Nico Colsaerts returns to the DP World Tour

Gulf News

Nico Colsaerts makes his full return to competitive golf this week at the Cazoo Open Presented by Gareth Bale on the DP World Tour. All after a turbulent time away from the game after his health scare but return to fitness thanks to Aviv Clinics Dubai.  Read more Golf in UAE stories here:   https://gulfnews.com/sport/golf-in-uae  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #golf  #sports

Transcript

00:00Nico, welcome back to Celtic Manor, obviously a big week for you. I know you're in Belgium

00:04for your national Open, but this really feels like it's been more of a break since the back

00:08end of the Desert Swing for you. How are you feeling?

00:11I'm feeling great. I'm really, really happy to be here. Yeah, this is only my fifth event

00:17of the year. As everybody knows, I got into a little bit of health issues over the winter.

00:22But yeah, it's great to see everyone. It's great to play golf again. I was on the range

00:29at seven o'clock in the morning yesterday in the drizzle, and I was the happiest man

00:32on earth. So yeah, I'm really happy to be here.

00:34You spent a lot of time in Dubai as well, didn't you, at the clinics over there? How

00:37much did they help you get back onto your feet?

00:39Well, they've been a huge support. I'm really, really grateful to have come across these

00:47people because I was in a pretty dark place in November, not really knowing where I was

00:52heading. And being looked after the way I was the last couple of months with the people

01:00from Aveve in Dubai has been really incredible, not only from a medical point of view, but

01:09also from a personal point of view, to be able to get me back on my feet and come again

01:16or come and do again what I used to do on a regular basis.

01:19How do you like this course, the 2010 course? I was flicking through the history. Notice

01:23your 447 yards, which I think to this day is the longest down here, especially at the

01:2718th.

01:28Yeah, it's pretty cool to have a plaque on a golf course. I mean, I can only think of

01:32a few like Ben Hogan, Jimenez in Valderrama and McDowell, Bobby Jones at Lidl, and I have

01:39my own on the Radical golf course as well, which is quite cool. I've always liked this

01:43place. We came here and played the European Amateur back in 2000, so I have a bit of

01:50history here and it was one of the reasons why I decided for this week to be my first

01:55event back. It's a place I'm familiar with, a golf course I like, you stay inside in a

01:59nice hotel and the weather's great, believe it or not.

02:04This feels like a start of a lot of weeks to look forward to this year. You've got the

02:08Kazoo Open in France. You're going to be still defending champion there, given it's not

02:13been played since 2019. How much are you looking to represent the tournament title

02:19from 2019 in the national?

02:21Well, of course, I'm looking forward to going back to France. As you mentioned, it's been

02:26a couple of years because of COVID. We didn't get the chance to play in France. Quite an

02:32emotional win because it's been a while. It's in Paris, a place I know really well. I'm

02:37French speaking. I've always been part of the golfing landscape in France because of

02:42the language. I had a lot of reasons for that win to be emotional. I'm really looking

02:49forward to go and defend the title and play a reasonable or pretty much a standard schedule

02:56until the end of the year.

02:57Lastly, what do you remember of that win? I know it's not like it was last year, but

03:00I'm sure you've still got a lot of fond memories when you think about it.

03:04I remember the people, actually. Throughout the week, being French speaking, I really

03:12got a lot of support. I always had a lot of French people come in and watch me play when

03:16I play in France. For whatever reason, that week, I really felt like they were carrying

03:21me throughout the weekend. It made a bit of a difference in the end. It was either between

03:28George or J.B. Hansen. I feel like I owe it a little bit to French golf to be a French

03:36speaking winner.

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