much as we can talk about Lance Armstrong‑‑ just like if you ask somebody better, Sampras, Borg, it's always a different difficult question to ask; different equipment. My dad knows Eddie a little bit so I spent a little bit of time with him actually in Qatar. The thing is, we come from the same background and we come from the centre Brussels, so we have this French slang that we use and it's pretty funny to have somebody of his calibre speaking the same language you do. Q. How many golfers in Belgium? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: I think it's about 45,000, maybe 50,000. Give you an example, the last course in Belgium opened in 2000. So every time I get asked if we are going to go back and play a Belgium Open, I don't see that happening any time soon. Putting golf on the map in Belgium‑‑ people don't understand it's quite a big event to have. And then I wouldn't know where to have it. People still have very fond memories where we played the last Belgian Open, and that's probably my favourite course in Belgium.  But yeah, it's not a very popular sport back home. It's either going to be like in France‑‑ Holland‑‑ what would you compare to Holland when you look at the Olympics, they have always had this big sporting Gene that we don't have. You look at all the medals they have won, how many different sports they have been really good at, we just don't have that. We have just always been good at cycling, football in the 80s and motocross. So to have somebody do that in golf, it's quite out of the ordinary. Q. When you first came on the scene, you were very young‑‑ inaudible‑‑ NICOLAS COLSAERTS: I just didn't know how to go about it. I probably didn't know or didn't realise how much I wanted it. Maybe took it a bit for granted. But within the last couple of months, you look at those three tournaments and how much‑‑ you go about these weeks and you realise what you do and what you've done, and how much of a kick it gives you, I feel almost like I was stupid not to realise it before. I always feel like I've done my middle age crisis at 25, which is not that much of a bad thing, so I got that out of the way and I can focus on what I need to do now for the next ten, 15 years. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Nicolas, thanks for joining us. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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