Colsaerts: "I feel like I've come back from the dead"
Nicolas Colsaerts. Photo Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ieWildchild turned wildcard Nicolas Colsaerts compared making the Ryder Cup team to coming back from the dead.
The big hitting Belgian, 29, is pinching himself at Medinah after going through some massive lows when he felt he wasn’t taking advantage of his talent.
Colsaerts said: “This is quite an achievement. When you look back and you see where I was like three years ago, I’m just the perfect example that if you want something really bad and you put your work into it, if you’ve got the heart and the passion, anything is achievable.
“It’s funny, because I thought about it last night or this morning and it’s almost like I feel like I’ve come back from the dead, which is a bit of a weapon.
“We all go through different phases in our lives, especially when you’re an athlete. You don’t really have a lot of examples that everything goes according to plan.
“I’m certainly not one of them, but I’m kind of proud of my story.”
Colsaerts has confessed that his love of nightlife and lack of discipline left him feeling depressed about his career.
After landing a captain’s pick, he said: “I knew I had it in me, but I knew I was going to be a bit of a clown before I got there
“I had my mid-life crisis at 25, which was a good thing. I got it out of the way.
“People took me aside to have a word, to tell me to knuckle down a million times, but that decision has to come from you. Everyone is busy doing their own things - no one has time to babysit out here.
Recalling his dark days, he explained: “How about just watching tournament golf on TV and thinking you shouldn’t be on the other side of the screen.
“It’s pretty difficult when you’re a player and you get to see events that you know you’re not going to be a part of.
“It’s pretty difficult when you’re 25 and you know you still have a lot of years in front of you and you just don’t really produce in anything that’s going to get you there. It’s difficult to accept.”