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WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIPFebruary 22, 2013Nicolas ColsaertsMARANA, ARIZONA DOUG MILNE: Nicolas Colsaerts, thanks for joining us after a convincing, successful 4 & 2 win over Justin Rose today in the second round of the Accenture Match Play. With that I'll turn it over to you for some thoughts on that. NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Well, it wasn't the first time I was playing Justin. We played each other last year in the Volvo World Match Play back home. I didn't feel particularly bad about playing Justin, of course, but I knew that match play, when you play somebody of the stature of Justin, it can always go very fast one way or the other. I thought I played really good. Could have been maybe a bit more intuitive on certain occasions I had to put the foot down, but I played pretty good the last couple of holes and made sure this game wasn't really going to go too far. Q. It strikes me that this is a course that sets up very well for your strengths. Do you feel that when you arrived here? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Yeah, even more so now because it's gone a bit softer, so all of a sudden the fairways become a bit wider, the ball pretty much stops where you send it. The difficulty on this course is all these different shelves on the greens, which with the altitude is a bit complicated to get to. So therefore being soft, it's a lot easier to hit the shots close to the hole. There's a couple of corners, a couple of carries I can take on, and if it works out, I have much shorter irons into greens than some of the other guys. So if I'm on, I'm going to give myself a lot of birdie tries. Obviously match play you want to hole a few. And if that happens, you're probably going to come out on top. Q. What do you remember about facing Justin at the Volvo, and when you do face someone like that in match play, can you learn anything and carry it over to when you face him now, or is it different every time you go up against someone like this? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Well, having beaten Justin last year, I felt pretty confident going out knowing if I played my game I would have a fair chance to do the job. But then anything can happen. But, yeah, you do keep memories about good match play confrontations. It certainly has helped me for the Ryder Cup, as well, to have been successful enough in the match play format. Q. Your last 10 years in golf has been chronicled, at least in Europe a little bit more than America, but enough where you were one of the best amateurs and then you had kind of a humbling mid‑20s. You've admitted that you partied a lot and it taught you. Then at some point, you had an epiphany, or was it when you realized you were wasting some of this amazing talent and then it clicked? How would you explain it? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Well, I don't regret any part of my story. The last couple of years have been extremely enjoyable. But, yeah, you just wake up one day and realize that all these guys that you played golf with are doing stuff that you should do any given day. But like I said, I don't regret any part of my story because I had a lot of fun. Q. You said there was a day that you woke up. Was there one specific day where‑‑ NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Not really. You go through‑‑ time goes by and you just realize that you're missing out on stuff, and I wasn't going to let another couple of years‑‑ you just miss the train, and it takes you a couple of years to come back. I had a pretty good vibe at one stage thinking this was the time to change things around, and definitely did so. Q. What about that period of time do you now look back and say, don't regret it at all? Obviously a lot of great experiences. NICOLAS COLSAERTS: No, I don't. I always knew I had it in me, both sides of it, so I have no regret of slacking off on golf for a couple of years, but I never lost the feeling that I had what it took to be this good and play these tournaments and beat some of the best players in the world. Q. What were you doing at the other maybe more serious‑minded players weren't, and how much of a party boy were you? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Pretty bad. Probably‑‑ I don't know you personally, but I pretty much know that I was worse than you were. I was bad enough. You know, I hung around the clubbing scene back home, and it was a lot of fun. I've always been into music, it was one of my passions, and lived like a roadie for a couple of years pretty much. Q. What does that mean like a roadie for a couple of years? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: You just go hang out in clubs and listen to the DJs because house music was always my thing. Obviously back home these clubs all close at like 7:00, 8:00 in the morning. They're not like over here when they close at 2:00, so you've got to push it a bit further. Q. You're getting more sleep now, I take it? NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Yeah, much more sleep. I even take naps and go to bed at 10:00. I feel like I'm 60 already. DOUG MILNE: Nicolas, congratulations. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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