Colsaerts eyes first Ryder Cup spot for Belgian

SHUT your eyes when listening to Nicolas Colsaerts and you could be sitting in the same room as Carl Spackler, Bill Murray’s character in the cult movie Caddyshack. It will certainly be a Cinderella story if the Belgian secures a Ryder Cup spot under his own steam on Sunday night.

Needing to finish in the top two in the £1.4 million Johnnie Walker Championship to knock the absent Martin Kaymer out of the tenth automatic spot in the European team, the 29-year-old made the perfect start yesterday, coping admirably with the enormous pressure he’s under to card a three-under-par 69 in the opening round.

It secured him a lofty position, two shots behind leaders Brett Rumford from Australia and Norwegian Knut Borsheim, and was all the more impressive given that the score was crafted under the gaze of Thomas Bjorn, the defending champion and one of Jose Maria Olazabal’s vice captains for the match at Medinah starting five weeks today.

“It was exactly the day I wanted, being in control of what I was doing,” admitted the affable Brussels man, who was one over par after three holes but then had three birdies in a row from the 14th - his fourth - to get the juices flowing. “I’m very pleased with how I handled myself to set up the week in good fashion.”

He’s pleased the biggest week of his career so far is here in Perthshire. “I’ve been coming here for many years, so it’s a place I’m comfortable at,” added Colsaerts. “There was no reason to be nervous and I didn’t feel any at all.”

Becoming the first Belgian to play in the Ryder Cup is the goal. Achieving the feat automatically rather than having to rely on one of the two wild cards being handed out by Olazabal on Monday would make the achievement even sweeter.

“It would make me very proud if I could get myself into an automatic spot when it came down to the wire. It would also be a big boost for me,” he admitted. “But (even if he had to get a wild card) I will feel I belong in the team. I know that on any given day I can take on anybody, which is why I’ve done so well in match-play events,” referring in particular to his win in the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Spain earlier in the year.

Renowned for his big-hitting - he leads the European Tour long-driving stats with an average whack of 317.1 yards this season - Colsaerts has been working hard on other parts of his game in a bid to become a more rounded player.

“My iron play is always pretty good - I tend to hit a fair bit of greens in regulation,” he said in reply to being asked what other strengths he would add to the European team in Chicago. “My putting is also starting to get better since I began working with Dave Stockton (who is also now Rory McIlroy’s putting guru). I can now look down at some putts and feel confident I’m going to make a lot more than I did in the past.”

For a man who was still on US time on Monday night - his journey to Scotland was delayed by the Wyndham Championship, in which he finished seventh behind Sergio Garcia, spilling over due to the weather - Colsaerts is looking remarkably bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. “I’m good at taking power naps,” he said, reporting that he’d even managed to find some time for a spot of fly-fishing in Perthshire earlier in the week.

One man who believes Colsaerts should hook a Ryder Cup spot, either on Sunday or Monday, is Stephen Gallacher, who is in the same group as him here for the opening two rounds. “In my eyes Nic is a stick-on unless something silly happens. I don’t think they can leave him out,” said the Scot. “It’s brilliant he’s come here after playing in America at the start of the week and the fact he’s also playing with one of the vice captains (Bjorn) also has to be a good sign.”

As Colsaerts bids to write his Cinderella story, Rumford has his sights set on going one better in this event, the 35-year-old from Perth - the one Down Under rather than the one a few miles up the A9 - having been pipped for the title two years ago by Italian Edoardo Molinari.

Rumford laid the foundations for his opening effort with a front-nine 32, four-under, while playing partner Borsheim - the 25-year-old from Bergen’s best finish this season is 26th in the Madeira Islands Open - bagged five birdies in his flawless 67.

On a day when several dark clouds were hanging over the PGA Centenary Course but, mercifully for once this summer, didn’t burst, Paul Lawrie, Dane Thorbjorn Olesen, Englishman Mark Foster, Italian Francesco Molinari and Dutchman Maarten Lafeber all shot 68s to stalk the leaders.

Olesen underlined his growing reputation with another polished performance. Winner of the Sicilian Open earlier in the year, the 22-year-old set the clubhouse target with a six-birdie morning effort. Playing in the same group, Lawrie and Molinari both birdied the last to join him on four-under.

Foster led here after the first round 12 months ago and was still in a share of top spot heading into the final round before losing out in a five-man play-off won by Bjorn. The Worksop man is off to another promising start, as is Bjorn, who bogeyed his final hole - the tenth - but still signed for a 70.

lEntry at Gleneagles today is £5, with all gate money being donated by Gleneagles to clubgolf, Scotland’s junior golf development programme.