LONDON, (Reuters) – Nicolas Colsaerts is ready to take the United States by storm when he switches to the PGA Tour from Europe after becoming the first Belgian to appear in the Ryder Cup.
The 29-year-old is trying to secure his playing card in the U.S for the 2013 season and Belgian Golf Federation president Jean De Vooght is convinced the longest driver on the European and PGA Tours will be a big hit across the Atlantic.
The 29-year-old only scored one point from four matches on his Ryder Cup debut at Medinah but eight birdies and an eagle in the fourballs helped down 14-times major winner Tiger Woods.
“The way he hits the ball so far, Americans like that. They can make a personality of him. In England people care about the score not if someone can hit the ball much further than anybody else,” De Vooght told Reuters.
“Golf in Europe is on top so it’s progressing whereas in the States they need some new stars. Nicolas is one of them. He’s a good kid and not snobbish.”
“Everybody now knows where Nicolas is this week. Everybody is on the internet. Nicolas Colsaerts is so much in America,” added De Vooght, who believes the Belgian’s persona could help freshen up the PGA Tour where 71 percent of the players are from the United States.
The world number 35 has enjoyed a superb season on the European Tour with a win and 10 top-10 finishes in total, a far cry from 2009 when he plummeted to 1,305 in the rankings.
It culminated in Europe’s epic victory in the Ryder Cup.
Times have changed for Colsaerts, whose confident strutting and nodding during his tussle with Woods earned him nicknames such as the ‘Muscles from Brussels’ and the ‘Belgian Bomber’. Golf has never been big business in Belgium but De Vooght believes the impact of the Ryder Cup can be huge.
“We have had much more coverage in the newspapers and magazines,” he said. “We will have to wait for the impact, which will take a few months, but we hope to reach a 10th of what Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters did for tennis.”
