Thomas Pieters

Pieters started in golf at age 5 after his parents played on holiday in South Africa. After his education at the Top Sports School of the Golf Association Flanders (Belgium), where he first met his current coach Pete Cowen, he had a celebrated amateur college career in America. He studied at the University of Illinois, where he won the individual 2011 Jack Nicklaus Invitational and the individual 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship in his second year. The following year, he finished 2nd with his team at the 2013 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship and won the individual 2013 Big Ten Conference Championship. He turned professional right after college. Long considered one of the future stars, he came through all three stages of the European Tour 2013 Qualifying School, taking the 20th card at the Final Stage.
2014 Notes: Played in 27 events and made ten cuts. He had three top-10s, including a T-2nd at the Open de Espana. He also had a T-4th at the Nordea Masters. He finished 83rd in the Race to Dubai.
2015 Notes: He continued making a good impression after his rookie season on the European Tour with two consecutive wins, first at the D+D REAL Czech Masters in August and again two weeks later at the KLM Open. In the Czech Republic, he shrugged off a two-shot penalty in the third round when he hit the wrong ball to finish three shots clear of Pelle Edberg. His family had traveled 850 km overnight by road from Belgium to watch the final round, and their presence inspired him to close out the victory with a 3-under-par 69. He had to come from behind in the Netherlands, where he battled a stronger field. He was four back at the start of the last day and looked to be heading into a playoff after a 5-under-par 65, but his rival, Lee Slattery, missed a three-foot par putt at the last hole to hand the Belgian the title. For the year, he played 26 events, making 19 cuts and finishing in the top-5 five times. He finished 29th on the Road to Dubai.
2016 Notes: Started the year with a runner-up finish at the Abu Dhabi Championship, one shot behind Rickie Fowler. Came in 3rd at the True Thailand Classic. After that, he struggled a bit but then went on a three-week run, first representing Belgium at the Rio 2016 Olympics, where he finished 4th, four shots out of a podium position. The next week, he traveled to Prague in the Czech Republic and finished 2nd, one shot behind winner Paul Peterson. Then it was off to Denmark to play in the Made in Denmark tournament. Playing in the first round with Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke, he shot a first-round 62 en route to winning by a shot over Bradley Dredge. A month afterward, Clarke chose Pieters as a captain's pick to play in his first Ryder Cup. He went 4-1 in his five matches in the European team's 17-11 loss to the United States at Hazeltine, the best record by a European rookie in Ryder Cup history. Overall, the best rookie record was in 1979 when Larry Nelson was a perfect 5-0. For the year, Pieters finished 25th in the Race to Dubai.
2017 Notes: Playing on a sponsor's exemption at the Genesis Open, he made eight birdies in the final round to shoot an 8-under 63, jumping into a T-2nd with Scott Brown, five behind Dustin Johnson. The runner-up finish came on the same Riviera Country Club course where he won the 2012 NCAA individual title (while playing for the University of Illinois) en route to National Player of the Year honors. He collected 245 non-member FedExCup points, moving his total to 306 (just 13 shy of earning Special Temporary Membership). He earned those points through his T-5th finish in the WGC-Mexico Championship to get his temporary membership on the PGA Tour for the rest of 2017. At the Masters, he finished T-4th, four behind Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose. He had another 4th-place finish at the WGC-Bridgestone, where he was the first-round leader and had a share of the 54-hole lead with Zach Johnson. After missing the cut at the PGA Championship, he returned to play in Europe and finished 20th in the Race to Dubai.
2018 Notes: Played in 22 European Tour events making 21 cuts with four top-10 finishes. Was 27th in the Race to Dubai. Was T-5th at the Abu Dhabi Championship and T-6th at the Aberdeen Standard Scottish Open. He was T-6th at the PGA Championship, six shots back of winner Brooks Koepka. His last top-10 was T-9th at the D+D Real Czech Masters.
2019 Notes: Played in 24 European Tour events making 21 cuts with four top-ten finishes. Was 31st in the Race to Dubai. He was T-6th at the Oman Open, two shots back of winner Kurt Kitayama. After a slow first half of his year, he broke through at the D+D Real Czech Masters to win by a shot over Adri Arnaus. After that was T-10th at the KLM Open and ended his year with a T-6th at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
2020 Notes: Played in 13 European Tour events making 11 cuts with two top-ten finishes. He was 45th in the Race to Dubai and earned euro467,443. He was T-3rd at the Saudi International and was three shots back of winner Graeme McDowell. His last start before the COVID-19 break was the Qatar Masters, and he finished T-21st. One of the good points of the break was that Pieters and his girlfriend Stephanie had a baby girl Florence on July 24th, which prevented him from traveling and playing in the PGA Championship. He didn't play competitively until the Celtic Classic in mid-August, finishing T-3rd, three shots back of winner Sam Horsfield. He ended his season with a T-36th finish at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
2021 Notes: Played in 17 European Tour events making 14 cuts with four top-ten finishes. Was 26th in the Race to Dubai and earned euro787,387. Was T-10th at the Saudi International. Represented Belgium at the Tokyo Olympic Games, finishing T-16th. Going into the BMW PGA Championship, Pieters was 128th in the Official World Golf Ranking. He finished T-9th at the BMW PGA and T-9th again the following week at the Dutch Open. Shot 65-68 on the weekend to win the Portugal Masters by two shots over Lucas Beauregard and Matthieu Pavon. He was 15th in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. He ended the year 65th in the world ranking, which didn't get him an invite to the Masters.
2022 Notes: Played in 15 DP World Tour events making 14 cuts with six top-ten finishes. Was 10th in the Race to Dubai and earned euro2,272,623. With his one-shot win over Rafael Cabrera Bello and Shubhankar Sharma at the Abu Dhabi Championship, he climbed to 31st in the Official World Golf Ranking, which clinched a Masters spot. Was T-12th the next week at the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic. He missed the cut at the Masters. Shot a final-round 67 to finish T-9th at the Soudal Open. He was T-10th at the Dutch Open. At the BMW International Open was tied with Haotong Li after regulation. On the first hole of the playoff, Li made a 40-foot birdie putt, and when Pieters missed from ten feet, he was runner-up. He was T-8th at the D_D Real CzechMasters. At the French Open, he finished T-3rd, five shots back of winner Guido Migliozzi who shot a final round 62. In his last event of the year, The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship played in St. Andrews, he finished T-28th. Just like Pieters did in 2020 on the arrival of his first child, the plan was to stop playing after St. Andrews at the end of September to be home with his partner Stephanie for the arrival of their second child. On November 18th, their second baby girl was born.
2023 Notes: He returned to golf at the Abu Dhabi Championship, he missed the cut. Next week was T-6th at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, six shots back of winner Rory McIlroy. He was T-48th at the Masters, T-40th at the PGA Championship, and missed the cut at the U.S. Open.