Ryder Cup Winner Nicolas Colsaerts Announces Retirement

Nicolas Colsaerts has announced he will retire at the end of the season following a 24-year career in the professional game.

The Belgian, who turns 43 in November, confirmed the news to Canal+ at the FedEx Open de France, where he placed T49.

That appearance took him to 499 on the DP World Tour, and Colsaerts revealed it is an ambition to reach 500 before calling it a day.

He explained: "I'm playing my last French Open. I'm going to reach 500 tournaments, at Dunhill or in India. This still requires a little clarification from the European Tour.

“I've been contemplating the idea of ​​hanging up my clubs for two or three years. Because life makes things a bit complicated to manage. And I no longer have the energy to play 25 to 30 weeks a year to try to pick up half a point here and there.”

Colsaerts added that his original intention had been to retire a year ago. However, the 500 appearances milestone came into view after he finished runner-up at last year's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship - a performance that included an albatross - to confirm his full DP World Tour card for 2025.

He said: "I was already supposed to retire last year, and then there was this miracle at Dunhill where I finished second, and I realize that I can finish in 500."

He added: "It was close to my heart. It's one thing that bothered me, not having managed to play 500 tournaments. I know I've been pushing myself to the limit for a long time, but these are my last weeks on the European Tour."

Colsaerts has enjoyed an accomplished career, with 10 professional wins, including three on the DP World Tour.

The most recent of those came six years ago, when he held off Joachim B. Hansen by one to win the Open de France at Le Golf National.

Colsaerts also placed T7 at the 2012 Open, with a T10 following a year later at the US Open, while he achieved a career-high world ranking of 32^nd in May 2012.

One of his biggest achievements was making the 2012 European Ryder Cup team as a captain’s pick.

At the match, dubbed the Miracle of Medinah, he played his part in arguably the team’s most famous win of all, when it completed a stunning comeback victory over the US despite trailing 10–6 heading into the Sunday singles.

Notably, Colsaerts won his Friday afternoon four-ball match alongside Lee Westwood, with the pair completing a 1 up triumph over Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods.

Colsaerts was also involved in the 2023 European set-up, on that occasion as one of Luke Donald’s vice-captains, as the team won 16.5-11.5 at Marco Simone.

He’s not one of Donald’s vice-captains for the 2025 match at Bethpage Black, which he admitted to the Sky Sports Golf podcast had left him disappointed while also hinting the Ryder Cup had been his biggest motivating factor in recent times.

He said: "Yeah, very disappointed, because it's a competition that I live for that has basically been the only thing that will get me out of bed for the last couple of years.”

Despite that, he added there was no bitterness on his part, saying: "Extremely disappointed, yes, but the captain is in charge. There are no hard feelings to have about the decision the captain makes."

Colsaerts has been named in the entry list for the DP World Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which will take place at the Old Course, St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns between October 2^nd and 5^th.