LIV golfer Thomas Pieters is set to make his DP World Tour return at the Soudal Open in his home country of Belgium this week.
Pieters – who is a six-time DP World Tour winner – last played on the European Tour at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January 2023, finishing T6, before going on to sign for Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC in the LIV Golf League just a few weeks later.
The Belgian has resigned his membership from the Wentworth-based circuit and has no outstanding fines to pay, teeing it up at Rinkven International in Antwerp via the national spots category – a bracket for players from the host country who are not otherwise exempt via a different method.
Other notable Belgian names set to join Pieters include former Ryder Cupper Nicolas Colsaerts, promising player Matthis Besard, and Adrien Dumont de Chassart – who won his first Korn Ferry Tour start in 2023, lost in a playoff during his next, and has played 14 PGA Tour events in 2024 already.
The Soudal Open marks the beginning of the DP World Tour’s ‘European Swing’. It is the fourth of the five global swings this season, starting at Rinkven International and heading on through five further tournaments – culminating in the BMW International Open in early July.
Stoked to be playing on home soil again next year at the @soudalopen 🇧🇪🙌 pic.twitter.com/GRSUD6akZNDecember 14, 2023
Pieters committed to the event back in mid-December and – speaking to event media earlier this year – highlighted how he would love to lift some silverware in front of his home supporters having never claimed a DP World Tour title in Belgium before.
He said: “Playing in front of friends and family, the Rinkven members, young people in general, that is what excites me most about the Soudal Open. I am definitely hungry. I have never before won in Belgium, so I would obviously like to add that to my track record.”
Pieters is likely to fancy his chances of achieving that dream, too, following an interview with Gulf News ahead of LIV Golf Jeddah earlier this year in which Pieters labelled the standard of play on LIV “10 times better” than the DP World Tour.
He said: “Coming from the DP World Tour, the standard of golf is ten times better than what I used to play.
“You can’t hide out here. As you can see from my results, I haven’t…
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