By Mathieu Wood
Thomas Detry is no longer the nearly man.
As the Belgian reflected on winning his first PGA TOUR title at the WM Phoenix Open on Sunday, he knew he’d conquered an element of the game that had previously held him back.
After seven runner-up finishes across the DP World Tour and the PGA TOUR, Detry had his hands on some silverware which he had long craved.
“I've had the tendency of when I’m in contention… getting ahead of myself, not really being in the present," Detry told reporters at TPC Scottsdale.
Not since the Bridgestone Challenge on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2016 had the Belgian claimed an individual title, although he did win the ISPS HANDA Melbourne World Cup of Golf for Belgium in 2018 alongside Thomas Pieters.
Detry knew that wasn’t enough to show for a player of his talent.
While he has long been someone with a taste for the biggest stage, overcoming the final hurdle had proven elusive. Until now.
And for him, meditation was an integral reason behind that.
A self-confessed "forward thinker", Detry has focused on breathing exercises - first outlining their benefits in a DP World Tour Player Blog ahead of last summer's Olympic Games.
Having first been encouraged to give the practice a go by his wife, Sarah, along with other family members and friends two years ago, it proved instrumental over the weekend in Arizona.
"I felt like that kind of brought me into a peaceful mindset," he said.
"I actually felt comfortable on the first tee. I didn't really have any nerves.
"I felt like I had my full mind to it and I was just ready to play my own game and not try to chase something."
On one of the, if not the most, raucous stages on the PGA TOUR, Detry sealed victory in style with four consecutive birdies to round out a closing -6 66.
Before and After
While a three-putt at the par-five 13th may have previously derailed his momentum, there was no such repeat here, he remained in the present.
"[Berger] smoked one on 14, so I was like, hmm, this is getting a little bit dangerous here," he said.
"So there I was really able to kind of get back to my routine, just commit to my target.
"I got myself out of position a little bit off the tee shot on 14 on the right, and I was just like, you know, it's a tucked pin on the left, just hit it right, leave yourself an easy up-and-down, and I was able to kind of stick to my routine and trust the process really."
With the victory, Detry rises to a career-high 22nd in the Official World Golf Ranking, wins $1,656,000 and climbs into an automatic qualifying spot for this year's European Ryder Cup team.
With his PGA TOUR membership exemption now extended through to 2027, he also has a Masters debut at Augusta National in April to look forward to.
So, with his victory stateside ensuring the realization of one long-held goal, what is next?
"Winning has been a goal of mine for the last four or five years," he said.
"Every year I'm like, this is the year I'm going to win, so this is amazing.
"I think reaching TOUR Championship is definitely one of the goals. Reaching the TOUR Championship, it's massive. I missed out by only a couple of shots last year, and I was very disappointed.
"But my goal is just to perform as good as I can all over the world. I'm still a very big fan of the DP World Tour.
"I still like to go back in the fall and play all those DP World Tour events and qualify for the Race to Dubai. It's great. This is where I grew up and learned to play golf and where I started my professional career.
"My goals are just to keep playing well and keep putting myself in contention and hopefully improve in these situations."
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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