Eyes on the Prize

A Ryder Cup berth beckons for Victor Dubuisson, but what do we know about this striking young Frenchman?

Dubuisson is showered in champagne

No one maybe knows more about Victor and his erratic upbringing than his original coach, Stephane Damiano. He took on the role of father-figure to the player whilst teaching him golf for six years in a row from the time he was eight.

Damiano is proud of how, when his pupil told him that he wanted to be like Tiger, he had replied, "One day you will beat Tiger".

Which, of course, is precisely what Dubuisson did in Turkey, even if he was likably quick to remind people that while he had been at his absolute best, Tiger had been anything but – and still finished alarmingly close.

"Victor is a strong character and a complicated one," said Damanio, who was sensibly cautious about giving away too much about his charge’s beginnings.

When Dubuisson turned professional, he asked Damiano if he would manage him and Damiano agreed. The two signed a contract, only at the same time Dubuisson proceeded to sign a contract with IMG, the sports management giant. All of which explains why coach and player are no longer on the best of terms.

Dubuisson switched to Gregory Havret’s former coach, Benoit Ducoulombier and, for the moment at least, he is happy with that decision.

Recently, the two have been concentrating on Dubuisson’s putting, a part of the player’s game which did not travel well when he turned up for his first tournament in the United States at the end of January.

Dubuisson made the cut but wasted no time in calling for Ducoulombier to come and help him to sort things out ahead of the Masters. One of the first changes, incidentally, was a switch to a lighter putter, one which would give him more feel on the slick US greens.

In keeping with his overall shyness, Dubuisson’s confidence is not quite what it seems. True, he could not have won in Turkey without a healthy measure of that quality but, as he would admit to the notable French golf writer Agathe Séron, he can get himself in something of a state before the off.

Séron recalls a conversation she had with Dubuisson the night before an important round in Switzerland last year. She had asked Dubuisson if he would be nervous for the round in question and he had replied that he would be fine when he got started but not so fine in the hours leading up to it.

Séron has noticed a big improvement in the player’s attitude and confidence levels in recent months and is convinced that if he were to be given a Ryder Cup place, he would respond well.

Especially, you would have to think, if he were paired with someone like England’s Tommy Fleetwood, another player on whom McGinley is keeping more than half an eye. Dubuisson and Fleetwood often came up against each other in their amateur days and Dubuisson is clearly comfortable in the Lancashire lad’s company.

McGinley, as everyone knows, is the kind of captain who will leave no stone unturned in a bid to do justice to his post. He will work out Dubuisson, while the whole Ryder Cup experience could just be the making of this unlikely but ingenious young golfer.

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