"Simply difficult to win" - Why it still worked for Nicolai von Dellingshausen

A few weeks ago, Nicolai von Dellingshausen celebrated his first victory on the prestigious DP World Tour at the Austrian Alpine Open. A triumphant moment that not only has enormous significance for the golfer from Düsseldorf, but also raises the question: How did this long-awaited success come about and why now?

For the 32-year-old from Düsseldorf, it was a victory that did not happen overnight, but was the result of an eight-year journey full of hard work, setbacks and mental strength. Von Dellingshausen celebrated his last title on the Pro Golf Tour in 2017, but the breakthrough on the DP World Tour was not to be. "My last win came in 2017," he recalls in the press conference. "I hadn't won since 2018, I came close a few times but didn't make it over the finish line, in quotation marks."

Setbacks as a catalyst: a new perspective

This long dry spell took its toll. The year 2023, in particular, was a real ordeal when he lost his tour card and had to go through the demanding Q-School. But it was precisely this phase of disappointment that became the catalyst for his development. "At some point, I changed my perspective a bit," explains von Dellingshausen. "You can have an incredibly great career without winning on this Tour. And that perspective helped me to say that the better I get and the more I develop my game, the results will eventually follow." This realization, coupled with the conviction that the tough time was "important for development", laid the foundation for his later success.

From his point of view, the victory in Austria was not a sudden inspiration, but the culmination of a longer development. "It was a long time in the making, even if the results from the outside perhaps didn't really reflect that," says von Dellingshausen. "But inside I knew that at some point the development and the skillset I have in my game would match the results."

Nicolai von Dellingshausen: "I kind of like it there"

The decisive piece of the puzzle in Austria was the combination of consistently good ball striking, which he had already shown the week before in Belgium, and a Putter that suddenly worked very well. "I missed the cut in Belgium, but probably had one of the best weeks of ball striking in years. Unfortunately, I didn't get a Putt in the hole," he says. "And then in Austria the Putter worked very well. The ball striking was still very high quality and in the end the Putter helped me win the tournament." Perhaps there was also a certain home advantage: "I somehow always play well in Austria. I don't know exactly why, but somehow I like it there."

The victory at the Austrian Alpine Open was not only a personal liberation for Nicolai von Dellingshausen, but also proof that perseverance and belief in your own development pay off. Even if you can't name every detail that contributed to this. With this first Tour title in his pocket, he is now looking forward to the challenges ahead "totally inspired" and with new self-confidence, knowing that he has the necessary "momentum" on his side.

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