Former Ryder Cup player Nicolas Colsaerts to retire soon

Nicolas Colsaerts announced that "these are my last weeks on the European Tour" as he approaches his 500th career professional start.

Colsaerts, 42, tied for 49th at the Open de France on Sunday, falling to 320th in the Official World Golf Ranking. It was his 498th career start, but Colsaerts has missed 48 of 76 cuts while posting only two top-10 finishes over the past four years.

"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," he said, per The Mirror. "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."

The first Belgian to represent Europe in the Ryder Cup when he was selected for the 2012 event by captain Jose Maria Olazabal, Colsaerts served as a vice-captain for Luke Donald in Italy two years ago. He admitted being disappointed in not being selected to help Donald again at this week's Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York.

"Yeah, very disappointed," Colsaerts told the Sky Sports Golf podcast. "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. Extremely disappointed, yes."

Colsaerts, whose best career finish in a major was a tie for seventh at The Open Championship in 2012, said the goal of reaching 500 professional starts has kept him motivated to continue playing in recent years.

"I'm a bit fried," he said. "Ultimately the decision was made a while ago. I was already supposed to retire last year and then there was this miracle at Dunhill (Links Championship) where I finished second and I realized that I can finish in 500 (tournaments).

"It was close to my heart. It's one thing that bothered me, not having managed to play 500 tournaments. I've been here for 25 years. Since 2001.

"I'm part of the furniture. 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 reached a high of 32nd in the world rankings in 2012.

--Field Level Media