Home favourite Thomas Detry is viewing himself as “one of the lucky few” as he targets a momentous and long-awaited maiden DP World Tour title at the Soudal Open.
The Belgian may be a world-recognised player, having made history last year as the first person from his country to win on the PGA TOUR, but a breakthrough victory on golf’s global tour remains elusive.
A five-time runner-up across his 175 DP World Tour appearances, Detry is this week returning to his national open for the first time in three years as he headlines a 13-strong Belgian contingent at Rinkven International Golf Club.
And it’s the chance to become just the second Belgian after record five-time winner Flory Van Donck to win the Soudal Open which is motivating him.
"I think, as for any player, winning their national open is definitely on the bucket list, and for me it's one of them," said Detry.
"Not many players can actually say that they've got [won] their national open, some players don't have their national tournament so we are one of the lucky few that actually are able to play a tournament in their own country.
"Being able to put that to my CV would be incredible so it's definitely my goal to win this week.
"It's been three years that I haven't been playing here and I really don't spend that much time in Belgium anymore so it's delightful to be back here."
Detry, who rose to a career-high 22nd in the Official World Golf Ranking after his historic success stateside at the WM Phoenix Open, is the top-ranked player this week.
With two top tens across his four previous appearances at his home event, the 33-year-old has a good record at the tree-lined Rinkven layout.
While he missed the cut at last week's US PGA Championship, Detry is feeling positive about his chances after five top tens in ten starts worldwide so far this year.
"I missed the cut by one shot at the US PGA Championship," he said.
"It was my first Major of the year. There were a few adjustments to be made, pace of play, little things like we spent four, five, six hours on the round, little things like that that sort of caught me off guard a little bit.
"But overall, I think my game is in really good shape. I've been putting myself in contention pretty much every other week so hopefully I can do the same this week and who knows, we'll see what happens on Sunday."
This week marks the 20th edition of Belgium's national open since it joined the DP World Tour in 1978, but it will also be the final fairwell of Detry's countryman Nicolas Colsaerts.
2012 Ryder Cup star Colsaerts, 43, has served as an inspiration to Detry and the World Number 64 is hoping he can continue to play his part in furthering participation and the growth of the game in his homeland.
"I remember when I was younger watching Nico doing well and I watched Nico win on the Challenge Tour and see him coming back and winning on the DP World Tour and then playing the Ryder Cup," he recalled.
"All these things, they stick with you when you're younger, you know, and I hope, hopefully, I'm doing the same thing for all these younger kids that are watching golf through their phones, social media or on TV and who have dreams in their eyes and hopefully they want to do the same thing.
"It's all about growing the game and that's what I'm going to do."
Having attended the Soudal Open as a child in the late 90s at former host venue, Royal Zoute Golf Club, Detry is proud by the progress of the event since its return to the DP World Tour schedule.
After first being reborn as the innovative Belgian Knockout following an 18-year absence in 2018, it returned to its traditional strokeplay format in 2022.
"I think Soudal have done an amazing job at getting this tournament running again," he said.
"We used to have a Belgian Open, I remember at least 25, 30 years ago. I think the last one was in 1998 or something like that.
"I remember when I was four or five years old, walking around on that golf course. It was a golf course by the coast. There used to be a big tournament there, so it's nice to have this tournament back up and running again.
"It has improved a lot as well with the years. I remember the first edition a couple of years ago. When I see what the fan village looks now, and the tented village also around the 18th green, so it's all looking very good and they've done an amazing job.
"I think this tournament has become a name as well, so more and more people hear about it, more and more people want to come here for the weekend and see some good Belgian players and global players as well play.
"So it's really looking good and looking forward to seeing a lot of people hopefully."
