Colsaerts Ends Seven-Year Win Drought At French Open

The Belgian won his first title in over seven years after a dramatic finish in France

Colsaerts Ends Seven-Year Win Drought At French Open
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The Belgian won his first title in over seven years after a dramatic finish in France

Colsaerts Ends Seven-Year Win Drought At French Open

Nicolas Colsearts is back in the winner's circle for the first time since May 2012 after winning the Open de France by a single stroke.

The 36-year-old began the day with a one stroke margin and held his nerve in the latter stages despite a double-bogey at the 15th.

Colsearts was two over for the round after 12 holes but his birdie on 13 and chip-in eagle on 14 were the two holes where he won the tournament.

That got him to 14 under and one ahead of playing partner George Coetzee who had just parred the 14th, but the South African then triple-bogeyed the 15th to fall two behind.

Colsaerts was two behind Denmark's JB Hansen who then double-bogeyed the 17th to hand him the title.

The Belgian still needed to par the tough 18th at Le Golf National to win and he did just that with a fine 3 wood off the tee and an iron to the heart of the green.

This was his 3rd European Tour title and he rises from outside of the world's top 400 to 196th.

"It's super special. I've been coming here for more than 15 years, French-speaking, I know what makes them tick. I've been coming here for so long and missed out a bunch of times, and to do it here, to do this like this, where at the end it was a pretty dramatic -- makes it even better," he said.

"I went through up and downs for so many years now. It's very, very special as you can see.

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"I thought it was slowly slipping away. I knew there was always going to be a chance because the last holes, anything can happen. It was a surprise to come on 17 and find out what JB had done. But like I said, when you hole the last putt like this, and you come out on top, it's really special.

"I mean, the last four, anything can happen. There's water everywhere. 17 is a strong par 4. You have to hit a couple of good shots to make par. We've seen it before and we'll probably see it again."

Open de France leaderboard:

1 Nicolas Colsaerts -12

2 JB Hansen -11

3 George Coetzee -10

4 Kurt Kitayama -9

5 Martin Kaymer -8

5 Gavin Moynihan -8

5 Richie Ramsay -8

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Elliott Heath
News Editor

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!


Elliott is currently playing:


Driver: Titleist TSR4

3 wood: Titleist TSi2

Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1

Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball: Srixon Z Star XV