Thomas Detry

He started playing golf when he was 5 and played tennis and hockey. He started competing in international golf tournaments when he was 13 years old. He studied at the Topsportschool Vlaanderen in Hasselt until 2012. In 2009, when he was 16 years old, Detry won the Dutch Junior Open, a competition for young golfers under 21.
Detry was selected for the Junior Ryder Cup team (a competition between American and European youth) in 2010 and the Jacques Leglise Trophy team (pitting continental European boys against a team from the British Isles) in 2010 and 2011.
Following fellow golfer and good friend Thomas Pieters, Detry studied Business Management at the University of Illinois from 2012 to 2016. He was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2013 and the Big Ten Golfer of the Year in 2015. He represented Europe in the Palmer Cup in 2014 and 2015. He was named the best Belgian amateur golfer in 2013 and 2015. After winning the 2016 Big Ten Championship, the World Amateur Golf Ranking ranked him among the ten top amateur golfers in the world.
Detry turned professional after he graduated from Illinois and started competing on the Challenge Tour in 2016. He played in 14 Challenge Tour events making the cut in all 14 with five top-tens. He won the Bridgestone Challenge; he opened up with a 60 and then shot 67-69-63 for a 29-under total and a 12-shot win over Thurston Lawrence. With this win, he equaled the record for the lowest under-par finish ever on the Challenge Tour (29 under par, set in 2003 by Ivo Giner) and set a new record for the win by the widest margin ever on the Challenge Tour. He won euro93,006 and was 15th on the money list.
2017 Notes: Played in 27 European Tour events making 17 cuts with three top-ten finishes. In his first start of the season was 3rd at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, T-2nd at the BMW International, a shot back of winner Andres Romero who birdied the 72nd hole. He was T-9th at the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Match Play. It was 86th in the Race to Dubai.
2018 Notes: Played in 29 European Tour events making 22 cuts with seven top-ten finishes. He was third three times at the Belgian Knockout, KLM Open, and Turkish Airlines Open. He was 31st in the Race to Dubai.
2019 Notes: Played in 25 European Tour events making 21 cuts with four top-ten finishes. Was T-9th at the Trophee Hassan, T-8th at the Andalucia Masters, T-8th at French Open, and T-3rd at the Nedbank Golf Challenge. Finished 42nd in the Race to Dubai.
2020 Notes: Played in 20 European Tour events making 19 cuts with seven top-ten finishes. Ended the year 18th in the Race to Dubai. In his first start of the season, T-4th at the Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open. He was T-6th at the Saudi International, and the Pandemic closed things down. When tournament play continued in July, he was T-8th at the Austrian Open. He had a nice run of finishing 2nd at the Hero Open, a shot back of winner Sam Horsfield. Two weeks later, he again was the runner-up at the Celtic Classic, this time two shots back of winner Sam Horsfield. He had a good two-week stretch in Cyprus, was T-10th at the Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Open, and the following week on the same course, was T-4th at the Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Showdown. He finished his season with a T-29th finish at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
2021 Notes: Played in 20 European Tour events making 12 cuts with five top-ten finishes. He was 25th in the Race to Dubai. Was T-9th at the Dubai Desert Classic and Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. He finished T-2nd at the Porsche European Open, two shots back of winner Marcus Armitage. He finished 2nd at the Abrdn Scottish Open; he lost to Min Woo Lee, who made a birdie on the first playoff hole. The good news is that the finish got him one of the last spots into the Open Championship, where he played for the first time but missed the cut. He finished T-4th at the Dutch Open and ended his season finishing T-21st at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
2022 Notes: Played in 18 DP World Tour events making 15 cuts with three top-ten finishes. It was 54th in the Race to Dubai. He was T-9th at the Ras al Khaimah Championship. Wa T-10th at the Genesis Scottish Open and T-5th at the BMW PGA Championship, three shots back of winner Shane Lowry. He ended his DP World season, finishing T-13th at the Nedbank Golf Challenge. He qualified for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals via the non-member FedExCup Nos. 126-200 category and opened the Finals with a T-4th at the Albertsons Boise Open. He missed the cut at the Nationwide Children's Hospital and Korn Ferry Tour Championship but secured his first PGA Tour card and a place in The Finals 25 with the T-4th finish.
2023 Notes: In his first start of the season was T-12th at the Fortinet Championship. Next week was T-9th at the Sanderson Farms Championship. At the Bermuda Championship was 2nd, a shot back of winner Seamus Power. They became the second player from Belgium to record a top-two finish on the PGA Tour, joining Thomas Pieters. He was a shot back of the lead going into the final round of the Corales Puntacana Championship, shot final round 72 to finish T-8th, six shots back of winner Matt Wallace. Was T-7th at the Soudal Open.