Meet the graduates: Thomas Detry

Nicolas Colsaerts. Thomas Pieters. The European Challenge Tour is a proven path to the top of world golf for Belgium’s best. After just six months on Europe’s top developmental tour, Thomas Detry has made a strong case for being his country’s brightest talent yet.

From winning national championships, to competing in the Junior Ryder Cup, to reaching World Amateur Number Eight, the 23 year old has been hotly-tipped as a future star in his home nation, and beyond, for some time.

Now after a third-place finish in his first start as a European Tour member, Detry has shown he is capable of following in the footsteps of his fellow countrymen Pieters and Colsaerts – players the young Belgian has always looked up to.

“Nicolas Colsaerts was really my idol growing up,” he said. “He still is. I like him a lot and he is also a mentor to me. We’re pretty close and I have always looked up to him.

“I started playing golf when I was about five or six years old. I started playing with my Dad, nothing really crazy, I just went with him to the golf course when I was little. I really started to practise more when I was around nine or ten.

“I used to play a lot of sports. I was doing a lot of field hockey and tennis when I was younger, but when I was around 15 or 16 was when I really decided on golf, as travelling to junior tournaments trying to do everything took up too much time.”

Solely focusing his attention on golf brought immediate rewards for Detry, who picked up five trophies in three years before earning a place to study Business Management at the University of Illinois in 2012.

Moving to Midwestern America aged 19 is a daunting task, but Detry knew he had a close friend – and playing partner – waiting for him after he made the journey across the Atlantic.

“I have known Thomas [Pieters] since I was ten years old,” he said. “We were playing lots of junior tournaments together, but were never really close then. We started to become good friends when we travelled together for European team championships and events.

“We won the European Boys Championship together and that was when we really started to become closer and closer. We became very good friends, especially when we both studied together at Illinois.

“He took care of me in the United States when I got there for my first year, and we have always stayed in touch. He is just a great guy and someone I really look up to.”

After finishing his studies, the promising amateur joined the paid ranks at the KPMG Trophy in his native Antwerp this summer.

Such was his already high reputation, hordes of home fans turned out to see the former World Amateur Number Eight make his professional debut, and he didn’t disappoint, competing for the lead all week before finishing tied sixth.

The man from Brussels continued his remarkable form throughout his rookie Challenge Tour season, not missing a single cut on the 2016 Road to Oman to earn a European Tour card for 2017, but it was in Oxfordshire in August where he announced himself as a potential superstar.

His wire-to-wire victory at the Bridgestone Challenge, which included a 12 under par score of 60, was the joint-lowest in Challenge Tour history after his 29 under par total, while his 12-shot winning margin beat Brooks Koepka’s previous record by two.

“To win did feel amazing,” he said. “To break through the ice and get my first professional victory was a huge moment for me. To do it so soon after turning pro was also a great feeling.

“When I started playing on the Challenge Tour I had no expectations, but suddenly expectations came and I started struggling a little bit.

“I now just try and play without expectations, and would say that if you know you are playing well don’t change anything – just keep playing your own game and everything is going to be fine.”