TOUR NEWS:NICOLAS COLSAERTS secured a four-shot victory at the Volvo China Open yesterday to lift his first European Tour title. The Belgian stormed around the Luxehills Country Club in his final round to post a six-under 66 which left him 24 under for the tournament.
Peter Lawrie, who carded a 68 in the final round, was unable to overhaul Colsaerts. The Dubliner needed a birdie at the last to take outright ownership of second but settled in the end for a share of runners-up prize purse with Pablo Martin (63), Danny Lee (65) and Soren Kjeldsen (66).
Sweden’s Christian Nilsson finished a shot further back in sixth, with Englishman Danny Willett and Jamie Donaldson of Wales alongside Gregory Havret in a trio of players on 18 under.
Gareth Maybin shot a 67 to tie for 10th on 17 under but nobody could come close to Colsaerts’ 24-under-par total.
He stormed around the Luxehills Country Club with six birdies in his final round to become only the second Belgian to win a European Tour title, following in the footsteps of Phillipe Touissant 37 years ago.
Colsaerts admits it has been a difficult journey on the way to claiming his first European trophy, but worth all the ups and downs during his 10 years on the tour.
“I’m enjoying every second of it,” he said.
“I’m dizzy, my head is going all over the place. I’ve been waiting for this for a very long time and I think I did it in the best of manners so I’m really delighted.
“A lot of people were expecting big things of me and for me to win tournaments a long time before. I lost my card, I got on Tour pretty young and I didn’t know how to handle myself. The lowest point was 2008 and I had to get my life back together.
“I was doing basically every wrong thing you could possibly think of. One day I woke up though – I went to Australia for four months and it changed me forever.
“It’s been a hell of a journey looking back, from when I was 18 and got on Tour. I didn’t really have any idea of the level and how high you had to raise your game to play on Tour. I never lost faith of getting to where I am and I’m glad I did it this way.”
Spaniard Martin also impressed as he raced up the leaderboard to claim his share of second place, holing 10 birdies and dropping just one shot on the ninth.
South Korean rookie Han, who had been in contention since day one and held the overnight lead heading into the second round, fell off the pace, paying the price for a double bogey on the par-four eighth and another dropped shot on the last hole.
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